MEET AMY LINVILLE, HOLISTIC ESTHETICIAN

Meet Amy Linville, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist +Transforming Touch®️ Holistic esthetician based in Columbus, Ohio. Operating from her practice at Forefront Health and Wellness, Amy skillfully combines her expertise as a Licensed Advanced Esthetician, RCST® (Registered Craniosacral Therapist), and Transforming Touch® Practitioner to offer a unique, nurturing experience. Exclusively using Dr. Alkaitis Organics, her treatments transcend traditional skincare, focusing on enhancing overall health and vitality. Amy's philosophy centers on nurturing the skin and calming the nervous system, providing more than just skincare but a path to inner well-being and radiance. Join us in this exclusive Q&A as we delve into Amy's world, where beauty is more than skin deep.

(Portrait by Megan Leigh Barnard)

 

1) What brought you to the world of Holistic Esthetics?

My husband first, and later my children, presented me with sensitivities and skin challenges and I helped them to navigate those. Lots of “trial and learn,” as my Dad would say. When my children were old enough to start developing their own lives and hobbies I knew I needed to be thinking about what was next for me beyond mothering and the odd jobs I had before that. I craved quiet and thought that skincare work might provide what I was looking for and got my Esthetician’s license. Membership to a local food coop solidified a lifestyle based on plants-as-medicine. Also on a very basic level I have always been attracted to the idea of transformation. Before and After. 

2) Tell us about where you fit within the wellness spa industry?

I look for the easiest way to connect with and create safety for clients. For some this relationship begins with a facial. For others it is the protocols of Transforming Touch/TEB (Transforming the Experience-based Brain) or BCST (Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy). Even before studying the nervous system, I knew that holding bodies as estheticians do, is intimate, vulnerable work and looking at it through the “mitigating the appearance of aging” lens was never going to be enough for me.

3) What do you especially love about Dr. Alkaitis Organics?

It is safe. I trust it. The integrity with which it was born, formulated and shared with the world is unmatched. It brings results, is a joy to use and makes my treatment room smell wonderful. I love the versatility and “mix-ability” of the products. Plus the Alkaitis family has always been supportive.

4) What is your favorite Dr. Alkaitis product and why?

That changes depending on when I am asked! I have to say the Organic Enzyme Exfoliating Mask was what first hooked me though. Again, I could trust it not to harm or even irritate but yet I could feel with my fingers how it immediately freshened the skin. It’s what we call in our house “a sleeper.” Something or someone, whose beauty is missed or overlooked…until it isn’t.

5) Explain to us what a client can expect from a facial treatment with you?

A relaxing, unrushed service that prioritizes safety and deep settling while also providing gentle yet potent skin care with a focus on stimulation throughout the tissue matrix of the face, neck and upper chest. I also do an old-fashioned hand and arm massage during the finishing mask.

6) How often do you recommend your clients come in to see you?

Bigger transformations and change require commitment. I love to see people every 4-6 weeks. When that isn’t possible I welcome their own chosen frequency.

7) How do you customize a skin care routine for your clients?

A touch relationship to our bodies needs to be cultivated and supported. Slowing down and paying attention to what our body is messaging through our skin is so important to overall wellness. This isn’t just a skill estheticians can have. Healthcare is always more potent when we lead our own. A regime needs to be co-created with me and the client so they understand their skin and the products and look forward to the ritual.

8) Tell us about a skincare ritual that you love?

Honey-tapping. Using organic raw honey alone or with the Flower or Enzyme Mask as a brightening, rejuvenating practice that simulates cupping. I demonstrated it in a video on my Facebook page.

9) Why do you feel raw organic skincare made from whole plants is important?

Dr. Alkatis would say “you can’t pick apart nature.” The full spectrum of chemical constituents present in the plant are necessary for the plant's beneficial powers to be whole and effective. There is divine intelligence, wiser than our own, in all of life.

10) Are there any other creative endeavors, or sources of inspiration that you would like to share with us & the world?

My story is my source of inspiration:

Though I graduated from a small liberal arts school with a BFA, I was utterly lost coming out of school. This, in part, was due to life-long chronic head and neck pain and the low level of anxiety from not feeling my best and knowing I could end up needing a dark room and ice to get through to the next day. Also historically it was an odd time for artists. Graphic art was still pre-digital. Text was ordered at the typesetter and cut with an Exacto knife and glued down to a board with imagery to be photographed essentially. Literally "cut and paste".

We took the leap of faith to have children and though I didn't always feel good I always felt I was the most qualified person for the job of raising them, which in turn brought me confidence. Many years later, I finally found my tribe of bodyworkers. It was a somatic therapist that introduced me to Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and that was the modality,  though I had tried many up until then, that started the healing for me. I then made my way back to making art and was pleasantly surprised to find the memories of how to draw were implicit--unconscious and effortless.

Whenever possible I try to inspire, teach or mentor people that want to make art. It can be such an amazing tool for nervous system regulation as well as a rewarding pastime. I love Urban Sketching, and fashion and food illustration. Some of my art can be seen at https://www.instagram.com/amylinville.ae

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AMY LINVILLE ESTHETICS
Forefront Health and Wellness
761 South Front Street,
Columbus, Ohio 43206

Located in Columbus Ohio's Brewery District, just south of downtown

Call or text 614-321-9202

https://www.amylinville.com/

Illustration below created by Amy Linville