Frequently Asked Questions

We don’t do ‘massages’ 🙂
The Functional Muscle Manipulation, a specific therapeutic technique, helps you release your chronically contracted muscles mostly next to your spine. By working at the center, it addresses your muscle and nerve pains at the periphery, such as your wrists or feet.
We typically don’t work on the arms and legs, but there are cases where it’s necessary.
The Vagal Drift technique includes the FMM, but also works on your diaphragm muscles, legs and arms, focusing on shifting you from the state of fight or flight to the parasympathetic state of healing and happiness.
In case it is not clear by now, we also don’t do ‘pleasure massages’ with intimate expectations.

At DeeperLayers, we practice the Functional Muscle Manipulation.
Because of the focused work the client does, working on their body-mind connection during the session, usually the 50 mins session is enough.
The FMM is built to work on the pattern that holds the tension in place, which is what makes it different from massage aimed at the muscle itself.

We offer an 80 mins option of an FMM session if you feel you have specific issues that might not be covered in the typical duration.

Your first session will be mostly without music, since we have some things to hear from you, and a lot to tell you.

In order for you to have results that don’t just last for the day, we will help you understand what keeps you contracted and how to unfold.

Don’t expect a spa-type session where with the use of soft but indifferent music and soft strokes you will likely fall into a reviving nap.
You will need to breathe in a way that we teach you, and be present in your body while we work on you. We are looking to enhance your body-mind connection.

From session 2 and onwards there will be music. We almost always play soft and emotional songs with lyrics. If a tune brings out memories or emotions, that is something desirable most of the time; it helps you feel and connect to your body.

Occasionally, someone may ask us to not play music at all or to play just instrumental music. We can accommodate either.

No. Most people walk out feeling lighter and looser, and any tenderness the work leaves behind is mild and gone within a day.

Rarely, a small number of clients feel pain or contraction in the days after one of their first three sessions. It can look like a setback, but it is closer to the opposite: the body re-arming after the work opened it up. It settles, and the fastest way through it is a session booked soon after. Read more about the therapeutic crisis →

Our office is at 1601 N Gower St, Ste 105, in Hollywood — close to Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Westwood, Central LA, Koreatown, Mid City, Culver City and Silver Lake.

People come to us with tension that keeps returning: necks and shoulders that tighten again a few days after a massage, jaw tension, headaches that start in the neck, low back and nerve pain that comes back. If that pattern sounds familiar, the Functional Muscle Manipulation was built for it.

You will remove your clothes from the waist up and you will lie face down.
The FMM is practiced almost solely on the back and we use unscented high quality vegetable massage oil that doesn’t leave stains.
You can keep your pants or skirt on, or take them off to feel more comfortable, in which case you can have your lower part covered by a sheet.
Typically you will have your upper glutes exposed and worked on.

If you pay with an HSA or FSA account, we will provide an invoice that should allow you to deduct the expense on your tax-return.

We cannot get paid by your insurance, but some clients had success in getting reimbursed. You could ask your insurance provider if they would reimburse an invoice by a massage therapist after a referral by your in-system physician.

In case of a Personal Injury by a car accident, your chiropractor or PCP might be able to refer you to us. Some clients have been reimbursed by their insurer after a referral like that, but it is between you and your insurer and we cannot promise it.

No one that understands the need for real therapy with the Functional Muscle Manipulation should be left out because they can’t afford it. If you are willing to commit, but currently have low income, we should be able to accomodate your need. Apply here: https://book.deeperlayers.com/community-care

Cancel 24h in advance to avoid penalty.

A “no-show” will be charged at 50% of the standard session cost.