Roseann Stewart, better known as “The Stretch Lady,” has made it her mission to transform how Minnesotans think about wellness. Through her business, SOAR Stretch Therapy, she helps clients manage pain, improve mobility, and preserve long-term health.
Stewart works with people recovering from injuries or surgeries, as well as those navigating aging joints, swelling, or neuromuscular conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). No two sessions are the same, each tailored to the individual’s body and needs.
“When I first started my business, nobody really knew stretching as a concept, as a place where you go to have somebody stretch you,” Stewart said. “I was often told I should do something more familiar, like massage. To this day, people still confuse the two.”
After two decades in the health and wellness field, Stewart has built a loyal following across the Twin Cities. Her path began while studying health and exercise sciences, when a professor mentioned that Aaron Mattes, known as the “Godfather of Stretching,” was coming to town to teach a course.
While many of her classmates were already massage therapists, chiropractors or trainers, Stewart was still exploring her career options. “I liked the idea of doing something different,” she said. “I’m actually the first marketed stretch therapy business in Minnesota.”
For Stewart, stretching is more than a pre-workout ritual; it’s essential for long-term pain relief, mobility, and quality of life. “I believe that no matter what you have, if you don’t have your health, you don’t really have much,” she said.
“Health is the real currency of life, and the body requires maintenance before it’s in crisis.”
That belief deepened after working with a former client who had MS, someone financially secure but physically unable to get out of bed without help. “It reaffirmed what guides my work every day,” she said. “Health is the real currency of life, and the body requires maintenance before it’s in crisis.”
Stewart emphasizes that her practice isn’t about quick fixes, but rather about longevity through movement. Her clients range widely in age and lifestyle, though many are approaching or in retirement.
“The average person I work with is more toward retirement age,” she said. “I do everything from your neck down to your feet, and I especially love working on feet, particularly when people have things like bunions or hammer toes.”
She says what makes her approach unique is its focus on what other modalities often overlook. “Massage can ease muscular tension, but it doesn’t restore functional length. Chiropractic work corrects skeletal misalignments, but not the muscles that caused them,” Stewart explained. “Stretching connects those dots.”
Operating as a Black woman in a wellness space where few practitioners look like her hasn’t always been easy. Stewart says the public’s awareness of stretch therapy has shifted only recently, especially as predominantly white wellness centers began offering it.
“It’s like, oh, now that they’re doing it, it makes sense,” she said, laughing.
Still, Stewart continues to grow her practice and mission: reminding people that aging doesn’t have to mean decline. “It’s an opportunity to reconnect with your body and continue living a healthy life in a body you enjoy,” she said.
SOAR Stretch Therapy is located in St. Louis Park. For more information, visit areusoar.com.
Lizzy Nyoike is a Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication student with interest in community stories, investigative and multimedia journalism.