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Nape Woapiye: Providing Alternative Health Methods

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MISSION, SD—The Nape Woapiye Holistic Center has provided affordable homeopathic healing alternatives to Western medicine to residents of the Rosebud Reservation during the past ten years.

Owned and operated by Laurie Russo, a licensed Massage Therapist, the Center has provided services to 1800 clients since 2005. “I can’t believe how fast the last ten years have gone by,” stated Russo. She began regularly serving clients out of a spare bedroom in her home before remodeling a double wide mobile home into the current Center.

Russo began working out of her current building in 2008. She serves over 80 clients each month. Recently, licensed therapist Racheal Herman joined her at the Center in order to keep up with an ever growing clientele. Services include massage therapy, cranial sacral therapy, yoga and energy work with a recent addition of therapy using Tibetan singing bowls.

"Therapeutic touch connects our body to our self,” says Russo. “This process is very important in understanding what the body needs to heal itself. Most people experiencing massage for the first time are astonished that they never knew areas on their body were tight, sore and painful. There are many people who are hesitant in taking steps to receive healing touch because of negative touch received at some point in their life."

The Nape Woapiye Holistic Center has two private treatment rooms to serve clients. The center also has a comfortable waiting area, office space and a small kitchen. A library is available for clients to check out books. A small retail area offers a variety of herbal supplements, teas and ointments available for purchase.  

Western medicine is notorious for treating symptoms of the body with synthetic drugs. Man- made drugs are also prescribed to treat mental afflictions. In many cases, patients who are treated by licensed physicians wind up with a whole slew of medication to take. In some cases, the pills a patient takes will bring on another ailment, which must also be treated with more synthetic medication.

“In order to truly experience healing, one must treat the entire system, not just one area,” stated Russo. “The mind, body and spirit are all entities and when one is out of balance, illness occurs.”

Many clients make massage therapy a regular part of their lives. People who experience a high level of stress at their jobs see massage therapy and yoga as a way to relieve the tension of everyday life. Russo also treats clients who have been referred to her by the local hospital. Some clients have been able to forego narcotic prescriptions to better manage their chronic pain through massage therapy.

The Nape Woapiye Holistic Center is located one block north of Subway in Mission, SD. For more information or to make an appointment, please call (605) 856-4515.