Daybreak Wellness opens in Sisters

Daybreak Wellness offers unique services to treat injuries and ailments and to promote overall health and well-being focused on mind, body, and spirit.

Daybreak Wellness opened in March of 2023 as a partnership between Diane Flowers and Melanie Middlestetter. Flowers has been in the naturopathic medicine/massage therapy field for over 20 years, and it had always been her goal to start a practice with Daybreak Wellness' services.

"A lot of years ago, when I was in naturopathic medical school, I had a vision for a space that people could come into, to take control of their journey to be well, and that was the initial vision," she said.

Flowers suffered a traumatic brain injury, and after that, she went on a healing journey.

"That was my introduction to a lot of the science behind saunas, cryotherapy, and red therapy. That's when I started to see how powerful all that was for healing, and that's when I contemplated how to make this work," she said.

When Flowers and Middlestetter met, they realized their brains worked well together, from a treatment/science perspective combined with a business perspective. This led them to meeting over a couple of years and then to creating the wellness space.

Middlestetter has a background in special education, working in that field for 10 years in the Willamette Valley. She has a health degree that she never used and has always been interested in alternative modalities, and prefers to do healing things naturally.

"I got really into the vibroacoustic mat that was started with the special education field, working with children that were handicapped ... and that modality; there is a lot of research in that field," she said.

According to the National Library of Medicine: "Vibroacoustic therapy (VAT) is a complementary psychosocial approach in rehabilitation defined as a combination of low-frequency sound vibration, (and) music listening combined with therapeutic interaction."

Once they acquired the space that used to be Step and Spine Physical Therapy, Flowers and her family, including her husband and sons, completely renovated and got the place up and running in six weeks. Several of Flowers' friends are artists, and her husband is a photographer, so they filled the space with local art, immediately adding a homey feel to the area.

Daybreak Wellness offers services ranging from massage therapy to cryotherapy. Some of the services include, according to their website:

Cryosauna: whole-body cryotherapy, based on the effects of extremely low temperatures between -110°C and -180°C on the human body. This causes a physiological adaptive response of the body to extreme cold, which rapidly accelerates recovery and healing.

Local cryotherapy is used to reduce pain and inflammation and improve circulation of the blood in targeted areas.

Cryofacial: Tightens and brightens skin, reduces wrinkles, and stimulates collagen production.

Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy: emits electromagnetic waves that mimic natural frequencies found in nature, stimulating and encouraging the body's natural recovery process.

Daybreak Wellness offers other services in their recovery lounge.

The staff has tested all the various machines and services offered at Daybreak Wellness, and have deeply researched their benefits on the body. Flowers can provide that research material.

There are two licensed massage therapists on staff, and Flowers and Middlestetter work with patients to determine the best treatment for them and assist in setting them up in a service.

"The first thing I want [people] to experience when they walk in is feeling like they're in a safe place to be heard and validated in whatever their healing journey is," Flowers said. "They often feel discounted in the struggle to get well. And then I want them to start having tools to take control of their process to be well and whole."

"I want them to be able to come in and take a deep breath," said Middlestetter.

Daybreak Wellness' clients range from teenagers needing athletic recovery to elderly people who need to maintain or enhance mobility.

"We want to make it a space where everybody feels equally valued," said Flowers.

"We have a lot of different areas, walks of life, personalities, and lifestyles that come in here. We really focus on holistic health, from healthy eating, lifestyle, working out, and having something for everyone," said Middlestetter.

Many of the services they offer impact memory, brain function, and mood and can help treat the body and mind.

"One of the things I've been the most excited about, besides the athletic recovery and injury recovery and the physical aspect, is that so many of these same modalities are so supportive of mental health, and there are so many people post-COVID dealing with depression and isolation," said Flowers.

"What distinguishes us from other places is we hardcore practice what we preach, and we are in here using this stuff and sharing how they work for us and allow people to research and experiment for themselves and empower them to try different things. We are helping them decide on their health," said Middlestetter.

Many of the offerings are types of therapies commonly used by professional athletes and celebrities, and Daybreak Wellness allows those services to be accessible to anyone and everyone in Sisters.

Daybreak Wellness has an open house scheduled on Saturday, May 20, from 1 to 5 p.m.

To learn more about Daybreak Wellness and its offerings, visit: https://www.daybreaksisters.com/.