About

Anatriptic Alchemy is the brain, heart, and soul work of Xerlan and Christopher Deery.

They have practiced in almost every environment available for massage therapists – massage clinics, chiropractic offices, physical therapy clinics, athletic training rooms (at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels), backstage at concerts, entertainment events, and festivals; in booths at conventions, in their own private multidisciplinary clinic, practicing with several other massage therapists, a doctor of oriental medicine, two yoga instructors, and an esthetician; in private fitness clubs and gyms, in the massage franchise setting, as well as owning, overseeing, and instructing at Xerlan’s school, the Massage Therapy Institute of Oklahoma, which they closed prior to relocating to Pennsylvania.

They have both been through foundational training and additional instructor training and have had some great mentors and instructors. They are both currently Board Certified through the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and have earned their AMTA Fascial Certificate and the NCBTMB Oncology Specialty Certificates. They have been teaching assistants with Dr. Bruno Chikly for several years in his Lymphatic Drainage curriculum, as well as with Alaya Chikly’s Heart Centered Therapy Program. Please feel free to refer to their individual curriculum vitae, at the bottom of this page.

Combined, Xerlan and Christopher Deery are instigators of progress and evolution in the profession of massage therapy. It is quite clear that they are passionate about not merely ‘raising the bar’, but ‘raising the floor’ in massage therapy education, returning massage therapy to its rightful place in any engagement as health care, and recognizing that massage therapy is truly a scientific art and an artful science.  They are continually researching and updating their classes to make sure that their students have the most appropriate and current information and are willing to sit and ‘read the things’ and have ‘fierce conversations’ if necessary. They are dedicated to their family, their friends, and very clearly, the profession of massage therapy.

Foundational Course:

• Safe Harbor: A Comprehensive Introduction to Oncology Massage (24 hours)

Find upcoming oncology massage foundational classes in the S4OM Education Calendar 

Supplemental Courses:

• Subtle Bodywork Techniques – Taking Back the Light (8 hours)
• Advanced Practice Oncology Massage: Metastatic Cancer (8 hours)
• Active Survivor: Oncology Massage for Active and Competitive Survivors (8 hours)
• Pain Management: A Person-Centered Approach, (3 hours)
• Research Informed Manual Therapy Refinement for Surgical Pain (6 hours)
• Research Informed Manual Therapy Refinement for Oncology Pain (6 hours)
• Fluid Dynamics: A Comprehensive Exploration of the Lymphatic System (16 hours)
• Pre & Post-Surgical Massage Therapy: Pain Management (12 hours)
• Measurement and Measurable Outcomes for Massage Therapists (4 hours)
• Measurements and Measurable Outcomes for Massage Therapists (8 hours)