VERGENNES — For 25 years, Shannon Jacobson has loved every aspect of her work. As a dedicated licensed massage therapist, or LMT, Jacobson prides herself on being able to engage with her community and help serve them, emotionally and physically, through the healing power of massage.

“There’s nothing more satisfying or gratifying than having people be like, ‘I feel so much better … I feel like I could do more, that I could stretch more, that I could live better,’” Jacobson said. “It’s so rewarding.”

Having moved across the country from Washington state to Vermont only four years ago with her family, Jacobson and her business — which operates under the name Shannon Jacobson LMT — are still relatively new to the small Vergennes community. However, she is not new to the game. Having attended the Port Townsend School of Massage in Washington from 2001 to 2002, Jacobson completed a 1,000-hour certification program in order to get her LMT license and even operated her own massage business for several years.

“Before I went to massage school, a friend of mine had gotten a couple gift certificates for massage, and he took me with him,” Jacobson said. “I felt so amazing afterward, you know. It was during high school, where I played many different sports and … It was such a unique, wonderful feeling that it stuck with me for so long. It’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, to make people feel that good would be incredible.’ And it has been.”

In order to comply with the strict rules imposed on bodyworkers, Jacobson is required to participate in a continuing education program every two years. During this time, she has been able to grow her skill set, becoming trained in everything from the physical, hands-on aspect of massage to more academic areas like kinesiology (anatomy and mechanics of human movement), pathology (the study of disease) and physiology (how cells, tissues and organs work).

She has also completed many new certifications, such as getting licensed in sideline massage which allows her to safely perform prenatal massages, that have enabled Jacobson to conduct the treatments she offers at her Vergennes location.

“My specialty and my focus is on treatment and therapeutic massage,” she said. “And in the last, say, 10 years, 15 years, I’ve incorporated fire cupping into my normal sessions of treatment massage.”

Jacobson’s website describes fire cupping as an ancient alternative medicine technique that involves placing cups to create suction and increase blood flow to a specific area. This relieves muscle tension and improves blood circulation. Similarly, she offers hot stone massage therapy, in which the heat of the stones laid on specific areas if the body improves circulation and relieves muscle tension.

“Fire cupping results in improved blood supply to skin and muscles, reduced pain and hypertension, and balanced immune, nervous and hormonal systems,” Jacobson explained on her Instagram page. “Overall, fire cupping is an effective therapy option for removing physical and emotional toxins from the body.”

Other services offered at Shannon Jacobson LMT are deep tissue massage, which helps individuals with chronic pain, injuries or specific musculoskeletal conditions; Swedish massage, which promotes relaxation and stress relief while enhancing blood flow and flexibility; and pregnancy massage.

When asked if the popularity and interest surrounding fire cupping within the athletic community and the wider sports world has the tendency to drive her client demographic, Jacobson happily responded that she gets to treat a wide range of patients.

“It’s been such a mixed bag,” she said. “I get teenage kids to people in their 80s and 90s … that will benefit from the cupping as well for so many different ailments, for so many different issues…. I have clients that are blue collar men, farmers … they’re like, ‘I need to farm. This is my busy season. This (pain) in my body is keeping me from achieving this and achieving that.’”

Still in the process of growing her business since renting out the space at 92 Main St. a year and a half ago, Jacobson sees about 40 to 50 customers a month. She hopes that number will continue to rise as people become more familiar with her and her practice. She is aiming to hit close to as many as 100 customers a month, which is more in line with the numbers she saw in Washington.

Jacobson’s ultimate goal is to help streamline massage into an everyday, household necessity for medical and emotional well-being. She wants to help end the stigma that dictates massage as only being a luxurious and leisurely activity and not something that should be sought out on a regular basis or integrated into daily lifestyles and health routines.

“People won’t hesitate to make physical therapy appointments if something’s bugging (them),” Jacobson said. “People dismiss stress…but it really takes a strong hold, not only mentally, but physically as well.

“Stress, trauma, it all lands in our soft tissue, and it stays there and it represents, it doesn’t go away. It represents in different pain patterns, tension cycles, adhesions and to be able to release that is to be able to release not only physical muscles, but also stress and traumas as well.”

The ability to help people recognize and feel the absence of that stress, that pain and tension, is what Jacobson loves so much about being an LMT. She feels rewarded every day to have a place in her community not only as a business owner, but as a healer.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s so great to see the people that I work on out in the community and to have people recognize me.”