Moms and Massage

 

bon appetit!

Mother’s Day this year is Sunday, May 9^th and, of course, this makes me think of massage.

One of the wonderful things I have noticed in my practice over the years is how often mothers will treat their daughters to a relaxing massage, and visa versa. I almost never see sons buy their dad a massage. So what is it about women and especially the mother/daughter relationship that lends itself so easily to the giving of comfort and health things as gifts? I know this to be true because as a mother, over the years, I have opened boxes and cards on mother’s day for items such as massages, yoga classes, facials, foot baths, aromatherapy sachets, packets of Emergen-C (when I had a cold), new toothbrushes and dental floss, and of course, chocolate, lots of chocolate. So what was my family trying to say to me with all of these gifts over the years? I think they were trying to say; Hey, take care of yourself, we want you around. We want you to be well, be relaxed with comfy feet, with soft cheeks, bendable knees and elbows and a bright smile. We want you smelling good and a little pudgy (that’s where I say the extra weight came from, anyway).

When you give massage as a gift, the person may have a merely relaxing experience all the way up to having a life-changing event. I recently had the good fortune to meet up with the lady who gave me my first massage. She didn’t know it until I told her but her massage was what inspired me to become a therapist. Can you imagine the pressure she would have been under if she had known so much was riding on her massage that day? But that massage changed my life and it’s an event that has gone on to effect my own life in a million positive ways. And the circle widens, as I have had clients tell me that our sessions together have been important to their own recovery and well-being.

I lost my mother five years ago to Uterine Cancer. I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone to spend this Mother’s Day in celebration that the two of you are still here and together. Get massages, for both of you. If you can, get facials and pedicures too. And yoga classes, and toothbrushes and go ahead and enjoy the chocolate!

 

Light, love, happiness and chocolate-covered cherries for all,

Michele

 

 

 

 

 

 

My hands are helping hands

how are you helping?

Today I gave a massage.  I didn’t get paid for it.  I didn’t barter any services for it.  I didn’t do it hoping for anything in return.  I did it because the person was in real need of my services, was not in a position to pay and I had the time to do it.

I realize this sounds like I’m tooting my own horn but the session today really made me reconnect to what it means to be a massage therapist, to be a professional who heals with their hands.  It made me have a deeper understanding of what it must have been like 1000 or 2000 years ago when a healer went out into her community and used her gifts simply because there was need of them.  Giving to the community with the trust in your heart that your community will support you in return, is something we are losing touch with in modern life but the practice is just as true today as it was in the villages of ancient times.

It starts with taking care of our regular clients.  It cannot be said enough, that success in our business comes from forging deep, lasting, beautiful relationships with our existing clients.  Letting them know they may rely on us at any time and in any way.

As you move through your daily life, try forging these relationships with the people you meet.  Show how much your dentist means to you, give the bagger at the grocery your very best smile and when one of these folks get on your table, whether they can pay you or not, give them your very best.  They will remember you long afterwards.

The man I worked on today now has a massage therapist.  He may not be able to afford to come right now, but when he can, I have no doubt that he is part of my community now and will call me when he is in need.

Light, love, happiness and a warm, supportive community for all,

Michele

10,000 songs and nothing to listen to!

listen with your whole being

 

I have about twenty music CDs in my massage office and I am tired of every single one of them.  Don’t get me wrong, I still love them.  I appreciate that many of my clients are as attached to certain albums as they are to my massage but I need a new infusion of melodies in my life.  And let me tell you, while the choices are infinite, there is a lot out there I wouldn’t massage my worst enemy to. 

 

The music we play during our sessions is an integral part of our client’s experience.  It’s as important as having the face cradle in a comfortable position or having the room at optimal temperature.    Music has the power to put our clients into the right mood to receive our administrations.  It can make us feel powerful, it can make us feel sexy, and it has the power to heal.

 

I love acoustic guitar and so finding music that incorporates guitar is a big plus to me.  The artist that comes to mind who has soul-enriching guitar is Shastro.  One of the songs on his album Shaman’s Healing, literally transports me to cruising the cliffs of Cartagena with my hands around the wheel of an expensive, low-slung convertible every time I hear it.  He is amazing, he is uplifting, he is spiritual, and he has been done to death in almost every massage school, yoga studio, spa, or dentist office.  You name the place and Shastro is playing there.  I have many of his CDs but I find that not all of them are to my taste and not all are suitable for my style of massage.

 

Another artist I like is Gandalf.  His music is flowing, rich, meaningful and sometime too “eastern” for some of my clients.  I actually had a new client ask me when they scheduled to please make sure that the music I played contained no chanting or dedications either within the song or as the name of the song to any other deities except Jesus.  They liked the Celtic fairies music, though

 

I bought a very expensive set at Barnes and Noble, one day by Peter Kater called the Elements Series.  They are awesome!  There are four discs- fire, water, air, and earth.  Each are very different and each represent their element well but….I’m tired of them too. 

 

I already have the assorted Celtic Fairies, Reiki relaxation, Dean Everson’s spiritual trips to Sedona and Shambala so I am ready for something fresh.

 

What do you all like in your collections?  What artists move you?  What styles influence your work?  What songs send your clients off on astral-plane trips to their ancestral hunting grounds? 

 

Light, love, happiness and inspired eardrums for all,

Michele

Hoping everyone takes care this season

kleenex queen

I can’t believe how long it has been since my last post.  Suffice to say, things have been busy and I have been sick with a throat infection.  Several therapists that I know have been feeling under the weather and this got me to thinking about massage.

We all know, of course, how important massage is for the health of our muscles but we cannot forget about that all-important Lymph fluid flow boost that massage brings.  I once read that long-time marathon runners will go out and run a few miles at the first sign of a cold.  They literally run it out of their system.  I have experienced the same thing on the massage table and I’m sure I’m not alone.  So this begs the question:  Since we are in the full swing of season, is everyone continuing to get regular massage?  We mustn’t let busy schedules interere with taking good care of ourselves.  Afterall, this is what we chide our clients about all the time.

So for everyone who hasn’t been feeling in the pink, take your vitamine C, Eccinachea, compress Lung 1, and feel better soon.

Light, love, happiness and kleenex for all,

Michele

two massage thumbs down

I just saw the movie Couples Retreat and I felt I had to speak out. Let me warn you now, this does contain SPOILERS for the movie so if you haven’t seen it, you are forewarned. It has always bothered me a little how Hollywood portrays our profession but I have always understood that there really is a lot of material there for a laugh. After all, some of us therapists are gorgeous and handsome so people cant help but fantasize about us. Then too, there’s the fact that the clients have to be naked (properly draped of course) with a stranger. And, lastly there’s the whole touchy-feely thing that the public may not quite understand.

Joey and Lucy, one of the couples in the movie, are supposed to do a couples massage where they work on each other. The spa director tells them this is important so that they can reconnect emotionally and bond together. The husband, Joey tells the woman that they prefer to bond separately. The spa director then asks them if they prefer a male or female therapist. Joey asks what the director would recommend for a more pampering, nurturing, motherly energy and, of course, she says a female (apparently men are none of these things). The wife, Lucy then says that she is really tight in her shoulders so the director gives her a male therapist.

When Lucy’s therapist comes in he is a handsome blonde named Sabian and she is very taken with him. As he begins the massage, she flirts with him in a very obvious way. The huge shocker (not) in this situation is that Sabian is gay and is married to his partner. (Like there is no such thing as a good-looking straight male massage therapist.) I also resented the director giving Lucy a male simply because she needs deep tissue work, implying a woman can’t give a good neuromuscular massage.

Joey, meanwhile, is on his table waiting for his therapist and he is doing push ups to try to impress her when she comes in. The therapist’s name is Kat. She asks him what style of massage he wants as he left that part blank on his form. Joey tell her he wants a “Korean massage” and she tells him she is no

t familiar with that style. Joey then tells her to choose whichever style will release the most tension.

As the therapist begins his massage, she asks Joey if he has any problem areas. He tells her that he holds a lot of tension in his upper thighs at the top of his quads and that if she wants to do the whole 80 minutes on the thighs that he is fine with that. She tells him they will do whatever he wants. While they have this conversation, Joey is supine and Kat is massaging his chest, taking her strokes over his nipples and down his stomach. Yep, you guessed it, her breasts are now in his face.

Once she notices that he has popped a tent in the sheet, she stops the massage and apologizes for arousing him. He tells her not to be sorry, that she should be proud she was able to arouse him as he hasn’t gotten an erection in a long time (lie). She begins to become offended by him and asks him if he is attempting to get a manual stimulation from her. Joey then pretends to be offended by her and says he is here at a couples retreat trying to save his marriage and look what she has done to him. Kat tells him that giving him an erection wasn’t her intention and Joey says it wasn’t his intention either (more lies) and now he is humiliated. The therapist apologizes again. Joey then tell her that she can’t leave him “all backed up like this” and she asks what he wants her to do. Kat tells him that he is not getting a happy ending, Joey is disappointed and asks her to hand him the bottle of oil and tells her to leave the room.

Sabian handled himself very professionally and my only complaint about the first scenario is Lucy’s behavior. Here, again we have Hollywood telling clients that we are merely sex objects and thereby belittling our efforts and abilities.

Kat would have had trouble with Joey in any case, but her inappropriate strokes and body position would have, quite frankly, tented the Pope, so I can understand Joey’s reaction. She did handle herself fairly well once she understood he wanted a happy ending and she made herself very clear that it was not an option.

Joey’s behavior is the typical thing we always see in films. It saddens me because in my practice I see many male clients on a regular basis, many of whom have extremely physically-demanding, even back-breaking jobs who find relief with massage. I see many people who are not willing or able to attend yoga or pilates class and whose only form of stretching is what they get on the massage table.

Our profession is like proctology, people are always going to find it a little funny, I wish just once they would show the client leaping off the table “un-aroused” but jumping for joy because he can stand erect again.

Light, love, happiness and hot buttered popcorn to all,

Michele

Wow! What a work out!

This gets those pec attachments like nothing else I've seen

 I hate that I still find myself having preconceived ideas about things and Dianne Glass’ Body Rolling Class was one such thing that I thought I knew beforehand what it was going to be like.  I will admit that I was not expecting to be very impressed with the class and wasn’t feeling a lot like participating.  I had several good excuses.  It is that “time of the month” for me, I am nursing a sore throat, and I saw a lot of clients yesterday. I could go on and on but you get the idea.  Once again, the universe has shown me just how wrong I can be.  This work is amazing!  Who knew so much could be accomplished with just your own movement and a plastic ball!

Dianne first had us use the ball to open up our hamstrings.  Since my hamstrings are tight enough to strum like a guitar, this was definitely needed and deeply felt  by me, to say the least. 

Next, we used the ball to work into the paraspinal muscles and  traps.  I felt trigger points let go that massage therapists having been chiseling away at in my traps for years.  Now, I have to tell you that I get regular work and from some of the best people in the Sarasota area and I have never felt anything like this!

 We also worked the anterior of the body, using the ball to reach new heights (or lows as the case may be) in psoas release.  Again, I felt great releases.  When we began working the pec attachments though, was when I found myself to be both in heaven and hell respectively.  I know I have issues in these muscles both emotional as well as physical and I can’t tell you how great it was to find a tool where I can be in complete control of depth and direction in this area.

I went home feeling like a new woman, a new woman who knew she needed to spend time with an ice pack, and that’s just what I did last night.  Today, I woke up a little sore but more open through my torso than I have been in a long time.  I bought all three ball sizes plus the pump and plan on taking a class with Dianne.  For one thing, it’s a new tax year and this type of equipment is a tax write-off but the main reason is the fact that I will be able to use this equipment to take care of myself and my clients in a way that is fun, playful and very effective.

Light, love, happiness and released psoas to all,

Michele

FSMTA Meeting Reminder

looks yummy!

Body Rolling by Dianne Glass

Just a reminder that the Florida State Massage Therapy Association is tomorrow night at 7pm.  The presenter is Dianne Glass and she is presenting a form of bodywork called Yamuna Body Rolling.  We are all supposed to wear yoga or comfortable clothing and bring a yoga mat.

I took a look at Diane’s Facebook page and saw a quote there about this type of work:   The Body Rolling experience is a journey of wellness within oneself bringing alignment, core strength, flexibility and a sense of freedom and balance to your entire being.  What a powerful statement!  I am looking forward to learning more about this work.

As Licensed Massage Therapists, we are required to continue our education in order to renew our licenses and I find that to be just one of the wonderful things about this profession.  We get to learn new ways to influence the muscles and facia because, let’s face it, not every trick works for every person.  Having several different ways to attack the same problem makes us all better at our chosen field, helps our clients and keeps our bodies from wear and tear.  I’ll let you all know what I thought of the class

Light, love, happiness and brightly colored rubber balls,

Michele

Oohh! I love massage!

A little to the left, please

My first blog!  There are not many ways to recreate the virginial experience in life but writing a blog is just that for me.

 Let me start by saying, redundantly, that I love massage!  Luckily, as a massage therapist, I get to drench myself in my love everyday. 

Massage has changed the way I feel, both inside and out.  It has changed the way I look at the human body.  It has changed how I feel about money, about friends, about family, and most of all, about life.

This blog will be about massage, of course, but it will also be about all the things that are important to massage therapists and clients alike.  It will be about the many ways massage and other forms of bodywork can be the catalyst that revs up our bodies and sparks our imaginations.

I would love to have you share your ideas and comments with me.

Light, love, happiness and kittens,

Michele