Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Murphy.
Hi Sophia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
After a 20 year dance career, primarily in ballet and modern dance, I was living with chronic hip pain and numbing. I was told that I would need a hip replacement before the age of 30 if I continued dancing after a doctor deemed an injury “career ending” when I was 14 years old.
But that was truly where my health and wellness journey started. What one doctor claimed was the end of my career, was actually the start. I changed my diet and lifestyle and found alternative treatments to help my body heal holistically. I was dancing without pain 2.5 months after that hopeless diagnosis.
After I received my Bachelors Degree in Dance in 2016, I went on to focus on injury prevention through receiving my Personal Training Certification. I worked for a family owned gym where I was introduced to Fascial Stretch Therapy(FST). By that point in my career, I was experiencing chronic hip pain and numbness. I started to believe I would need that hip replacement before 30. My manager gave me an FST session one day and as cliche a it sounds, my life and body was changed in just 60 minutes on his table.
My pain and numbing was gone and after three sessions, it never came back. I knew I needed to share this with my community. As much as I never pictured myself owning and running a business, getting trained in FST and starting Imperium Stretch & Recovery in 2019 was a no brainer.
I started ISR thinking it would be a fun side hustle, and it exploded into something I would have never dreamed up. Nearly seven years later, I continue to have a 30+ person waitlist and stay booked for months at a time.
Fascial Stretch Therapy changed my life and my body and it has clearly done the same for the Nashville community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think running a business comes with a rocky road, but at the same time, everything always works out how it should.
I started Imperium six months before an international pandemic. So you could definitely say the start was not smooth at all! Although I lost the entire roster I worked six months to build at the start of the pandemic, I somehow tripled my roster by the end of 2020.
I started Imperium doing concierge services. I ended 2020 NEEDING to rent an office space because I was completely booked working six days a week and maintaining a 30+ person waitlist. I was grateful and overwhelmed!
Through the years after the pandemic, my personal life has changed as well and so has my focus.
I became a mom 2x over!
With that change in identity and priorities, came change in business structure.
I’m grateful for the different chapters Imperium has gone through, what it has taught me about myself, my business and my clients, and ultimately what I want my focus for Imperium to be.
So, to answer this question again, no… not smooth, but deeply deeply rewarding and worth it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Imperium Stretch & Recovery?
Imperium Stretch & Recovery offers Fascia focused, table based, hands on care. We specialize in Fascial Stretch Therapy which focusses on the bodys’ connective tissue (ie. Fascia).
Unlike most assisted stretch techniques that you’ll find at many franchises and box gyms, FST is a methodical, highly individualized assisted stretch technique that is gentle, therapeutic and lasts long after you get up from the table.
The fascial system is the largest sensory organ in our bodies and the most neglected. By tending to the fascia, you tend to every system in the body because the fascia encases every system in the body.
What sets us apart from other assisted stretch modalities, and even massage, is the fascial system approach. When you think in the realm of connective tissue, everything changes. The results are different. The approach is individualized based on the clients needs and imbalances. This work is not textbook. It is different for every client who walks through the door no matter if every client comes in with pain in the same location of the body.
This is not just a pain management/relief modality. It is for mobility, healthy aging, increased athletic performance, hormone regulation, fluid/lymphatic flow support, nervous system regulation and truly so much more.
What I am most proud of when it comes to my brand is the level of care I give and what I choose to represent. No matter your circumstances, pain levels, size, mental state, etc. my space is open for you to come as you are. In this space you are heard, and validated. No shame. Just space to process what you need to, and help you heal in the process.
My goal in my approach is to give you hope on whatever journey you’re on. With that, I am not afraid to tell you if you need another professionals support. I might not be your best fit, but I might know someone who can give you the results you’re needing. My goal is to give you results, not keep you forever. And if I am not the practitioner to do that, I have a roster of incredible professionals who offer help and healing in the Nashville community. This community works as a team to give you back your life. That’s my goal for every client who walks through my doors.
You deserve the life you want to live, in the body you only get one of. Let’s make it work the way you need it to.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
My entire approach to the fascial system has been shaped by two decades worth of ballet training.
Before my anatomical education ever began, my knowledge of the body grew from a deep connection with my own body through dance. You have to move the body in one rhythmic motion in ballet, while also executing extreme physical control. My body and fascia has been trained to respond to the vibrations of music in a way that is now being recognized as a healing modality in the fascia and medical world – the use of frequency in medicine.
With this background, I mix my deep connection to my own body, my injury history, and all the ways I understand movement through dance with the anatomical/clinical side of fascial health. This approach takes me out of a textbook mindset, and truly allows me to approach each client as an individual with a unique story rather than a generalized treatment that is the same for everyone.
Your body and your story makes up your fascial tone. It makes up the tightness, restrictions, and movement patterns you live with. Everything you experience in your body tells a story and it deserves space to be validated, and treated with care.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://imperiumstretch.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imperiumstretch/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imperiumstretch
