Massage therapist opens in downtown IM | News, Sports, Jobs - The ... - Iron Mountain Daily News

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CODELL STORY, OWNER of Body Alchemy Bodyworks and Massage, works on the shoulder and neck muscles of Charmaine Goodlow at his business at 415 S. Stephenson Ave. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)


IRON MOUNTAIN — Codell Story loves his job and loves to help people at his recently opened business, Body Alchemy Bodyworks and Massage in downtown Iron Mountain.

Originally from Montgomery, Alabama, Story decided Iron Mountain would be a good place for his family, wife Taylor and daughter Megan.

While alchemy is typically a medieval term having to do with potions and changing the forms of metal, Story views it as a kind of rebirth, like when a client comes into his shop and leaves in a much better state.

Story graduated as a massage therapist in May 2022 from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, then gained his national certification in November. and opened his own practice in March at 415 S. Stephenson Ave.

Story credits Jamie Ehmer, therapeutic massage program director at NWTC in Green Bay, with giving him the foundation for success. “She was just an amazing teacher and she put me in the right position,” he said.

In addition to his Iron Mountain business, Story frequently travels to Green Bay to massage Packers players.

Story also offers deep tissue, prenatal and postnatal, infant and pediatric, hot stone, cupping and Reiki massage, which is a form of energy healing.

Perhaps one of the most challenging services Story provides is equine massage — yes, on horses.

“Very tiring. It is very tiring because horses are a 900- to 1,200-pound animal who can, at the drop of a dime, switch positions and not care that you’re standing right there,” Story said. “It is so much more joy because with humans, they can tell you what is wrong, but horses cannot tell. You have to watch for behavior cues to let me know if a spot bothers them or anything like that.”

Story is an Army veteran who served seven and a half years as a combat engineer and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2013. He enjoys helping fellow veterans and would like to do more.

“I love working with veterans. I used to work at the VA here in town and the relationship with the veterans is just, I guess, amazing. So what that is, what I am trying to do now is I am trying to bridge that gap with the VA. That way, if they need to do community care, I want to be that source for the community care for veterans or helping other veterans.”

Story says he treats veterans who have not just physical problems but mental issues as well, such as PTSD. His massage room is set up with the veteran in mind.

“Veterans, always with PTSD, they need to see the door. They have to be able to look up and see the door — they have to have a way to get out easily if push comes to shove,” Story said. “That’s what I’ve designed my whole room around. So if he needs to look up and see the door, just to have eyes on the door, I made sure to provide that.”

Story said what he likes most about his job is helping people live a better life.

“Watching someone come in with a problem or can barely walk or hunched over and watching them leave with a new pep in their step and send them out moving a lot better … To see the transformation pretty much to see them come in bad and leave feeling a lot better,” Story said, adding “I can’t explain how much joy I get from that.”

Story says he’s willing to invest the time and effort in finding the right treatments for his clients.

“If a client tells me that they have a problem, I’ll dive deep and figure out every muscle where the problem is coming from and how to alleviate it,” Story says. “I work with other colleagues in Green Bay to try to figure out if there is something that I can do differently to help that person because I do a lot of research.”

In the future, Story said he’d like to add lymphatic drainage massage, which he said can relieve swelling that happens when medical treatment or illness blocks the person’s lymphatic system.

When not busy with his massage business, Story enjoys working out and in the past was an assistant football coach.

To book an appointment or get other information about Story’s services, go to his website at www.bodyalchemybodyworks.com, call 906-349-1226 or email bodyalchemybodyworks@gmail.com.


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