The gentlest thing on our menu, and people are always surprised something this light can do so much.
Manual lymphatic drainage massage in West Los Angeles, led by our lymphatic specialist Pegah Lavassani, CMT. The technique goes back to the 1930s and Dr. Emil Vodder, and the idea is simple: your lymph system moves fluid, waste, and immune cells around the body, but unlike blood, it has no pump of its own. When it slows down, you feel it: puffiness, heaviness, sluggish recovery, and swelling that won’t budge.
MLD uses featherlight, rhythmic strokes that follow the lymphatic pathways and gently get things moving again. No deep pressure, no bracing, often no soreness at all. Just a system quietly doing its job again. Pegah’s work is precise, calm, and the reason our recovery clients keep coming back.
Pre- and post-op recovery: this is where MLD earns its reputation. After procedures like liposuction, tummy tuck, facelift, breast surgery, or a mommy makeover, and with your surgeon’s clearance, gentle lymphatic work supports the body’s own process of moving post-surgical swelling and fluid along, often making the recovery weeks noticeably more comfortable. Starting a session or two before a scheduled procedure is a lesser-known move that many clients swear by. Most post-op plans run as a series (commonly 1 to 3 sessions per week in the early weeks), shaped around your procedure and your surgeon’s guidance.
Not recovering from anything? MLD is equally loved for post-flight heaviness, hard training blocks, water retention, and the deep nervous-system calm it switches on. Sessions at West LA Athletics on Centinela, minutes from Santa Monica, Brentwood, and Mar Vista. FSA/HSA eligible.
That’s your surgeon’s call, and we mean it. Bring their clearance and we’ll build around it. Many surgeons clear gentle lymphatic work within the first days after a procedure, but your procedure, your surgeon, your timeline.
No. It’s the opposite of deep work. The strokes are featherlight and rhythmic. Most first-timers are surprised how gentle it feels, and how heavy-limbed and calm they are afterward.
Post-op plans typically run as a series over several weeks, tapering as swelling settles. For general wellness, many clients book monthly or around travel and training peaks. Pegah will map it with you at your first visit.
MLD lives in the Release stage, but it releases the system, not just the tissue. For stressed, inflamed, or post-operative bodies, it’s often the door everything else walks through. See how the Method works →
This is gentle recovery bodywork within California massage therapy scope, not medical treatment, and it does not replace your surgeon’s or physician’s care. Recovering from surgery or managing a medical condition? Get your doctor’s clearance first, and we’ll happily work alongside their plan.
Book with Pegah at West LA Athletics. FSA/HSA eligible.