Meet Our Team
Eva Paul - Director of Integrative Therapies at Gunnison Valley Health
Licensed Massage Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher, Somatic Mind Body Practitioner,
Neuromuscular Therapy, and Spa Services
Eva is an educator, advocate and bodyworker that believes the human body
is designed to heal. She began her career in Massage when she moved to
Crested Butte in 2008 and added Reiki to her skill set in 2015, inspired
by a lifetime of Kinesthetic awareness and passion. Eva regards herself
as a maven and connector in the world of healing, encouraging everyone
to experience energy through touch. Eva also taught at the Mountain Heart
School for Transformational Bodywork in Crested Butte from 2015-2019,
shaping fresh hands and minds to the power of facilitating healing.
In 2015, Eva began working with Gunnison Valley Health regarding a new
concept of introducing supporting therapies that would complement traditional
medicine. It was in 2017, Integrative Therapies evolved as a support department
at Gunnison Valley Health, spearheaded by Eva. Starting with massage to
support outpatient allopathic healthcare, she has grown the department
to include four key modalities. Working with physicians to incorporate
supportive therapies, Eva is passionate about providing solutions to chronic
pain, anxiety, sleep, woman’s health and the mind body connection.
Her motto is “so many people need the touch, and don’t get
it anywhere else in life.”
Most recently, Eva has begun to teach Reiki as a self-empowerment tool
and believes that “people don’t realize that they are in charge
of their health, and beginning to become aware of one’s own body
is the first step”
Dana VanMarter
Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy
Dana VanMarter is Gunnison Valley Health’s Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy
in the Integrative Therapies Department. She completed the two year certification
program in 2017. Last winter, Dana contracted with Gunnison Valley Health
in the Integrative Therapies Department, and came onboard as a full-time
employee in late June.
Dana came to the Gunnison Valley in 1986 as a student/athlete at WSU. She
competed as a member of the Mountaineers’ Volleyball team, and graduated
in 1990 with a BA in Business Marketing. Like many students, the mountains
carved themselves into her soul, and she made her permanent home with
her husband and kids in Crested Butte. In her free time she enjoys the
great outdoors as much as possible, mostly on the backs of her horses
in the surrounding Wilderness Areas.
Dana has worked in the valley in an assortment of managerial positions,
and comes to Gunnison Valley Health from her recent position as Soft Goods
Supervisor at Flatiron Sports. Dana is happy to have the opportunity to
pursue her newest passion, a bodywork called Ortho-Bionomy.
Book with Dana
Teslin Maclaren
Licensed Acupuncturist, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Yoga Instructor,
Lamaze Childbirth Educator.
Teslin began practicing massage in Seattle, Washington in 2015, largely
providing massage in-hospital to women post labor and delivery. She earned
her Masters of Science degree in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine from
Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA. She received a focused training in Traditional
Chinese Medicine, with an emphasis on Western Sciences. Personal experience
with injury and academic choice led Teslin to resonate primarily with
sports medicine and women’s health.
In an effort to provide holistic care and help women feel more confident
and prepared before, during, and after birth, Teslin became a certified
childbirth educator and infant massage instructor.
Teslin is excited to work in a practice combining a variety of complementary
modalities in order to provide maximum benefit to clientele.
Teslin lives in Lake City, Colorado, and also practices massage at Gunnison
Valley Health. In her free time, she enjoys being active with hiking,
yoga, aerial arts and unicycling.
Book with Teslin
Timoni Slusher
Timoni Slusher L.Ac. DACM, Specializing in orthopedics and sports medicine,
loves to work with athletes and fellow mountain bikers, of all levels
from enthusiasts to the professional level. Timoni's skills, training
and knowledge have helped her patients to recover from surgeries, chronic
and acute injuries, to increase endurance, performance level, and flexibility,
and to maintain balance and overall health in their bodies.
She received her Doctorate degree in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine from
the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego, CA. Timoni's
training consisted of over 3500 hours of extensive instruction in acupuncture
techniques, herbal medicine, Chinese medical theory, and western medical
theory. She has over 10 years of clinical experience treating various
sports-related injuries and chronic pain syndromes. She has successfully
treated digestive disorders, sleep disorders, depression and anxiety;
and has treated various chronic autoimmune disorders such as multiple
sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Book with Timoni
Cassandra Thistle
Cassandra has shared an interest in subtle body energy since 2012. After
years of practice, she took what she learned from the healing benefits
from her personal journey to start to give back to the community, completing
her training in Wisconsin as Reiki Master Teacher of the Usui/Tibetan
System of Energy Healing from Angelic Roots.
With Reiki's passion, Cassandra was inspired by traditional Japanese
Reiki Ancient Master Chuiiro Hayashi, to include the specialization of
the Traditional Hindu Chakra System, graduating from a Master Buddhist
from the Iskcon Temple of Greater Chicago.
The Chakra System is a complex network of energy channels connecting your
emotional, mental and physical state mapped throughout the body. Experience
and education with the combination of Reiki and the Chakra System in her
sessions can attune each indusial to better understand themselves as a
whole and unlock the body's natural healing ability.
In Cassandra's spare time, she has spent time volunteering at the Azura
Memory Care of Sheboygan, sharing the world of Reiki with local community
members. She also enjoys nature hikes, meditation, and worldly travel.
What she enjoys most is teaching people how to empower themselves to make
positive changes in their lives. Cassandra believes that by learning and
exploring the body through the means of energy, you will be able to achieve
success, expansion, and self-empowerment for tomorrow's future.
Book with Cassandra
Odyssey Gade
Odyssey Gade, originally from Washington state is the newest practitioner
to join Integrative Therapies. He sought a career in massage after seeing
first hand the power that complimentary medicine can have on the body
and mind while living in Alaska. Inspired by a former student of Mountain
Heart School of Bodywork, he chose to start his journey in the healing
arts attending the 705 hour program and graduated in 2019. He joined the
Team at Gunnison Valley Health in 2021.
His passion is to help people achieve and maintain a healthy, pain-free
life style. He also brings to his practice the art of holding space so
his patients can experience peaceful clear thoughts during their massage
with guided meditation techniques he learned at Mountain Heart. The core
philosophy of his work is listening to the client and their body to target
the areas of greatest discomfort. He has experience in relaxing Swedish,
as well as Therapeutic Massage which may include trigger point techniques,
acupressure, myofascial as well as neuromuscular techniques, blending
all these knowledge to best fit the needs of the patient.
In his free time he enjoys yoga, dance, mountain biking in the summer and
hitting the slopes in the winter.
Book with Odyssey
Tamara Bifano
Tamara Bifano is a Licensed Massage Therapist who is excited to share her
passion of bodywork in healthcare. She started exploring holistic therapies
in 2008, when she discovered essential oils and the benefit’s of
meditation. In 2017, she pursued a career in massage, studying at the
Rexburg College of Massage Therapy, after graduating she worked at a Physical
Therapy Rehabilitation Clinic in Idaho, specializing in therapeutic techniques.
At the Clinic she was able to polish her skills under the mentorship of
the Physical Therapist. She continued her education with Structural Muscle
Balancing, a technique which allows the body to re-align, addresses posture
and creates balance in the muscular system with subtle gentle effective
movements.
Tamara firmly believes that everyone can benefit from massage: the elderly,
cancer patients, adaptive, etc. Her bodywork can include; deep tissue,
sports, myofascial, Swedish, reflexology, as well as hot stone for a relaxation-driven
massage. She is currently studying the Lymph System and will soon be offering
Manual Lymph Drainage packages. Manaul Lymph Drainage benefits are: improves
sleep, reduces stress, pain management, strenhten immune system and detoxification.
When Tamara is not at work she is in the outdoors, she enjoys nature and
time with her family, whether it’s hiking, fishing, horseback riding
in the mountains hunting or trail riding. She has horses in the past and
thoroughly enjoys having them and plans on getting more of them.
Book with Tamara
Shamai Buckle
Shamai Buckel is a Functional Nutrition practitioner who approaches human
health and longevity by incorporating whole foods and lifestyle modifications
to build resilient immune responses. Through the lens of less is more,
quality over quantity, she uses individual goals and needs to help people
attain their personal best.
Lifestyle medicine became a career for Shamai in 2000 when she received
her BA in Health Promotion and Wellness from Western State University.
She later went on to get her Masters in Science for Human Nutrition and
Functional Medicine, this deepened her understanding in the importance
of gut health and cell function for overall wellbeing.
Other passions and certifications include Massage Therapy, the power of
touch and Ortho-Bionomy, the importance of subtle listening. These skills
are incorporated into Shamai’s working concept of Functional Nutrition
and wellness. When not cooking meals for her family, she enjoys playing
outside and forest bathing.
Book with Shamai