My journey.

It has been well over a month since I began the journey with Multigreens from Young Living Essential Oils.

• MultiGreens™ is a nutritious chlorophyll formula designed to boost vitality by working with the glandular, nervous, and circulatory systems.* MultiGreens is made with spirulina, alfalfa sprouts, barley grass, bee pollen, eleuthero, Pacific kelp, and therapeutic-grade essential oils.

I am not sure exactly what I am noticing. I haven't changed my diet very much. We are eating at home a lot more and having a salad nearly every night has helped to keep us filled up so that we don't eat as large a dinner portion.

I also take regularly Sulfurzyme from Young Living Essential Oils, and this I can emphatically say is the number one reason that my joints don't hurt me any more.

• Sulfurzyme® combines wolfberry with MSM, a naturally occurring organic form of dietary sulfur needed by our bodies every day to maintain the structure of proteins, protect cells and cell membranes, replenish the connections between cells, and preserve the molecular framework of connective tissue.* MSM also supports the immune system, the liver, circulation, and proper intestinal function and works to scavenge free radicals.* Wolfberries contain minerals and coenzymes that support the assimilation and metabolism of sulfur.

I'd love to talk to you about essential oils and other products that Young Living offers. Please feel free to reach out by phone, or email. You can click on this link and it will take you directly to the site.

#riverbendtherapeuticmassagekennebunk

#YLEO

Massaging athletes

I have had this picture hanging around for over a year now and have done nothing with it. Time to add it here. I got to meet Bonnie Blair at the George Bush Cape Arundel Classic to benefit Gary's House golf event last year and it was really nice to talk with her and to have a short conversation. I even got a chance to give her a short massage.

Very Interesting website

I ran across this nicely written article about things to help you feel better in your life. Aha! One of the listings was to get massage. More and more articles are being written about massage lately. It is nearly every day I get a Google alert about a new press release or website about massage. That feels pretty good. We as Massage Therapists are finally getting some good press. Of course there is still a lot of bad press about massage. I prefer to read about the good stuff.

Have a good weekend! Come on Spring, please hurry up and get here.

They only talk about this!

I am really getting sick of hearing about the Massage Therapist that was scheduled to give Heath Legdger a massage not being licensed. Ok, I get the deal about not having the skills to provide CPR and all of that. I also get the fact that she may not have the proper qualifications to massage clients in the eyes of the State of New York. However have we forgotten here that someone died.

Heath died because of something that HE did not what the Massage Therapist did not do. Who knows he might have already been dead by the time that she walked into the room.

Do I agree that Massage Therapists should be licensed? Yes. I had to do it, why shouldn't everyone else have to do it. Do I believe that other people can give as good a massage as I even though they are not licensed? Yes. There are tons and tons of people that are not licensed to give massages and they are good at what they do. Maybe that is why Heath hired this person. Also there are tons of people that are licensed and give terrible massages and leave the profession after only a short time working in the field.

There are lots of discussions going on about this issue and there always will be. My thought though is that government should keep their hands off when things are going well and let the good keep going. Don't write laws that may put the small business owner out of business. Don't require Massage Therapists to only work at places like gyms and other health facilities. This only makes them go underground and do more things illegally. Get my drift?

Get licensed in your state if required. Practice legally and do unto others as you would have done to you.

I am getting it SLOWLY.

Ok, so I asked for help. Yes, I need some guidance. I don't need major surgery. I just need a bit of help or even the direction. Here is what happened after I asked for some help. I looked around a bit and low and behold I found a little bit of help. Silly me I did not even look at the tool bar listed at the top of this screen. Just while I was looking around tonight I figured out how to get the short link to work. Hey, I did it myself. I guess I deserve a bit of a pat on the back. I am not usually one that does that. However I feel pretty good about it.

I also wanted to write a little bit about what happened to me today. I got a very interesting comment about my hands. Now I will clarify what that means. I use my hands for my work and well sometimes it is nice when someone notices how our hands feel. Client noted today that my hands felt very smooth. That is quite a compliment. When giving a massage I try very hard to make my hands connect to the part of the body that I am working on. I try not to let them feel rough or ticklish. That does not feel very good to the client so I work hard at connecting to the client.

Every Massage Therapist has a different touch and that is what makes them so different. I would really like to know what my hands feel like. When I massage myself it just doesn't feel the same. I don't know how to explain it it just is different. Maybe someday with the assistance of virtual reality I might get that chance. One day :).

Give a look to my Squidoo lens while you are looking around. I would appreciate it.

I want to be a Massage Therapist?

You have no idea how many times people ask me that question. Here's some examples. A client sitting in my office says "I want to be a Massage Therapist", A tenant in my building says "my girlfriend wants to be a Massage Therapist", or a complete stranger finds out that I am a Massage Therapist and says "wow, I have always wanted to do that for a job".

I am always very supportive of the individuals in the first two examples. I'm a result of the first cited, once being a client who chose to pursue massage after being exposed to the difference that well done massage can make in ones life. The second example gives me the opportunity to support a person who is considering their options, possibly helping them to make a decision. I'm not all that excited when a stranger mentions it, as I can't tell if they only want to make conversation or that they are hinting they want a masssage without knowing how to ask for one. Silly people!! Just ask to book an appointment.

In my case, I was a fledgling college student who was exhausted, stressed, and working too many hours. I had received massage in the past and was looking for a source for body work that I could afford. I was fortunate to discover the Muscular Therapy Institute in Cambridge MA. I can't say that the massage was the best one I had ever experienced up to that point. It was, however, very different than any massage I had before. I wondered why there coud be such a difference in massages, going back a couple more times to see if I could discover the secret.

I really began to understand the the differnece lay in the work and the depth of massage. One day, I ended up at one of the introductory workshops; the next thing that I new, the following fall I was enrolled in the school. I didn't plan on becoming at student at the school, only to get affordable massage from students, and relief from the stresses of school and work. I'm not sure what happend. I haven't tried to figure it out or wonder if there was any divine intervention or anything. It just happened. Well, thirteen years have passed since then. I'm still going!

Regarding the tenant who asked me about his girlfriend wanting to be a massage therapist, his desire is to offer encouragment and support to her. That's part of the fun! I got to answer his questions and, for the most part, just listen to what he was saying. I offered a few suggestions about what to do if she really is interested and also offered to meet with her if she wants to talk further. I encouraged her plans and hope that she get's in touch with me.

Well, that's it for now. I will expand on the qualities and education that I think one needs to become a good Massage Therapist over the next few posts. Otherwise this post will be too long for anyone to read. Plus I need a few more topics to keep the blog going.