About Molly Dilg

I add light through grounded gratitude and empathic inquiry.

Trained at East West · Portland, OR | LMT #29108

In one of my earliest memories, I am a toddler lying down underneath my mom while she is holding a plank pose doing her Jane Fonda audio cassette workout. I am looking at a picture book of kids doing yoga; I have decided to practice Embryo Pose and proudly place myself below my mom’s pelvis while saying “I’m your egg!” Inadvertently astute, as I had come from her egg and hatched into a human, but also annoying as a disruption to her workout. My mom was trying to get back into her own body and supporting the autonomy of my body and was glad to have me distracted enough to give her the time (if not entirely the space) to get moving. I love the fact that that earliest memory includes yoga, movement, and exploration of bodily autonomy and interdependent connection.

My mom took me to my first yoga class at the age of 12, successfully bribing me with the promise of a donut after class. While I loved the donut (pink with sprinkles), I actually liked the yoga class more. I felt seen by the teacher, welcomed by the community, curious about the practice, and at home in my body (a rare somatic experience as a tween). Between classes, I pored over books about yoga philosophy, as well as the trusty picture books focused on anatomy and alignment. I pursued independent study with dance instructor Arianne MacBean, and taught my very first class when I was 16.

In 2008, after graduating from Colorado College, I obtained my 200 hour yoga teacher certification. For 12 years I worked full time in yoga, where every day I got to witness the transformation that arose from practicing presence, patience, peace, and personal power in hour-long formats of self-discovery.

The pivot spurred by Covid gave me the unexpected experience of shifting my yoga teaching skills to a virtual format and scaling my teacher training leadership experience from a group of 25 to over 1,000. During that time, the number of studios I managed grew from 9 to 17 across the upper left coast of the US. I experienced severe burnout in getting those CorePower Yoga studios reopened during a time when teachers were still receiving more money in stimulus checks to stay home than to return to an uncertain work environment.

The large scale disorientation of the pandemic left my body/mind less connected and more fractious. In 2021 I took a break from my yoga career, and took on a corporate leadership role at a publicly traded property management firm. Working from home in a high-pressure sector, I developed an autoimmune disorder. Symptoms were synchronous with time spent working long hours on the computer, in ergonomically questionable positions, with stress seeping into my psyche and soma with a permeability that was palpable. In 2024 I was laid off with a severance that afforded me the opportunity to make a courageous change: I went back to school to learn massage therapy and psychosomatic integration, and returned to teaching yoga part time for smaller independent studios.

“…so clients can listen to the body’s whispers before they become yells.”

My mom says that when she was pregnant with me she sensed “the pacific influence of Molly Dilg” - a settling and calm coming from the energy that was collecting inside her as I took shape. From the time I was little she talked about my “healing hands” and shared hers with me through Reiki any time I wasn’t feeling well. When I was 12, she enrolled us both in a level 1 Reiki certification program and I deep dove into chakras and energy work, loving every minute of it. At nights I would beg my dad to massage, rather than read, me to sleep (which, as an English teacher, he’d somewhat begrudgingly accommodate). I grew up present to the power of touch, and the way even subtle touch could communicate so much presence. I always knew massage therapy would be a part of my career collage, but it wasn’t until 2025 that I started working formally in the field.

Awakening aliveness through massage by connecting body, mind, heart, and nervous system in coregulated attunement has been a deeply fulfilling professional addition to the somatic inquiry offered by yoga. I believe our bodies are wise and geared towards balance. The trauma of our modern world and the context of culture can interrupt that wisdom and innate intelligence. Through massage, I aim to offer space, setting, and settling, so that clients can listen to the body’s whispers before they become yells. As a massage therapist, I listen for those whispers through breath, presentation, and responsiveness to touch so that each session is formed in presence and wholeness.

My favorite modalities and techniques to weave into a Swedish style massage are myofascial release, tui na, craniosacral, deep tissue, trigger point therapy, breathwork, and vagal toning exercises. My favorite aspects of teaching yoga are the opportunities to somatically experiment with the embodiment of yoga philosophy through theme; the playful presencing of strength and mobility to open and access different parts of our selves and our anatomy; and the collective effervescence that comes with moving and breathing in a shared and synchronized rhythm to music. And my favorite type of client is YOU :)

Hope to work with you soon!