After years of working in the landscaping industry, Deanna Villa developed recurring back pain and sought treatment through a variety of therapies, from reflexology to reiki and yoga. But it wasn’t until a friend recommended Deanna to a massage therapist who had just returned from studies in Thailand that she discovered not only relief from her back pain but also a new career and way of life. “During that 90-minute massage, I had an epiphany,” Deanna remembers. “It was like I saw a film strip and in each scene I saw myself studying Thai massage, becoming a practitioner, having my own room, then having my own studio and becoming a teacher.”
But getting to that point wasn’t easy. It was 1998 when Deanna discovered Thai massage and at that time there were very few practitioners in North America, and even fewer schools. She travelled to New Jersey, Chicago, New Mexico and Thailand to study the trade. Deanna delivered massages to clients, at a holistic health centre in the Annex, at a Naturopathic Centre in Etobicoke, and at spas and sports clubs before finally opening her own clinic, Thai Massage Toronto, in 2004.
