Here we are at day 4. Still have energy at the end of the day. Not really worried about going anywhere after work hours in the evening. I used to worry about having sustained energy and worry about being out later in the evening. Now not so much.

Oh yes this is the only thing that I have changed in my life. I still take a good compliment of my Usana Nutritionals as that is a very important part of my day. I have added oils via my massage practice that use there as well.

The only thing that I am having trouble with is getting over this silly little cold that I picked up from someone. It is this cold that won't let go. Coughing myself crazy and a runny nose at the worst times. Extra Vit C and my Thieves oil. I know it will go away soon, I just want it to go away now!

If you didn't know my massage business is having a sale on Gift Certificates this month. 20% off the face value of any GC purchased till Dec 28, 2013. Prices start as low as $10 all the way up to my most expensive in home therapy 90 massage. If you need a gift now is the time. These are the lowest prices of the year.

Have a great day today.

My energy

Good morning,

Yesterday was day two of my new oils from Young Living essential oils. I took a Compass Scan about one month ago at a great gathering of YLO people in Kennebunk and my oils came in on Wednesday. I have been using these oils for a long long time in my massage office and recently connected with a new group.

Day one was my Small Business Saturday, not very many people arrived to take advantage of what I had to offer though I am not sad. I have work to do to get more people involved in my work. That silly time away at Seacoast did not help. I got to the office and finished set up. I used the following oils: Ener-gee, and Lemongrass. I was able to be at the office all day w/o any fatigue. I even emptied an entire storage bin and spent most of my day in front of the shredder. Four bags of shredding later, I am here to tell the tale. I was not tired, not sore, not dreading going out after my day. I was just up for anything. This is not usually the case. By 4 in the afternoon I am usually ready for the day to be over. I also booked three massages for the next day without any fear that I would be too tired or too anything to complete them.

Day two-Up in the morning at the usual time and getting ready to go to my office to pick up the supplies for the massages. Again I dropped Ener-gee and Lemongrass. I can't tell you that I felt better till I reflected back today about my day. I didn't dread bringing my table up to the car, I didn't dread carrying my linens and all the rest of the stuff up to the car. This is an ongoing battle for me. I plan my day around trips to do things. Like get to the office first and get all that done, get the heavy work done and then do the rest of the work. Yesterday, well the table was no trouble, the rest of the linens were no trouble and I was off to three massages. The three massages went really well. I was ready to go for all the massages and was not tired at the end of the sessions. Hungry but not tired. I got home and was ready for dinner prep and all the rest of the night. I was not dreading preparing dinner or wanting to crawl into bed and sleep all night till the next morning.

I am pretty excited to find this happening to me. I am happy to have more energy and not as much fatigue from my massage work. I am sure that I absorb a lot from my clients even though I have pretty good boundaries with my work.

Here is a good link to some oil testimonials if you are interested click here.

Have a great day today for the first week of December.

Heather

World AIDS Day December 1, 2013

Good evening, I meant for this post to go out earlier today though you know what happens when the phone rings. I went off to give a series of massages and this got put on the back burner. Considering that this is World AIDS day this post is timely. 

We’ve come such a long way since the early ‘80s, when AIDS crashed onto the scene, killing many and frightening more. There was so little known at that time. It was through the hard work and advocacy of many people that we discovered HIV, learned how to prevent its transmission, and how to hold it in check.

What is HIV?

Today, HIV is a chronic illness, but some of the fear still remains. There are still people working tirelessly to eliminate stigma just as there are those working to find a vaccine and a cure. Still more are working to make the lives of people living with HIV better in whatever ways they can.

Massage therapy is not a cure. It’s not even a treatment. But it can help HIV+ individuals live happier, healthier lives:

• Massage can help alleviate peripheral neuropathy (tingling, numbness, and pain in the feet and legs), a side effect of antiretroviral therapy. Staying on a regular treatment regimen is paramount if you have HIV, so whatever makes that process easier is worthwhile.

• Massage can help with anxiety and depression, both common in HIV+ folks. Mental illness is nothing to sneeze at, and is one of the more common reasons that people find it difficult to take care of themselves.

• Massage can be a positive experience in your own body. When you have a chronic illness of any kind, it’s easy to feel at war with yourself. A massage is a time when you and your body get to be on the same team for a little while.

• Massage is a time to connect through touch. For all the good information out there about HIV/AIDS, there are still plenty of myths about how it is transmitted. This often manifests itself as a lack of everyday touch, which is especially devastating to people who have lost their intimate partners.

So let me state this very clearly:

You will never be turned away from my massage table due to your HIV status. When you have secondary issues that mean that massage would be harmful to either you or me, I will let you know specifically what they are, so that you are not left in the dark. If you find yourself with a condition I am not trained to work with, I will do my best to find you another massage therapist who is.

Your HIV status is private. I will not tell your partner, your mother, your employer, your doctor, or your best friend, unless you specifically ask me to, in writing. If you would like copies of any records or notes I keep about our sessions together, you are welcome to them. But they are not for others’ eyes.

How you contracted HIV is none of my business. Unless it’s something that affects your health in other ways (like current drug use), it has no impact on your massage. But if you do decide to share, I will not judge you.

Here is a link to a brief article about the effects of therapeutic massage on HIV and AIDS patients.

Thank you for reading. Have a great week and I am glad to be back posting. It feels good.

I am pretty lucky to get to work in great locations like this one. Yes, I was that close to the water and yes that is Walker's Point in the distance.

All of this from a referral. How do you reward your clients when they refer clients to you?

Enjoy the view I sure did.

Heather

Mother's Day Gift Options

River Bend Therapeutic Massage is offering a 20% discount off the purchase price of a gift certificate

Massage Therapy will...
• improve skin elasticity and promote tissue regeneration, in turn reducing the appearance of
stretch marks
• reduce the stress hormone Cortisol, which typically kills cells that are important for immunity.
• releases endorphins - amino acids that work as the
body’s natural painkiller.

Offer valid only for purchases this week May 3-9, 2010.
Must mention code: hhblog52010.

25 Random things about me that you don't know.

I...
1. have been a swimmer my whole life.
2. swam competitively till I was 25.
3. there are currently 4 generations in my family.
5. led trips through Maine.
6. am not from Maine,
7. have a pile of books that I am reading all at the same time.
8. love animation artwork.
9. I worked as a physical education teacher.
10. gave Joan Baez a massage.
11. know that there is a professional golfer that wants to pay me to massage them everyday.
12. my favorite drink of late is Fresca, vodka and cranberry juice.
13. have never eaten at the White Barn Inn, even though I work there.
14. am in a book group...
15. took a post-graduate year at Hebron Academy.
16.love the City of Boston
17. have a crush on Daniel Craig.
18. I don't run.
19.I have a love/hate relationship with the Concept II rowing machine.
20. rowed for one summer with Community Boating in Boston
21. saw Steven Tyler at a craft show at the World Trade Center in Boston
22. watched Andre Agassi play tennis before he won.
23. met Andrew Wyeth and his sons Jamie and Nicky.
24. my favorite movie is Love Actually.
25. want to meet Alan Rickman

The State of the Industry of Massage Therapy

Hi there-

I have been watching a group on yahoo discuss the state of the massage industry. Here is my reaction to what is going on.

Just because someone graduates from a massage program does not mean that they are going to be awesome. Nor does taking lots and lots of classes make one a good massage therapist.

We have to remember that massage schools are in business for one thing. Profit! Now there are good teachers that are trying to help people become good therapists. It still doesn't matter because at the end of the day the schools have to evaluate the bottom line. If they need more money they go out and market the program to bring in more students. Some students that they bring in are good and others are not. It is that way in every industry.

In my area massage schools are cropping up all over the place because they see a need to fill up the spas. Do they do anything to make sure that the former students get trained so they don't get injured? Not here. They get them through the program in 500 hours. Only have to do about 100 hours of hands on work and then they are off to work in spas all up and down the coast. Some first year therapists even end up in high end spas. How would you like to be paying around $150 for a deep tissue massage when the person has only just done about four massages before they touched you. Or if they did those four massages, right before you walked in the door and are now so exhausted that they can't even see straight to give another massage.

Such is the state of our industry.

Can Massage Help You After Surgery?

As a matter of fact I do believe that massage can help after surgery. This short blurb says that people who got massage after surgery had a reduction in their pain. These folks had four 20 min massages. They say that the people that got a massage that had a faster reduction in pain. That is pretty big. I think that someone to have less pain the faster they can get to the rehab part or the healing part.

I have had this experience twice in the last year. Here is my example. I have had two direct referrals from a client of patients that both had hip replacement surgery.

First client, young man, went to Boston to have his surgery at a orthopedic hospital. My first session was just one week post op. He noticed more movement and was much more relaxed after our first session. I saw this client for nearly one month while he was at home. After each session he felt better and was moving around the house much better. He seemed to have a better frame of mind and was able to unplug during our sessions. So how did I handle all the contraindications? I made sure that the Dr. and his visiting Nurse knew what was going on. His Dr. was all for it. He did not even question what I was planning on doing. Mind you this was all new to me and I was nervous at the start. However, I proceeded and I feel that I began to trust my hands again.

Second client, another direct referral from a client. Client was a female. She was two weeks post op and was also very familiar with massage as she got regular massage before her surgery. I wanted to clear this with her Dr. as she was with another group in the Greater Portland area that I was not familiar with. So I asked her to clear it with her Dr. His request was please send my PA a note saying what I was planning on doing. So I write the note. Client reports at the session that the PA said "it is clear that Heather knows what she is doing" that felt really good. So I give client two massages and things seem to free up for her after the first session. She gave up on the walker and even made it upstairs to have a shower. That is progress. She said that she felt great. I went back for the second session and that session went well and she felt the bed rest tension go away.

Neither client have had massage from me since their last session. I hope that they still consider massage for the rest of their lives. I hope that my short interlude in their life helped.

Do I believe the study? I do 100%. I have direct proof. I would love to have a discussion about this. Please tell me your experiences with massage. Tell me if you believe the study has legs.

In Health

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.