School Director, Business Instructor

Brett graduated from Southern Utah University in 2006 with a Bachelor's Degree in Hotel Resort & Hospitality Management with a Marketing Minor; his Associate's was in Business Administration. In 2007 he graduated from PVCMT. Since then he has worked as an independent massage therapist & an employee in Sandy Utah. In June of 2009 he joined the Pura Vida team as school director and is excited to be back in Cedar City. 

Tiffany Taylor, NCTMB

Swedish Massage, Sports Massage,

Spa and Thai Instructor, Clinic Supervisor

Tiffany was born and raised in Cedar City and loves the area. She graduated from the Nevada School of Massage Therapy in Las Vegas in 2002 and is Nationally Certified and licensed in Utah. Tiffany began at PVCMT in November of 2006 teaching Swedish massage, sports massage, and Thai massage. Tiffany also teaches Physical Education at the South Elementary School in Cedar City. 

Ariel Walters

Meditation

Ariel leads a Mindfulness Meditation class at PVCMT every Monday evening (6:30 -7:30 pm).  Ariel has studied Philosophy and Buddhism extensively, and brings this knowledge to offer an interesting, stress-reducing meditation class free of charge.

Dan Webster, LMT, NCTMB

Dean of Students/Instructor, Functional Anatomy, 

Myofascial Integration, & National Review

Dan has been in the Massage Therapy Field since graduating eight years ago from the Desert Institute of Healing Arts (DIHA) in Tucson, Arizona. After attending DIHA, he joined the therapy staff at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort and Spa in Tucson, classified by a major golfing magazine as one of the top 10 golfing resorts in the world. Dan’s clientele included the country’s top golfers as well as numerous Hollywood personalities. He continued his education there, studying neuromuscular therapy (NMT), a precise treatment that helps eliminate pain caused by muscle, tendon or ligament injury and/or dysfunction. It is a specific approach that addresses soft tissue pain, bringing balance between the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. After working with Lowes Resort for over a year, he left the spa environment to open his own clinic in Tucson where he focused his work in NMT.  In 2000, he relocated to Cedar City, and has been practicing here ever since. Before becoming a massage therapist, Dan spent more than 25 years in corporate management in the banking industry. Feeling that he needed less stress in his life, and seeking and new and more meaningful purpose, he decided to enter the world of healing arts.

Liz Young, LMT

Founder

Education Director, Instructor

Liz has been involved in the health care profession for 20 years, and has developed a strong background in health, nutrition and therapeutic bodywork. Growing up in a home where natural foods and healing were a way of life helped establish a personal validation in the power of a healthy life through mind and body wellness. Liz lends these beliefs and her experience to the classroom where she creates a fun, stimulating, and interactive learning environment. Soon after graduating from the Myotherapy College of Utah, she became the first female therapist to work at Cedar Breaks Day Spa, and later became head therapist for a local yoga retreat center. Liz keeps a growing private practice in Southern Utah, and has built up a clientele from Brian Head to Las Vegas. Since 1989, Liz has studied more than 20 different modalities, and taught a variety of health and wellness programs. It’s the blending of this knowledge and many years experience that becomes the eclectic blend of bodywork for which Liz is known.  As she says, “I am grateful for the ability I have to work with others in a profession that I truly enjoy; it is a gift.  I love teaching. It keeps me looking for ways to improve myself, and it is always great to experience the fresh enthusiasm of students that accompanies their thirst for knowledge.”

Rachel Smetanka, PhD.
SUU Associate Biology Professor
Chair of Institutional Effectiveness & Student Assessment