People: Crissy Collins
Name: Crissy Collins (she/they)
Location: Naarm (Melbourne), land of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation
Occupation/ Business: Traditional Thai Bodyworker/ DJ/ Event Producer.
Who makes up your family? Anyone who I say ‘I love you’ to regularly.
What core principles / values inform your practice? Integrating mind, body and spirit through music and movement, and helping others do the same with massage, teaching yoga/self-massage, and DJing.
What are you currently working on? My goal for this year is to start a DJ program focused on teaching women and youth.
What daily practices or rituals connect you with your centre? Breath, meditation, and movement plus talking to my family and drinking lots of tea.
What does community mean to you? Spaces and people where I feel accepted, supported, safe, and acknowledged.
How does community care and self-care intersect for you? I’ve come to realize that for me, creating and building community is a form of self care. As someone who has often felt like an outsider, community means not only showing up to things, but creating spaces of connection as well. When I serve the community as a bodyworker or DJ, it in turn comes back to and nourishes me. Community care and self care are one in the same if I practice balance.
What is something you're proud of? I’m proud of myself for learning how to thrive outside of my comfort zone and having the courage to trust my intuition. Despite moving to Naarm in February 2020 from Chicago, after two years I finally feel settled and a part of the community. I started Mobile Massage Melbourne September 2020 after I got the idea to practice Thai massage in parks. I was having difficulty finding work and said fuck it I’ll do it myself. It turned out to be a great way to meet new people and I’ve made several friends who were originally clients. I’ve also been getting booked pretty frequently for DJ gigs which has been really dope. So it’s just overall nice to have finally achieved what I wanted to do upon first arriving two years ago, but was delayed because of Covid.
My cup is full when… I’m sharing my gifts with others and helping in some way. Whether it be through massage, Djing, planning an event, or teaching. The most fulfilled I’ve ever been was teaching an after school DJ program for teens while I was living in Chicago. I get a similar feeling when I can help massage clients with their bodies or when leading self massage and yoga classes. I just want to help people live a more comfortable & enjoyable life in any way I can.
I am grateful for.. A strong foundation and the ability to feel comfortable and safe despite being very far away from my support system. I’m also grateful for my partner who is the reason I moved to Australia and is the reason I’m still here.
Where can we find you (website, IG etc.)? You can find me at @mobilemassagemelb and for DJ things @_mothafunk
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Lastly, please use the space below to share with us something that comes to mind – a poem, a drawing, a thought, a story, a book you’re reading – whatever you are sitting with right now.
Currently I’m reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, who is a Potowatomi scientist. The book is a beautiful nuanced look at nature and shares the importance of indegeoubs wisdom when it comes to understanding plants and the natural world, especially within the Western world of science. I highly recommend!
“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer
18.05.2022
