Michelle Kirnbauer, RMT

As someone with an eye condition called Snowflake Vitreoretinal Degeneration with a risk or retinal detachment and blindness, this is heartening!

Chart Note of the Week:
"Lost 1 sock post-TX: looked everywhere, suspect in pants." 🧦🔎

We often talk about "massage brain"—that thoroughly melted state when your parasympathetic nervous system takes over and the rational world fades into soft focus.

Usually, it manifests as forgetting how you take your coffee or driving well under the speed limit.

This week, it reached an artistic peak: a client departed the clinic in a delightful daze, delightfully dishevelled, clutching one solitary sock in their hand… while the other had completely vanished into the ether.

To say an exhaustive search was launched is an understatement. We looked:

Under every piece of furniture

Behind the storage cabinet

Deep inside the storage benches

Amongst the foliage of the potted plants
..and yes, even checked the stone warmer (just in case)

It remains missing. My working hypothesis? It is currently hitching a silent, crumpled ride somewhere inside a pant leg, entirely undetected.

When the tension leaves the building, strange footwear casualties happen. Check your hems, everyone; it’s a wild world out there.

What is the funniest thing you have ever misplaced, forgotten, or done after melting on the table? 👇

(Client identity fully de-identified and shared with consent.)

By popular demand, schedule dates through mid-November are now live and bookable!

Need support sooner? There are still a few spaces left to unwind this week:

Wednesday (Sept 23): Morning slots open (before 12:30 PM)

Thursday (Sept 24): Open availability

Saturday (Sept 26): Afternoon slots available (from 12:30 PM)

(As always, a 30-minute buffer follows every treatment so nobody is ever rushed.)

🔗 Book your session here: https://whisspa.janeapp.com ✨

A little perspective from the lush moss & towering foxglove blooms of Graham Island, Haida Gwaii… 🌿

​Common foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) usually top out between 3 and 6 feet (1 to 2 metres), but the mild, rain-soaked temperate rainforest conditions on Haida Gwaii clearly allowed this one to go full Jack-and-the-Beanstalk. Interestingly, the Guinness World Record for the tallest recorded foxglove was measured at 10 feet 10 inches (with an unverified B.C. specimen once reported around 11 feet)—meaning this coastal giant is legitimately world-record territory. Accounting for minor terrain variations & perspective compression toward the top edge of the frame, the plant measures between 12 feet & 12 feet, 4 inches (3.66 to 3.76 metres).

Catching late summer sunshine at the Sunflower & Swallow Fall Festival! 🌻 This week’s clinical openings at Whisspa:

• Wed, Sept 23: 8:30 am – 2:00 pm
• Thu, Sept 24: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
• Sat, Sept 26: 12:00 pm – 3:30 pm
• Sun, Sept 27: 12:15 pm – 3:30 pm

Sometimes the best restorative care is taking time to pause, breathe, and reset. Reserve your treatment online:
👉 https://whisspa.janeapp.com/locations/whisspa/book #/staff_member/8

Did you manage to catch a little warmth outside this weekend? 💛

Sound on! 🔊

When you live inland, it is easy to forget just how prolific seashells can be; walking up to Sarah’s Haida Arts & Jewellery in Old Masset made that abundantly clear...

A crushed-shell walkway offers the ultimate grounding tactile crunch—infinitely better than sterile clinic stock photos!

In case you were wondering how full-Sasquatch I go on holiday: it’s precisely this much.

Presenting the dramatic “I can’t even” driftwood statue, brought to you by the wild, rugged shores of Haida Gwaii. Already missing this place.

• • •

Looks intense; feels incredible!

Day 2 of our RMT Pro Facial course, with Brandi demoing on my Whisspa colleague, Shelley.

Targeted release along the orbital rim looks delicate, but the relief is unmatched:

Melts ocular fatigue and heavy, screen-strained brows

Diffuses stubborn tension headaches behind the temples

Decongests sinus pressure across the forehead and nasal bridge

Unwinds clenching patterns tethered directly to the jaw

⚠️ Why must contacts come out first?

Even the gentlest fascial work shifts the eyelid tissue: leaving lenses in risks folding them, trapping them under the lid, or worse—causing painful corneal scratches from indirect pressure. Safe eyes allow your nervous system to actually relax and let go.

As always: we only ever treat here with your explicit consent—and your lenses safely resting in their case! 👁️✨