July Special

Look and feel your best for summer. Start with a refreshing grapefruit and mint foot bath. Then retreat into a private room to experience a one hour fusion of deep tissue and Swedish massage. Finish with a summer garden facial. $175

Anniversary Party

Thursday July 15th 7:30 - 9:30 pm

Join us to celebrate 7 years of seeding our community with centered, peaceful, and healthy people. Refreshments, live music, entertainment, cocktails, discount coupons, and a silent auction to benefit Shepherd's Door.

Thank you for making the past 7 years wonderful, and the next 7 years possible!

The Dragontree Evolution

By Peter Borten, L.Ac., Acupuncturist and Herbalist at The Dragontree

About nine years ago, I was practicing Chinese Medicine in John's Landing and needed some extra income. So, I took a job doing massage and acupuncture at a local spa. It was a nice enough place and I enjoyed having coworkers to trade treatments and techniques with, but I was serious about medicine, and I felt this job was just a stepping stone. I wanted to treat significant health problems, and thought a spa wasn't the ideal forum for this.

However, there was one great perk to working at this place: a talented and ebullient massage therapist who immediately captivated me. I looked at the schedule and wrote down all the days we had shifts together in the coming month, and on those days I made sure I was well dressed and had recently showered. She tells me now that I wasn't really well dressed, but bachelors don't always know these things. Luckily, she was able to see past this shortcoming and we started to get to know each other.

Several months passed, and I decided to quit the spa job because my private practice was picking up. Meanwhile, I had fallen in love with this woman – let's call her Briana – and she, too, decided to leave the spa. Her dream was to open her own spa, and she told me that once it was built, I could move my medical practice there.

She was 22 years old, and almost everyone doubted she could accomplish this. But she found a big empty building and started to write a business plan. She got a friend involved as a business partner and they found funding. We happily demolished the existing interior with sledgehammers and saws. Walls were built and painted, rooms were decorated. I designed a menu, and we made business cards and brochures that we printed, cut, and folded ourselves.

Shortly after Briana's 23rd birthday, we opened our doors for business. Things moved slowly at first, with Briana and her partner doing everything from making appointments to checking clients in and out, laundering the sheets and towels, mopping the floors, and performing all of the massage. It was a big, exciting step forward when we hired our first therapist and receptionist.

About a year and a half after opening, it became clear that Briana and her business partner were no longer seeing eye to eye on the overarching vision of the business, so Briana raised the money to buy her partner out. Whereas her creative expression had been somewhat stifled by this partnership, it was a learning experience, and becoming the sole owner was a liberating event.

We decided it was a good time to clarify what exactly our purpose was. We had each been involved for several years in intensive "integrity work," which entailed things like being scrupulously clear in our communications, keeping all of our agreements, honoring the power of our words, and looking for opportunities to enhance our environment. As the spa grew, we realized it was becoming a vehicle for doing this work on a larger scale. When we aligned our intentions with the business's mission, everything began to flow differently. We started to attract staff members and clients who really impressed us, who shared our ideals and walked their talk. The space itself has also grown, adding treatment rooms, saunas, and new services, as well as "maturing" in a less tangible, yet unmistakable way.

As for my early apprehension about having a serious medical practice in a spa, this dissolved within the first few years. I grew to appreciate the great skill my wife has at creating environments that have a natural flow, and feel good and tranquil. Also, I began to recognize the healing potential of spaces. The space we've cultivated is more than the sum of its warm paint colors, peaceful music, and gurgling fountains. I believe it's also a product of everyone's healing intentions – both the staff and the visitors – and the family-like atmosphere among all of us who work here. The UPS delivery guy will tell you, it's why he wants to stay and hang out after dropping off a package.

This leads me to the thing I am most proud of about The Dragontree. Whenever business is lagging or we encounter some other hardship, my wife and I remind ourselves of the role this place has played in bringing good people together. As we enter our eighth year, I want to acknowledge everyone we have had the honor of knowing through this spa. Our involvement with organizations such as Nob Hill Business Association, Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon, Think Local First, innumerable schools and charities, and all of our clientele, both in town and at the airport, has helped us meet tons of wonderful business owners and community members. Many of our dearest friends started out as employees or patrons of the spa. And many other good friends have met each other through The Dragontree. We feel truly blessed.

Be well,

Peter and Everyone at The Dragontree