Spotlight Series
Topic: Discover holistic healing and energy care with Megan McGlynn.
Guest Name: Megan McGlynn
Guest Credentials: LMT, RM
Discussion Details:
Megan McGlynn, LMT and Usui Reiki Master, is the founder of VALO in Ashburn, Virginia, where she offers a blend of massage therapy, oncology care, and intuitive energy healing. Grounded in compassion and presence, she creates a safe, nurturing environment designed to help clients lower stress, balance their nervous systems, and reconnect with their inner peace. Drawing on specialized training in manual lymphatic drainage and a deeply personal calling to community care, Megan empowers individuals to embrace holistic restoration for mind, body, and spirit.
Benefits of Watching:
1. Understand Mind-Body Connection: Learn how physical muscle tension directly connects to trapped emotional stress and how intuitive bodywork helps release it.
2. Discover Custom Energy Work: Gain insight into Megan’s unique “Reiki-Plus” approach, combining energy healing, mediumship, and gentle bodywork tailored to where you are.
3. Explore Specialized Cancer Support: Hear how personal experience inspired her work in oncology massage and lymphatic drainage to support individuals navigating illness and recovery.
Address of Guests’ Business: VALO
20915 Ashburn Road
Suite 215
Ashburn, VA 20147
571-479-0813
Hi, I’m Viraj Chang, physical therapist and owner of Accelerate Physical Therapy, and this is my professional spotlight series. Today, I am featuring Megan McGlynn at VALO. Hey, Megan.
Nice to see you. Hi, how are you doing? Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely.
Just a little intro about Megan. Megan brings a dynamic blend of deep intuitive guidance and advanced therapeutic technique to her work as a light worker, a Reiki master, intuitive medium, and licensed massage therapist. As a founder of VALO in her hometown of Ashburn, she has created a sanctuary dedicated to grounding body work, specialized oncology care, and transformative energy healing.
Driven by the belief that true wellness relies on community care, Megan holds a space for individuals to slow down, reconnect, and heal alongside one another. Thank you for that. I thought that we could just talk about a unique fact that I can share about you, and then I want you to tell me a little bit about what VALO means.
Gosh, a unique fact. I have a funny one for you. I was asking my husband this morning.
I was like, Brian, what do I say for my unique fact? He goes, you have to tell him about wanting to be a nun. When I was between the age of five and eight, I wanted to be a nun. Then I finally went to Catholic school for a year.
I was a military brat, so we were living in Germany for a long time. We moved to Rhode Island. My parents were in Catholic school for a year.
My mom had mentioned to Sister Mary Josephine, who was running the school, that I wanted to be a nun. Of course, they hear that, and it’s like angel singing, right? They want to cultivate that. She brings me into her office, and she said, Megan, your mother tells me you want to be a nun.
You want to join the sisterhood one day. I was like, yes. I am so excited to be a mother of seven children, and marry a handsome man like Captain Von Trapp.
She realized I’d watched The Sound of Music so many times that I thought I could be a nun and have seven children, and marry a handsome Navy captain. She squashed those dreams pretty fast. She’s like, oh, that’s so cute.
That’s a funny fact. My nickname growing up, my parents always called me Sister Mary Pitcherfitt. I’ve always had a very fiery spirit and strong personality in the family.
It’s a big joke in the family. Okay, very true. Tell me about what valo means.
Yeah, valo is actually a Finnish word. I was an exchange student in Finland when I was 16 for a summer, and I lived with a wonderful family. I’ve recently been in Sweden and Norway, and there’s this beautiful thing that happens in Scandinavia, really anywhere at the top of the world, during the summer, the midnight sun never fully sets.
It dims all the way until it kisses the horizon. Then all of a sudden, it just starts ascending again. It never fully sets.
It’s a metaphor for our energy fields. We have this ability to have this source of energy in our bodies that affects our muscles, our energy, our well-being. When we have things like stress, or disease, or injury, illness, those things dim the vibration, the light within the body, but it never fully goes out.
It’s like an ember that still burns. Then the work that I do between energy work and body work, it helps to raise the vibration of the body again. It’s a metaphor for the work that I do.
I love that. Thank you. That’s amazing that that just came to you as well, right? Yeah, everything’s meant to be.
There’s a reason I was in Finland. There was a reason that one day it just clicked. It clicked for me when I was thinking about the type of work that I do and how I want to help my fellow person in the community.
That’s really about helping people see the light within and knowing that it’s never really gone. There are things that we can do to help bring happiness back, bring safety back to the body, to allow ourselves to rest and rejuvenate our mind, body, and spirit. That’s what we do at Valo.
Mm-hmm. I love that. I love that.
So tell me, was there a specific moment or experience that led you to your specialty as a massage therapist and then as you’re, as a Reiki master? Yeah, they kind of are in tandem. I’ve been doing energy work for years before I ever came into the realm of massage therapy. I’d received massage, but frankly, it wasn’t really a big part of my, my life until my sister-in-law who I call my big sister.
We’re very, we’re like thick as thieves, Thelma and Louise. We, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma stage four in 2023, and it really rocked our family’s world. And she had lost feeling from like knees down, like neuropathy.
So pins and needles, lack of feeling because of the cancer spreading and affecting the nervous system. And so she had begun chemo and I was down there taking care of her during her really, you know, his first few weeks of chemo, the type of chemo she was having was really hard on the body. So they were really tough weeks and she was sitting in her recliner one day and we were watching Gilmore Girls and yeah, she had made a comment about her, her legs feeling swollen.
And some of that was from the chemo. I said, you know, can I just like rub your legs? You know, maybe we can get a little circulation going, make you feel a little bit better. And so I sat in front of her and started rubbing her legs and she leaned down and she was like, now guaranteed I can’t feel everything, but like 10 out of 10, have you ever thought about being a massage therapist? And I was in this kind of transition of my career and really looking for an opportunity to fulfill my purpose in life.
And it just was like the whisper from the universe I needed to hear. And I had a friend in massage therapy school at the time. And so I reached out her and I said, tell me everything about school.
And within a week I was registered. I started classes like a month later. I used every test and all my, my exams and you have to take a really tough exam to become a massage therapist, your MBLEX.
And I passed on the first time. I just felt so inspired by the body. And I knew that I wanted to create a practice that served people just like my sister.
So specializing on oncology care and lymphatic drainage, things like that. So at the same time, kind of in tandem, I had been receiving Reiki for years from my Reiki master teacher. And I said, you know, I’d like to be attuned in Reiki.
I feel this calling to do this type of work and create a practice that provides both to my clients. So I became Reiki attuned and I’m a Reiki master now. And after I graduated from massage therapy school, a couple weeks later, I flew to Costa Rica and I became certified in oncology care and 45 hours of certification in lymphatic drainage massage.
So I incorporate all of that into, you know, almost every session, depending upon the person. Yeah. That’s amazing.
And it’s such a, such a integrative and dynamic approach, especially with the customers that you serve. Tell me a little bit about the types of patients that you would see or the clientele that would thrive in your care. Yeah.
I mean, my clientele is very varied. I have clients from 14 years old to 77 years old, and they all come to me for different reasons. I have clients who are going through chemotherapy or post-mastectomy and they need some scar tissue work and lymphatic drainage.
So I mainly take care of women. I would say probably 95% of my clientele is, is women. And then they send me their husbands because they say you need some work too.
So they come in and see me. But if you’re going through oncology care, pre-surgery, post-surgery, if you just need to come home to your body through therapeutic massage, I would say my most popular service is my massage and Reiki combo session. It’s a very, very popular people walk out feeling like a new person, a more revived, like version of themselves.
So yeah. So I’ve received both of those separately. I’ve never done them both together with you.
So I have to do that, but I’m going to have to like, just have a space to like rest after. I’m not going to be able to move because it’s going to be good. I’m always amazed at the people that go back to work after seeing me.
I keep thinking like, there’s no way I could go to work after getting massaged. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about manual lymphatic drainage.
I know that this is a pretty specific approach and a specialized approach, and it can be really beneficial to especially post mastectomy and oncology patients. But also I just kind of came in for a lymphatic drainage massage with you too. That’s something that’s lymphatic work is something that I think women are maybe starting to experience and perimenopause and menopause as well in the autoimmune population as well.
So tell me a little bit about that. Yeah. Lymphatic drainage is, I’m glad it’s gaining popularity in, you know, the, across TikTok and Instagram and YouTube, all the things.
I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there about lymphatic drainage, but it’s such a critical part to wellness care, care during, you know, all the different things we’ve talked about from oncology care to surgery, to lymphedema, I have lymphedema clients. But the lymphatic system is really amazing. We have this beautiful cardiovascular system that has its own pumping system through the heart, right? So all of our blood gets pumped around all day long and our calves, we call them our little hearts in massage therapy because that helps pump the blood from the bottom part of the body back up to the heart.
But the cardiovascular system cannot exist without the lymphatic system because your lymphatic system is cleaning out the waste, the cellular waste that is circulating through the body and fluids, things like that. And your lymph system helps to clean it and process it. And then it sends it back up and it dumps into our cardiovascular system because that then turns into blood.
So it’s beautiful circulation, but the lymphatic system doesn’t have its own pump. So there are different ways that we help to move the fluid through deep breathing or exercise, gentle massage. And so it’s part of not only like regular wellness, but it’s also a great part of a standard of care for someone going through, you know, surgical changes in the body or injury, things like that.
So, and the body has a hard time moving the fluid when it’s had a structural change, whether that’s like stitches or a tummy tuck or a mastectomy, the body has to figure out how to like reflow the lymph in the body. Cause sometimes we have lymph nodes that are removed due to surgery. And so there’s a particular protocol that we follow to make sure that it is pumped properly back into the cardiovascular system.
And that’s really, really important. And also the methodology of the pumping, like we see a lot online, or I’ve had clients come in and I always ask like, what do you know about the lymphatic system? And what do you know about lymphatic drainage? And they’ll come in and say, I’ve been watching on Tik TOK. I’m doing my thing every day.
I’m doing my pumps, my pumps, my pumps. And I’m like, I love that for you. That is a great start, but you’re actually not doing anything for yourself.
And I’m going to show you how to actually do it. So the first session of, uh, MLD manual lymphatic drainage is not only the treatment, but it’s a lot of education we’re talking usually for the first session, we’re talking a lot about how the lymph system works. How do you do this for yourself? What am I doing? Why am I doing it? Um, and during a lymphatic drainage massage, I’m working in pretty personal spaces.
I’m in armpits. I’m, I would say not in the groin next to the groin. I’m giving you a stomach massage.
Um, and these are not typical parts of a normal therapeutic massage or Swedish massage sports massage. So it takes a lot of trust and making sure that I build that rapport and trust with the client the first time, um, and make sure that they’re comfortable at all times. And I always talk at the first session is like, you have full body autonomy at any time you’re uncomfortable.
You just speak up. This is about you. And I want to make sure you’re fully comfortable and feeling safe in this situation because your body can’t fully relax unless you feel safe.
Um, so yeah, it’s a really important part of self-care. Um, and I’m so glad to see so many people like integrating it into their healthcare. You know, some people include me as part of their health team and I love that.
Um, so I’m really glad to see it really becoming a really important part of the conversation for health. And I see, I see major changes with bodies, um, even in the first session. Yes.
Yeah. I was just going to say, you know, I felt more mobile in general, my hips and my knees and my calves. And I definitely think that that was, um, that lasted throughout the week.
Like I felt better mobility. So yeah, I was going to say, you’re going to be able to feel these changes. Sometimes you don’t always feel those changes when you, um, get different types of therapy, but this is, this was pretty noticeable as well.
Good. Tell me a little bit about what’s common, what’s one common misconception about what you do? I love this question because it has to do with Reiki. Um, you know, I think some people think Reiki is just like this booboo weird thing, right.
And it’s like a complete antithesis to their belief system and things like that, which I completely understand and respect. Um, but there’s so much research to show that we do have a bio field, right. It’s this energy that flows in through and around all of us.
And, um, the research is showing us that it does help with anxiety, depression, pain management, particularly in oncology care. So all the major hospitals providing oncology care across the world are integrating Reiki as part of their care plan because of the research that’s coming out of it. We have nurses that are trained in it, um, different people volunteering in hospitals around the country to provide Reiki.
It’s really wonderful. Um, and we just saw out of MD Anderson, a major, um, research hospital, I think it’s out of Texas. Um, this incredible research study, it was a four-year research study that used a particular type of, um, energy healing modality on these, um, prostate cancers.
No, I’m sorry. Pancreatic cancer cells and over time. And they had, you know, different, uh, they had like, you know, uh, uh, person doing the Reiki.
They, I think they had four different people doing the energy healing on it, if I remember correctly, but they were able to decrease the growth of pancreatic cancer cells by 50% with energy healing. It’s incredible. And we’re learning so much about quantum energy and the energy field and this quantum entanglement.
Um, there’s a new image that was just put out by a research facility, um, showing the quantum entanglement of two particles. And so there’s something to be said for the, the science that’s backing work like Reiki. And the amazing thing about Reiki is you don’t really have to believe in it for it to work, you know, and as a Reiki practitioner, I’m not there casting a spell.
I’m not, um, I’m, I always say I’m not the healer. I am just creating a space of frequency that is calm. And I allow myself to be a channel of this beautiful divine energy that, you know, is of the highest frequency with the best intention and allowing it’s kind of like the, the, uh, physical, um, like law of, I think it’s called resonance, where if something is of a higher vibration X to something that’s a lower vibration, that lower vibration eventually is going to come up and equal that higher vibration.
So that’s what I do as a Reiki practitioner, create the space, create the environment, create the frequency for that other person to tap into what they already are a part of and allowing their body to come back up to the equilibrium. So that’s how I see myself as a Reiki practitioner. And of course I have other gifts.
I mean, Reiki, kind of any other energy work brings on some other gifts. So sometimes I do intuitive channeling, or I am able to connect with people who have crossed over. Um, so it, but I I’m very respectful and ethical in the work that I do.
So that’s not something that a client is interested in at all. I just hold the space and I just allow the Reiki to flow and the same, like this incredible work happens and people feel a shift instantly. It’s amazing.
I think it’s great. If you’re open to it, it’s a great experience. Um, I love that it’s being offered now in the medical world as treatment, um, um, and, and having you Reiki masters in a hospital setting, that’s where true healing begins.
Um, that’s, that’s great. Yeah. A little bit about how, um, you would explain the connection of that.
Like, say if I have some physical issues in my body, say muscle tightness or, um, tension and how that trapped energetic emotion or like trapped energetic, emotional stress. Can you tell me about how, what that means? Like, as far as like body work and Reiki and how that kind of manifests. Yeah, sure.
So you can think about, um, a time that you got bad news or you had to sit through a really tough conversation or you had something really traumatic. Um, or even a car accident, things like that. Your body does this like amazing thing.
Like you’ve probably noticed like your jaw tense up or your hands tense or your shoulders go up and that’s a survival mechanism that your body is created to do. Right. And so if you don’t have, and those moments are supposed to pass, right.
But we live in a very stressful world and many people don’t get those moments to pass. Right. So we, we hold it in.
We’re not, we’re not doing breath work. We’re not maybe seeing a therapist to process things or, um, maybe not having that injury looked at, you know, and just being like, Oh, just that bad knee. You know, it just, it just hurts all the time.
When we allow those things to just continue to build up in our body, it also affects the energy centers in our body or chakra systems. Um, and so my goal as a massage therapist and energy worker, light worker is to provide a safe space. And in that, the gentle touch, that compassionate care, the whole goal is to get the body to relax.
So you can then process and release the tension that’s in the body. And we hold energy in different parts of our body, like traditional and Chinese medicine. You’re really angry.
You might feel a pain around your liver. Maybe your liver enzymes are going up. You know, there’s, there’s different ways that our bodies create signals to let us know that there is stress.
There is health trauma in the body. Um, you know, there’s a whole book on the body keeps the score. Um, and so if we’re not allowing ourselves to process these things, going to a place that feels incredibly safe for the body to relax and release that tension, you start to see the shifts.
And the more that you do it, you know, we always talk about like in massage therapy school and as, as practitioners, the emotional relate release that can happen. I’ve had clients crying on my table and that is totally normal. And it’s, it’s my goal as a practitioner to be able to let them know, this is a safe space.
We pause. I might hold a hand. I might hold a hand on their back, um, just to let them know, like, let it out.
And I have clients apologizing to me all the time, which I think is very indicative of maybe experiences in their life where they’ve felt like they can’t take up space in the room where they can’t vocalize what they’re feeling. Um, but no one ever has to, you know, apologize for snoring on my table or not shaving their legs or their armpits or, you know, crying. It’s like, this is a space to do it.
Just let it out, let it go. Because I want you to leave here feeling like you’ve left something on the table and that you don’t have to carry with you as you walk forward throughout the day. There is this, you know, crying isn’t always a negative thing.
That is like you said, an emotional release. And I think that’s also kind of a leveling up that your body’s doing. It’s letting go of something so that you can be in a better place and more sound and safe in your body.
So it’s great that you’re, that you’re telling people it’s okay. You don’t have to shameful for crying. I actually, I invite that and usually feel better afterwards as well.
They do. They feel a little lighter. They definitely feel lighter.
Yeah. Uh, could you share an example of a client experience that stuck with you? Sure. Um, so I had the privilege of caring for someone, her name’s Jessica, um, in the later stages and the end stages of her life as during her experience with cancer.
Um, she came to me as a referral from actually a gal in our neighborhood and, uh, stage four, um, cancer. And, you know, she had been, um, in a lot of pain and had gone through so much chemotherapy and you could see how it had affected her body. Um, and she just wanted someone to create space for her to rest and to touch her in a non-medical way.
And I think we, we really kind of miss that. Um, when we’re going through something so traumatic and we’re in hospitals, we’re being hooked up to this IV and accessing the port and being asked a gazillion times. How are you feeling? When everyone’s like, I feel like crap.
Like I really don’t want to be asked again. It’s nice to ask. And I would never say, don’t stop asking someone how they’re feeling, but they oftentimes just need a space to just be and just to breathe and have calming music.
And so she would come to me and I would provide the gentlest massage because her body hurts so badly. And this is like where my oncology care kicks in. Um, and we would do some Reiki and we had these beautiful moments and she would just, you know, really allow herself to express the way that she was feeling.
And, um, she called it her little Haven. And that means so much to me because that’s exactly why I created VALO. Um, and I was allowed to be with her during her last week of life during hospice.
And I, it’s just like such a, I mean, bring this here as nice, such a blessing because it’s such a sacred time in someone’s life that a family is allowing me to come in and help provide, you know, this, this gentle touch and compassionate care. And, um, it was just like such a blessing to care for her. And it taught me so much about caring for someone in the end stages of life and in hospice, that kind of care.
And I’ve cared for other people in very, very difficult stages of their life since, and it’s just such a blessing, but she was showing me the exact reason of why I’m doing what I’m doing. And so it, it, I, I light a candle every day in my practice and it’s to honor Jessica, um, and those, you know, that we’ve all lost due to cancer. Oh, well, thank you for sharing that story.
I can’t imagine, like, I know you, I’ve spent some time with you now and taken some sessions with you and I can’t imagine a better person to have by my side. If I was ever something like that. Yeah.
I appreciate that. So, well tell me a little bit, um, about this retreat that you have for the people in this community and, um, you’re creating a space where we can kind of let go and, um, get some positive energy. Tell me about your retreat.
Yes. I planned an incredible retreat in Sedona in February of 2027, uh, for 10 women. And Sedona is such a magical place for me.
Um, it’s a place where the earth helms in a different way. There’s these vortexes of energy that you can actually physically see there. I don’t know if you noticed, I, you mentioned even the Sedona, did you ever see the trees that have like the twisted bark when they grow? That’s a reflection of the, the energy vortexes and the, the, the trunks, you know, grow at a different, different way to reflect that energy field.
Um, but it’s just a beautiful place to really be present and be in nature. And so I, I think women, we give, give, give, give, give, whether you’re a mother or not, or whether you’re working and, um, caring for an aging parent, you know, we’re part of the sandwich generation where we’re not taking care of just little kids, but also our aging parents. And that it’s a lot of stress, you know, women give and give and give.
And so I wanted to create a week where women can really just come home to themselves and be in part of a sisterhood of other women who are walking through the same stage of life where we can just reconnect with nature, our breath. Um, we have a private chef feeding us all week in a beautiful retreat home. That’s created by the shamanic practitioner.
And it’s a beautifully curated home with a beautiful view of cathedral rock in the Valley. It’s going to be magnificent. We’re actually doing a, a day trip up to Antelope Canyon and Navajo nation to go down into the Canyon and see, um, the beautiful Canyon there.
Um, it’s going to be wonderful. So I have seven spots left. Um, they’re all shared rooms, but I think it’s a great opportunity to bring a friend, bring a sister, bring your mom, you know? Um, but yeah, it’s running February 25th through March 2nd and all the information’s on my website.
Yeah. I think I saw pictures of it. It looks amazing.
The views are amazing. Incredible. Yeah.
And we have a heated pool, hot tub. It’s, it’s going to be amazing. Well, thank you so much for taking the time today and chatting about what you do.
Um, you’re a beautiful healer and, um, I’m so excited for more people to know about your, your different services that you’ve had. Um, and thank you for being here today.
Thank you so much for having me, Viraj.