This month marks 20 years since we opened The Dragontree! I’ll be sharing about some of our milestones, challenges, and triumphs this month. 

Briana and I met while working at another spa in Portland. She was only 21 years old and bursting with ambition. She had a habit of telling our boss the many ways the spa could be improved. Eventually the owner fired her, saying, “If you think you can do it better, do it yourself.” It wasn’t done in anger; I honestly believe she just saw Briana’s potential and was giving her the nudge she needed.  

Briana found a warehouse in northwest Portland in a beautiful location near Forest Park and we drove over to check it out. While our strengths tend to differ, one that we share is the ability to see the potential in a space. The building was old, dirty, and had a bad smell. It was built in the early 1900s and had once been a carriage house. It had high ceilings and a long entryway that opened up into a wider space in the back. There was a bathroom with a nasty shower and a few walls in places we didn’t want them. 

We boarded up the shower, bought a sledgehammer, and took turns smashing the walls. Working on a shoestring budget, we started building out the space. Within a few months, it was looking pretty good. We divided it into a lobby, a community (“sangha”) room, and five treatment rooms. With Briana at the helm, there was a party scheduled for our grand opening, which meant we were scrambling in the last few weeks. We often worked into the wee hours painting, decorating, assembling furniture, and running speaker wire. 

I built a pond in the waiting area which we stocked with koi and surrounded with plants. As a backdrop, Briana got some cloth and sewed a huge wall hanging in the shape of leaves. From a friend in India, we got numerous colorful saris and hung them from the ceiling like rays of a sun. It probably looked rather homespun, but at the time we thought it was pretty cool. 

Soon the phone started ringing. There were just three of us to start, and the appointments were made in a paper scheduling book. I did Chinese medicine and was in charge of fixing things and writing treatment descriptions. Briana and her friend Kara were the receptionists and did all the spa treatments.

When people started coming in, we almost couldn’t believe it. We knew this was what was supposed to happen, but there was still something of a feeling of disbelief that we had built this place and clients were showing up to receive the services we were offering. We were spilling over with gratitude. 

It wasn’t long before we needed to hire more help. Many of our early employees became close friends. It might not have been ideal from a management standpoint, but we were in our 20s and we spent so much time together that it just happened naturally. I will never forget the night we had a staff party on the roof and stayed up all night. Looking around, we realized this is bigger than us. 

The next day we crafted our mission statement: We provide a sanctuary from the stress that degrades the quality of our lives. We will assist you on your journey towards balance with rejuvenative therapies, and will be an educational resource by offering tools for self-maintenance and healing. Our ultimate intention is to seed our community with centered, peaceful, and healthy people.

Thank you for being with us through this wonderful journey. 

Love,

Peter and Briana