AREOLA Practitioner Collective

Welcome to AREOLA Practitioner Collective 2026

A Breast/Chest Lymphatic Health Care & Education Hub

We are a collective of hands-on practitioners and educators dedicated to supporting holistic breast/chest and lymphatic health for all bodies. We value and endeavor to support the transformation of fear around breast health into self knowledge, empowerment, and practical, powerful embodiment. We offer this service through experienced assessment, nourishing massage, somatic care, and accessible self-care tools to help you reconnect with this vital part of your body.

Our Lineage:

AREOLA Practitioner Collective is rooted in the teachings of DeAnna Batdorff—founder of the dhyana Center of Therapeutics & The Areola, created in 2004, and a trailblazer in Ayurveda, Western Herbalism, and lymphatic clinical care for over 40 years. Her work forms the foundation of our training and approach.

Stewardship of this lineage at Spirit Weavers has been held by Jana Cruder, Anja Robinson, Rachel Rodriguez, Abigail Hinds, and continues to evolve today in service and in modeling shared supportive feminine leadership and council.

What We Offer:

A Nourishing & Transformative Experience

Our work invites you to reconnect with your breast/chest and lymphatic systems through practical, embodied care. Practitioners bring seasoned experience in:

• Holistic breast health engagement and assessment of how the body talks

• Lymphatic education & self-massage techniques

• Nurturing touch

• Somatic awareness

• Trauma-mindful care

1:1 Session Details:

30-Minute Breast/Chest Lymphatic Sessions

• A brief intake to understand your needs

• Breast/Chest tissue assessment and guided education in self-massage

• Focused tissue work & lymph support

• Personalized recommendations you can continue at home

For a full-body massage, we encourage you to visit The Healing Village.

Apprenticeship Program

This year, we are expanding our service through an Apprenticeship Program made to support emerging practitioners on this path of service, ensuring both depth and continuity of this important work.

Classes & Education

DeAnna Batdorff, Maya McNeil, & Anja Robinson will offer three deeper-dive classes on breast/chest and lymphatic health during each session, open to all attendees who want to learn more about tangible and empowering ways to tend to their health and vessel. Please make sure to check the program to learn more about the classes being offered.

How to Receive a Session

Enter To Win a Complimentary Session 

• Submit your name in the raffle on Thursday evening after Opening Circle at the Women’s Health location during class sign ups

• Winners are posted Thursday evening, and will be notified, or can come look to see if your name has been drawn (after dinner)

• Raffle winners can book sessions for Saturday Or Sunday morning

• If you do not win in the raffle,  you are able to sign up for a sliding scale paid session

Paid Sessions

• 30-minute sessions offered mornings, afternoons & evenings

• Sliding scale: $60–$100

• Book at our information table

• If finances are a barrier, please speak with us—we are here to support you

DeAnna Batdorff

Practitioner Mentor, Founder of The Areola

DeAnna is a wholistic health detective with 38 years of experience as a Tibetan Ayurveda Practitioner, Lymphatic Massage Specialist, Nutrition Counselor, Western Herbalist, MyBody Educator and Clinical Aromatherapist. She specializes in reading the heart song of the pulse with face and tongue mapping as primary assessment tools. DeAnna’s teachings are rooted in her three foundational pillars: listen to self through our symptoms, the right to take action by nature and that happiness equals better health.

In 1995, some 30 years ago, dhyana Essentials was born! A therapeutic touch, essential products and MyBody educational hub. Her vision is built upon “for the people” health access, offering by donation community clinics and cost effective plant remedies. DeAnna also established the only Medi-Cal/Medi-Care funded Ayurvedic consultation program through West County Health. 

In 2004, she began AREOLA, providing breast & chest awareness through the lens of our lymph flow. DeAnna is a true believer that pain is a symptom, we have the right to rub our pain away, touch ourselves as we wish, where we wish, and feel pleasure without shame.

Her life passion lies in providing a neutral safe space for clients to explore emotional awareness with physical issues by supporting ALL people regardless of their gender identity, religion, creed or socioeconomic background.

DeAnna lovingly credits her teachers: Jeanne Rose, Michael Tierra, Marcel Lavabre, Horst Rechelbacher, Dr. Lobsang Rapgay, Swami Niranjananda, Dr. Vasant Lad, Miss Beatrice Waight, Dr. Shrestra, Ed Bauman and Dr. Liladhar Gupta. DeAnna considers her clients and students to be her best teachers

Maya McNeil, CMT (they/she)

Hub Organization Co-Lead, Practitioner

Maya Johanna McNeil CMT, practices in somatic bodywork and breast health care for all bodies. They are a Scottish-American folk musician, recording artist, film & medicine maker and healing arts practitioner, currently based and practicing in the Bay Area, CA. 

‘It is an endless joy and honor to approach those who arrive on my table, and their dynamic constitutions, with openness and witness, striving to meet their needs where they are at. I tend and utilize a nourishing tool kit of potent and effective techniques to restore balance and support the growth of empowered and informed self care beyond my table, for all bodies and presentations. 

I am a CMT of ten years practice, a continual student of the integrated lineages carried and taught by DeAnna Batdorff. I am a devoted daughter to the land of the Cailleach and Bodach, and a singer for bridge building, through meaning andl song. I am gratefully returning to Spirit Weavers for both Sun and Moon to hold the Co-Organizer position of our hub, and will be teaching Breast Health for All Bodies: Foundations’ at both sessions.’

www.mayamcneil.com/bodywork

instagram: @maya_mcneil_music

Anja Robinson, CNC 

Hub Organization Co-Lead, Practitioner

Anja is a midwife, functional nutritionist, and clinical herbalist who has spent the last 15 years walking alongside women through the many thresholds of their health journeys — from hormone balance and fertility to conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum recovery, menopause, and beyond. Her approach weaves physiology, traditional wisdom, functional medicine, and somatic awareness to support women in cultivating true body literacy and embodied self-trust.

Since 2017, Anja has been deeply immersed in the study and practice of lymphatic care and breast massage through the lineage of her mentor, DeAnna Batdorff. For the past eight years, she has intentionally woven this lymphatic work into the world of birthwork — supporting women through the pregnancy and mothering continuum while advocating for lymphatic education as an essential pillar of women’s health care.

She currently teaches lymphatic breast health education online, facilitates an annual practitioner training on the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, and works with women through 1:1 mentorship in her private practice and attends births in her small rural community. She lives on the wild and beautiful coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, where the land, ocean, and rich cultural landscape continue to inform and inspire her work. 

www.manamedicinals.net

Instagram: manamedicinals

Stephanie Murad

Hub Infrastructure Lead, Practitioner

I’m a passionate individual who deeply cares for the well-being of others. I believe every person on earth has experiences that give them unique gifts & healing attributes. I have found my own healing through understanding how trauma brings wisdom. Breast massage has become a pillar medium for this healing, especially in the realm of holding non-sexual, safe space for women. 

I have studied under Deanna Batdorf for her Clinical Ayurvedic Foundations program in 2017 and am currently attending school to become a Licenced Massage Therapist. I’m excited to deepen my understanding of the human body and continue my love for lymphatic education. Empowering other women to know their bodies better & with more appreciation is what I strive for. I began my Areola journey after taking Deanna’s class and working with her at Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium. 

Residing in the lovely Grants Pass of southern Oregon, I enjoy walking my dogs out on the trails, playing music, being a student and cooking good local foods. Since Areola’s first year at SW, it’s been a blessing to work with the myriad of hearts and healing women that come together here. Every year brings new lessons and deepens friendships, excited to see what’s in store this year <3

Instagram: fannie_howls