Massage therapist inspired by theater opens State Street practice

Matthew Van Slyke has hung out his Licensed Massage Therapist shingle on State Street.

Operating from Suite G of the historic Westerville Medical Center building at 100 S. State, Van Slyke has established his own massage studio, MRV Your LMT.  The business operates within the Massage Medic offices on the lower level of the building.

Van Slyke, 34, said he wants to use his medical massage practice to help people remain in peak health, even as their bodies naturally age and change.

“Longevity … I want to instill the idea you don’t have to be an athlete, actor or dancer to want to make your body function like you want it to function.”

Van Slyke’s interaction with actors and dancers led him to the career choice. He earned degrees in theatre for both Acting and Stage Management from Ohio University in 2013, then bounced around gigs in regional theater up and down the East Coast.

“COVID pushed me back to Ohio,” he said. He grew up in the area through the age of 10, attending St. Paul School, before his parents relocated their family to Mason, Ohio. During his college years, they returned to retire in Westerville, where his mother was born.

College and his work in theater that brought him to “the whole idea of self-care,” and led him to launch the massage therapist career, he said.

“I loved working with the dancers and actors, who were super body-conscious,” he said. At some stops, theater companies had trainers backstage, to help cast members work out ailments or address any body issues that felt out of kilter after performances.

That’s the kind of service he hopes to provide clients of his new Westerville business now.

After returning to school to study Medical Massage Therapy at the American Institute of Alternative Medicine in north Columbus, he was certified in October by the State of Ohio as a Licensed Massage Therapist.

Van Slyke aims to build a clientele of health- and body-conscious people. Massage can promote recovery from injuries and illness, and therapy can achieve progress to avoid the need for surgery.

He’s looking for clients, regardless of age, to buy into a mindset of self-care, body awareness, and working to remain at their best. As people age, through maintaining a healthy body, they can “continue to do the things they love to do and function at their peak,” he said.

The name of the practice – MRV Your LMT – comes from his own initials, Matthew R. Van Slyke, and his goal of being “Your Licensed Massage Therapist.”

Bookings can be made through his website at MRVYourLMT.com. They also can be paid for with Uptown Westerville Inc’.s new Gift Card, which Van Slyke accepts along with more than 20 other Uptown shops and service businesses.