POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (WCBS/CNN) – Getting over your fear of snakes might be as easy as going for a massage.
Pam Kelly recently got her first snake massage, letting boa constrictors, some longer than six feet, slither all over her body.
"Enjoy them and feel them on you," said Serpentessa, a snake priestess at Dreaming Goddess in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Serpentessa simply guides the snakes over her clients – she can't force them to do anything. The serpents choose their own paths, whether that leads them to wrap around clients' feet or rest on their necks.
"They tone and stimulate the vagus nerve in our body and that releases endorphins and oxytocin. Those are the feel-good hormones," Serpentessa claimed.
The snake priestess has specialized as an "interspecies facilitator" for 25 years.
But how safe is her unorthodox therapy?
"So, you know, there are no guarantees with a wild animal," Serpentessa said. "You are the one who's going to choose if this is safe for you or not."
Serpentessa said no one has ever been hurt by one of her constrictors.
She said people typically reach out to her for one of three reasons: healing, empowerment, or to get over their fear of snakes.
As for Kelly, she said her session helped her relax.
"It was a lot calmer and peaceful than I thought it was going to be," Kelly said. "There was a point it felt like they were just hugging me around the shoulders and then it just became very calm. I could've just fallen asleep."
Serpentessa's snake massages start at $300 for sessions that last a little over an hour.
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