Feature Story: Autumn Mayberry

Autumn Mayberry never intended to become a massage therapist. However, the massage table in the center of the room tells a different story.

And Autumn is no regular massage therapist: when asked what a typical day is like for her, she responds that nothing is typical when it comes to her patients.

Autumn owns Massage Dimensions LLC and specializes in Ursa Foundation practices, which incorporate all body systems into finding the solution to pain, immobility and other problems. Treatments focus on the centers of the body that are out of alignment and aim to get muscles and nerves working with the skeletal system properly.

Sitting on a couch next to the table, Autumn talks quickly and excitedly, her hands constantly moving. Her older sister is watching her new baby and her husband is currently a deployed serviceman, so Autumn is filling her day with clients. Even in the few minutes of downtime, energy spills out of her as she explains how she got here.

Autumn has always been interested in the way the body works. Flipping her wrist back and forth, she says it’s amazing how each position means something entirely different.

Taking anatomy and physiology classes as “an easy A” until she decided to major in sports medicine, Autumn would often travel with the football team as a trainer with her sisters Amber and Lark. Most of her friends were athletes and upperclassmen, and she laughs as she tells her reactions at football games.

“I would say, ‘Did you see what that guy did with his ankle?!’” Autumn says. “And they would say, ‘Did you just see that touchdown?!’”

After graduating with her BS from BYU, Autumn planned to continue her education in Washington in physical therapy, and attended massage school as a way to keep her skills until she obtained her residency. It was after nearly completing the program that she was told about the Ursa Foundation.

Attending her first class at the Ursa Foundation, Autumn says she felt immediately in over her head.

“I went back to the hotel room that night after class and bawled,” Autumn says.

It took Autumn a long time to go back for another class. By this time, she had been laid off from her job in Ohio, the economy wasn’t doing well and she was getting a divorce. Feeling like she had nothing, Autumn knew she had to attend more Ursa classes and open her own practice using the techniques.

“I thought if I could help other people feel better, then I wouldn’t feel so bad about myself,” Autumn says.

Not know how she was going to continue attending the expensive Ursa classes, Autumn made a goal of attending two the next year. She ended up attending 12.

“All of my money that didn’t go towards the bills went toward Ursa that year,” Autumn says.

One day, an injured classmate asked the instructor to help her. Having gone to four different massage therapists, nothing relieved the pain.

Autumn draws a “z” in the air, describing how her vertebrae looked. Autumn says that it looked like her instructor used no pressure, but she watched as all the vertebrae fall back into place. She says she was immediately interested in how to do that.

In fact, Autumn fixed a vertebrae in another classmate’s neck soon after to the dismay of her instructor, since she didn’t know the techniques yet.

Autumn moved to Utah and lived with Lark, where she said she finally “crashed” under the weight of her personal life. However, attending Ursa classes put things in perspective for her.

“I’m there and it’s noon, and I met someone that’s in a worse spot than me,” Autumn says.

Autumn’s sister Lark said caring for others is one of her biggest strengths. Michelle Glenetski, one of Autumn’s patients, said that during her treatments, Autumn was not only personable, but explained what she was doing and what Michelle could do to continue healing after going home.

Autumn says that she takes one day at a time, listening to each and every patient—and her family.

“My goal every day is to be a good mom,” she adds.

Lark says that Autumn’s practice has given her added confidence. One can see this confidence now, as she tells her story.

“I’m pretty blessed,” Autumn says. “If you can make the world, or at least your world, a little better, then it’s not all pointless, you know?”

**This feature story was written for a BYU media writing class, Winter 2011 semester.