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Our Story

Hi! I’m Marissa Orchard. I’m originally from Bailey, Colorado, which is a beautiful mountain town. The serenity of that small, mountain town is something I look forward to every time I visit my parents.

I have loved therapeutic massage since I was about 11. One of my sisters is 8 years older than me and has practiced Massage Therapy for 10 years longer than I have, and she would often give me massages as a present, especially if I needed her to address an issue I was having. She taught me about all of the different ailments massage can ease, the benefits of acupressure for everyday things, and why deep tissue massage reaps more results than a straight Swedish massage. She’s been a neuromuscular therapy and trigger point therapy LMT for her entirety of her career, and she taught me how massage is so much more than a fluffy robe and cucumbers on your eyes, as depicted in so many movies and pictures.

When I was 17, I was in a head-on car accident. I broke one finger, but suffered from whiplash, a swollen knee that resulted in nerve damage, extreme dysfunction in my jaw joints, and countless other soft tissue damage. My lips and nose were so swollen that I could see them! I had had braces for 3 years beforehand, so my bite was supposed to be pretty perfect; after the accident, I had about a centimeter of space between my back teeth on the left side because the airbag hit my jaw in the right (or wrong) spot. My knee was the size of a cantaloupe, and I couldn’t wear normal pants for about 2 weeks. I ached all over and was prescribed Percocet at the hospital, which I happily took so I could sleep.

Fast forward 5 years…

I started Under Pressure Therapeutics right out of school in 2010. Starting off, I just wanted to have a little more freedom and a little extra cash, so it was just on the side. I never dreamed that it would be what it is today!

My 5 year goal was to start hiring other Licensed Massage Therapists to help me, collaborate, and cover for each other when needed. I hired my first LMT after 3 years. Then I just kept growing. I hired another LMT about a year later, and then a few more.

My current team is amazing–I truly cannot speak more highly about a group of talented LMTs. Each of them are caring, funny, and eager to help others. Their knowledge is continuously growing, and each of us has our strong suits. We ultimately are here to help, so if seeing another member of the team is going to help YOU, then we want you to see that person. We’ve had people come in without hope–having seen other Massage Therapists who haven’t helped them, or people who have been in chronic pain believe that there is no relief possible, and they have found that I and my team actually help!

Creating The Orchard

After about a year, I decided that my 10 year goal was going to be to open an collaborative wellness center, allowing different healthcare practitioners to work alongside each other and network and support one another. After 5 years, the opportunity landed in my lap, so I launched The Orchard: An Integrative Health Center in June of 2015.

The Orchard has been such a blessing. We offer classes and workshops, work with our trusted partners, and have a lot of fun with each other.

Holistic health and wellness has truly been a passion of mine for the majority of my life. I tirelessly strive to surround myself with like-minded individuals and practitioners who really help individuals with their health and the community.