Laura Barton, LMT, CPMT

Did you know that most of what we are looking for in a child is not necessarily tension but imbalances? We are comparing movement and tone between the right and left side of the body and front and back of the body. We absolutely want to see calm and relaxed babies but so much can be achieved when we shift our focus from how much “tension” is in the body to, “where can we create balance?”.

Craniosacral Myofascial work aims to do just that. With an understanding of what reflexes may need integration to what movement patterns are required at different stages, to where to stimulate muscle activation and neurological connection. We care about the whole body and how it’s working together. The difference is subtle but can change a whole appointment and dialogue around what needs may actually need to be addressed when we shift to assessing equal movement.

Here’s to balance! 🎉

One more week to sign up for this camp 🎉You can do all 4 days or individual based on you and your kiddos needs. $150 for all four days or $45 for a daily rate. Discounts for sibling groups available. Contact for sign up!

If you are in the fourth trimester and have felt like you’re unable to relax and receive postpartum care because you can’t bring your little one, this appointment is designed with you in mind 💛

A unique postpartum appointment. Both mother and baby have a role in this appointment. Gentle stretching and myofascial release leads the two into more complete movement and healing together. Hands on bodywork on both mother and baby work to identify any mirrored movement between the two and calm and regulate the nervous system, supporting full body mobility needs.

You know what has been lovely? Having Krystalin here on Wednesdays offering her Mother/Baby appointments, pediatric and prenatal CFT. She is such a fantastic resource for our community and we have so enjoyed hosting her.

Krystalin has been a licensed massage therapist for 14 years, specializing in Craniofascial Therapy, Myofascial release, and sport-related injury. She has undergone advanced training for infant Craniofascial Therapy (CFT) and offers pediatric bodywork for children from 4 to 14 years of age. Her goal is to support children’s constant change and growth to prevent and treat injuries that naturally come with growing pains, hormone development, and good old fashion backyard rough housing. Krystalin is also a Licensed Paramedic, Certified Yoga Instructor, and Certified Personal Trainer and proud mom of two kiddos. With her extensive knowledge of the human body and a deep appreciation for bodywork she delivers the best possible care for her clients.

Book your appointment at the link in our bio ✨

Remember growing pains?
Not feeling comfortable in your own skin?
Feeling overstimulated and unable to release that tension?

Your child is growing through a lot right now. Pediatric massage is one of our favorite therapies not only because it offers relief from say, a Saturday soccer injury, but because it can create a new understanding of how a child’s body should feel.

Offering a framework for physical peace helps shape us emotionally and spiritually. Massage is one beautiful way to connect with ourselves and we take it seriously here .

Book your child’s pediatric session in the link on our page.

Meet Alex 👏

With us at since 2020. Many of you know her and have either had the opportunity to receive craniosacral therapy for yourself or your child; her work has been beautifully received over the years. We’re thrilled to have her more as she expands her hours into more pediatric massage and craniosacral appointments in both the morning and evening for children ages 3 to 14.

Come meet Alex in person and book your child’s bodywork at the link in our profile ☀️

Happy New Year 💛 we are one year old this week at and what an amazing year it’s been! Over 700 infant appointments in 2023 and looking forward to continuing to serve and GROW in the East Texas community in the coming year.

We are so excited to bring on a face many of you know and love. Erin Dorr, BSN, RN, IBCLC
Erin is a registered nurse and board-certified lactation consultant, and licensed midwife. Over the last decade, she has served hundreds of families as they grow and adjust to life with a new baby. Erin specializes in tethered oral tissues as they affect infant feeding and relate to overall body tension in the newborn body. She has completed training with The Gillespie Approach in Myofascial and Craniosacral release, as well as Lori Hendrickson, CST.

Erin will be with us on Thursdays starting next week and will offer both in home and office appointments for infant bodywork. Book with her today ⭐️ https://www.myrelaxlab.com/pediatric-massage

What the fam is saying about CFT🤍

What an honor it is to help these babies from birth. So proud of the hard work this mama has put in! 💪🏼

Hey, I’m Laura!

Licensed massage therapist and craniosacral myofascial therapist, co-founder of + but more importantly mama to 10-year old twins. My experience as a first time mom shaped me into the therapist I am today; seven years later I can say this work truly is my passion.

Helping babies release tension through CFT and seeing changes like improvements in sleeping, feeding, latch, gas, and irritability never gets old.

Helping mamas understand what’s truly going on beneath the surface reminds me how important the mother/baby dyad is.

Helping our community by linking arms with other open-minded professionals is the way we change the world.

I am abundantly thankful for your support, east Texas, and I am excited for what’s to come. I’m stepping up my social media game😜 but still,

Sitting here prepping for a very full day and realized I’m over 7 years this month of coming back to bodywork after staying home with my own twins for 2.5 years. The massage therapist before kids was absolutely different than the one post. I’ll never forget the shock of becoming a new mom and for me, the anxiety that truly crept up into almost every decision I made for them. Whether it was breastfeeding or formula, sleep schedules, weight gain, to general attention and care, I remember so clearly my hyper vigilance and the almost to excess, research I required of myself.

While I recognize now the goodness that that has infused into my work and the empathy I can have mother-to-mother in this work space, I also feel so charged to make any appointment that you have with your child in these young years as efficiently informed and grace-filled as possible. Parenting is HEAVY LIFTING. Working with other providers who are both knowledgeable while focused on creating successful Mother/baby dyad system cannot be overstated. Im so proud to be in this field and work along so many other inspiring providers.

If you’ve not made it to our new office, I’d love for you and your littles to come check it out. This place was designed with you in mind 💛

Prepping for this new week 💛 love this new space with this old work.

If any of you have been following, Laura Barton, LMT page now, Relax Lab Family- Laura Barton for any amount of time you know there is one thing that it truly lacks and that’s social media content 😂🤌🏻

That said, low chatter here just means big work in other places. has a really exciting announcement and we are finally able to share!

Relax Lab Family- Laura Barton will be teaming up with Dr Hannah Victoria, with Health and Vitality Chiropractic, at our new location 🎉That means all your pediatric, prenatal and family chiropractic alongside your pediatric craniosacral myofascial therapy all under one roof. Our goal is to meet all of your bodywork needs and those of our younger communities. Supporting the whole family in their body health endeavors.

We open this Monday 🎉 we would love for you to follow Dr Hannah Victoria on Instagram and see what all she’s up to and hey, maybe you’ll get to see more of what we’re up to here in the coming weeks! No promises though😜

Such a good morning with our local midwives talking about tongue ties and their relation to bodywork. This branch of bodywork is distinct (I get it 😆💛) but having referral partners who understand and work to provide informed care for their patients is incredible. Our greater East Texas community is in such good hands 🙌🏼

New chapter coming soon!

We’ve had a secret here at and we’re finally at a place to get to share it. Coming first of the new year we’ll be opening Relax Lab Family 🥳 right next door to our flagship location but this time, it’s all about the kids. We’re bringing on new pediatric focused therapists and designing a space that’s comfortable for the whole family to get the bodywork they need. This has been a long term vision for Yen, Lloyd and I. We can’t wait to be able to offer a comfortable, fun and kid-friendly environment for all your massage and craniosacral family needs.

I’ll be sharing more updates as we get closer 🎉until then!

Home appointment with my newest nephew 💛

Supporting proper suck and swallow through

Bodywork is supportive for digestive comfort, feeding of all types, sleep support and nervous system regulation as a whole. We’ll always be working to support better posturing through the tongue, lip and cheeks too and look at oral function as we go. If you’re interested in a home appointment post birth, just message here direct or call our office at 903-405-4383

Such an easy night with like-minded practitioners and providers. Many thanks to and for hosting. Bodywork as it interrelates to breathing and feeding is my speciality but only made possible by a teamed approach with the likes of and the above. Such a good night with some of the best 💛Beyond Pediatric Dentistry The Breathe Institute

Very good breakdown of what we’re looking for when assessing ties and completing bodywork. Functional components of tongue, lips and cheeks are crucial to proper assessment and it’s why we often team withEast Texas Orofacial Myology to ensure that we maximize the available movement in the mouth. Making sure you receive a functional assessment is key to not releasing a “tie” that is not inhibiting function. Soft tissue release/manual therapy and stimulation of muscle engagement in the mouth can create dynamic change quickly. We never want to send off for a release without proper investigation of your little ones unique bodily needs first 💛

I'm reposting this from 3 years ago. It's very technical intentionally - this is the kind of post that could and should be shared with health care professionals to get them to learn more about this topic.

One of the biggest myths I frequently hear is that a cup/bowl-shaped tongue when a baby is crying means that there is a tongue tie. Hopefully, by the time you finish reading this post, you’ll see why that’s not necessarily true.

I’ve written previously about the importance of fully understanding tongue physiology before proper detection can happen. Without that understanding, then the person doing the surgical release of the tongue doesn’t understand the importance of the genioglossus muscle, which is the muscle that’s bound in situations where a tongue tie is present.

The gross oversimplification of tongue tie release has some unfortunate repercussions - everyone seems to think that a tongue tie release is all that is needed to unleash tongue function and normalize feedings. That mindset overlooks one very important factor in feeding success: muscle tension. Remember this one very important point: anything that limits genioglossus movement is going to result in impeded sucking function. What can impede genioglossus movement?

1) anterior tongue tie
2) posterior tongue tie
3) an anterior tongue tie where only the anterior tie was released (posterior tongue tie still present)
4) incompletely released posterior tongue tie (a wound is present but it wasn’t sufficient to allow the genioglossus to fall under the tongue)
5) a completely released posterior tongue tie that reattaches because of poor wound management
6) muscle tension

Options 1-5 above imply that the major problem was a physically restricted tongue in the form of some sort of tongue tie. Option 6 is very overlooked.

The genioglossus muscle is one of several “extrinsic tongue muscles” - these are muscles that are technically distinct from the unnamed, intrinsic muscles of the tongue. Think of the extrinsic tongue muscles as those muscles that help to move the tongue from the outside, whereas the intrinsic tongue muscles are those that change the shape and orientation of the tongue itself. There are 4 extrinsic muscles that act in a similar location - the genioglossus (from the genoid tubercle of the mandible to the tongue), the geniohyoid (from the genoid tubercle of the mandible to the hyoid bone), the hyoglossus (from the hyoid bone to the sides of the tongue) and the mylohyoid (from the mandible to the hyoid bone). These muscles also serve as a sling for the floor of the mouth. These muscles are embedded in common fascial slips that surround them (and can serve as a channel for fast-moving infections in other diseases).

So why all this technical information? What I want to get across is that if the genioglossus muscle isn’t being held by a tie, but is instead tight itself, it will ACT tied. This is where the obstetric and birth histories and proper physical examination are so crucial - was there a rough pregnancy or traumatic delivery? Do the muscles AROUND the tie feel tight? If so, one cannot commit to a tongue tie as being the diagnosis. Similarly, if the muscles around the genioglossus are tight, then they can hold on to the genioglossus and prevent it from moving, again mimicking the signs and symptoms of tongue tie.

It’s not hard for a provider to learn how to do a tongue tie release properly. The real skill comes in knowing when, and more importantly when NOT to, perform a release. If there is significant muscle tension in the region of the tie, and a provider cannot definitively determine that the symptoms are coming from a tie, a surgical release must be delayed until that muscle tension is resolved.

Often, time alone helps. But many parents turn to therapies like infant massage, myofascial release, chiropractic intervention or craniosacral therapy. I admit to anyone who asks that we have no published evidence that these therapies work - that being said, I feel like the massage of those muscles, like the massage of any tight muscles, can be helpful in alleviating that tension. If I encourage a family to delay a treatment, I usually have them return between 2-4 weeks later for reevaluation, and I am almost always able to determine if a tie is present because the muscles are softer. I’ll be honest that 1/3-1/2 of the babies I send away never return because the symptoms that mimicked the tie went away once the muscles relaxed.

Obviously, a baby can have both a tie and tight muscles. As long as the treatment team around the dyad is aware of the possibilities, then effective and appropriate treatment can be rendered.

If you don’t know already 💕

You’re not official until you’re social media official, right?! 😜 ⁣⁣
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Hi social world… we’re Maternal Mental Health of East Texas! 👋⁣⁣
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A group of therapists dedicated to supporting moms, dads, and all birthing persons during pregnancy, postpartum and parenthood. We are passionate about maternal mental health and helping moms find themselves and be the mothers they desire to be. ⁣🤰🏻👩‍🍼👨‍🍼👶⁣
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We offer individual therapy and group therapy sessions in person and virtually to Texas residents. ⁣🛋💻⁣
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Over the next few days we will introduce our group of clinicians including their specialities. ⁣
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We’re glad to be here and look forward to serving you! ⁣

Spent the morning immersing in some of the current research on tmj restriction and ankyloglossia procedures and the need for bodywork with true functional assessment alongside it.

One of the requirements of offering bodywork support alongside a team of myofunctional therapists, dentists and/or oral surgeons is keeping up with changing research and evolving understanding of what we’re supporting when working with everyone from infants to adults. Assessing function and tone of muscles and fascia that can develop into compensatory restrictions in posture of both the tongue, lip and cheeks but also on full body scale.

Understanding that connection and being able to communicate it effectively to you is important to me and to this growing work. Thankful for the teachers who have come before and who continue to educate as research progresses.

Whoa y’all, our bodywork appointment books are overflowing! We are so honored to get to work with so many awesome clients-thank you for your patronage!

That said, little 411 on booking:

We are booking anywhere from two weeks to three months out based on your therapist of choice.

While we do our best to flex the schedule anytime we can, we highly suggest booking ahead for appts-we want to see you!

If you’re in major need, always ask to be put on our handy-dandy waitlist. You may get in sooner if your friend cancels 😜 and of course we suggest reoccurring appts so you can secure a standing appointment indefinitely!

We’ve brought in four new fantastic therapists in the last three months so we can continue to grow with your needs!

Call us or book online always.

Stay relaxed 😎

❤️ Your Relax Lab Team

Did you know, craniosacral therapy has many different applications and therapy combinations? Some therapist use Biomechanical craniosacral therapy, some Biodynamic others use just one type paired with Myofascial and still more use a combination of all three (as seen here). Your therapist’s training plays in so much to how your session feels and looks. The wonderful thing about this type of bodywork is there is no “right” way just different approaches to the same end.

Ask your therapist what kind of craniosacral they’ve been trained in-there’s more to it than meets the eye.

*sweetest photo from an in-home, infant CST/CFT appt this week*