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Have not written in a while. Wondering where all the time has gone. I can't tell you exactly. What I can tell you is that I have been working a lot and I have changed somethings for the winter.

First things first. I have taken a leave of absence from the spa for the winter. I have now had about one month of Saturdays to myself. Last Saturday, I actually worked in my office all day. That was amazing and wonderful and tiring all at the same time. This week I was able to cook and go food shopping for the week. All of this without having to wait for a phone call. Don't get me wrong I love doing massage and all the services at the spa. However I really needed some time off to pursue a few other ideas that I normally would not have time for.

I am teaching at a local massage school in Sanford Maine. I was referred there by a friend and things have worked out actually and I am finding that I really like it. Something I can see myself doing as long as they will have me.

You may know that I love to read and can't seem to get enough books to read. I usually have about three books at a time. One in the car, one on the iPod, and one beside the bed for nighttime reading. I have found a fun Twitter poster called Flashlight Worthy. Book lists, all kinds, chick lit, book club lists. You name the list and well it is on this website. Go take a look and see if you find something that you like.

What else am I up to. Usually no good. Take care till the next post.

Banned substances and Professional Athletes.

I seriously think that David Ortiz and anyone else that is interested in taking supplements should read this. I understand the entire banned substance issue has come up recently. However if we don't ask they won't tell. You and only you are responsible for your health. You can't expect someone to take care of you. You have to do it for yourself. Nuff said.

The USANA Athlete Guarantee program currently guarantees that if the athlete should test positive for a banned substance as a result of taking USANA® nutritional products, USANA will compensate the athlete with up to two times his or her current annual earnings from the sport up to $1 million. The athletes shall order nutritional products that have been tested by a third party (NSF or HFL) to ensure the absence of banned substances.

Acceptance into the USANA Athlete Guarantee program is based upon the review and acceptance of an application at USANA’s discretion with certain agreement terms. The Athlete Guarantee is primarily for Olympic and professional athletes and is a separate agreement from our Athlete Sponsorship program.

Last reviewed/updated: 04/17/09

Hands Off My Health

Hands Off My Health

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A Maine Golfer Competes on the National Stage!

Dear Loyal Readers:

Pardon me while I take some time away from my typical posts about massage. I am posting this letter from a golfer here in Maine that is headed to St. Louis to compete next week. I think that it is important to post this request here. If you wish to read more about Alexa you can read the letter below and here

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day.
Heather


Hello,

My name is Alexa Rancourt. I am an 18-year-old golfer living in South Portland. I have played golf seriously for the past 3 years, attending a golf school in Florida on scholarship, and have competed at the local, state and national levels. I am the 2008 Maine Women's Amateur Champion, the 2007 and 2008 Maine Girls' Junior Champion and the 2008 Southern Maine Women's Amateur Champion. I have numerous top 10 and top 5 finishes in national junior tournaments (including the FCWT and AJGA) and in March 2008, I won my first national tournament in Bradenton, Florida. I have been honored with a full combined academic and athletic scholarship to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina and will be joining their women's golf team in August.

Recently, I achieved one of my longtime goals of qualifying for the U.S. Women's Amateur, which is being held in St. Louis, Missouri August 3-9. Expenses for the trip are extremely prohibitive however, which is why I am writing to you. Due to my family's current financial situation, I am asking for donations to help fund this trip. No amount is too small and any assistance that you could offer would be greatly appreciated. If you are willing to help, please contact me through this email: tee2green09@hotmail.com or on my cell (207-838-7608). I play to win, and the U.S. Women's Amateur is no exception for me. A small donation from you could help me achieve one of my biggest goals; to bring aUSGA Championship win back to Maine!

Thank you for your consideration,
Alexa Rancourt
66 Walnut Street
South Portland, Maine 04106
cell: 207-838-7608

A very nice client letter

I had to take the time for a little self promotion. If I don't do it no one else will.

1pm Friday

Hi Heather

I got home safely despite feeling I hadbeen given a relaxation drug. The massage was outstanding. I'm sitting here and almost feel as though I don't have any body mass. Only reality is the tactile feel of the keyboard.

When you finished today, all I could do was put on a hat to cover the Bozo hair and my shoes and head to the car slowly.

I feel wonderful. My feet feel wonderful. I don't know how you can control/conserve your energy to do more massages after mine.

Thank you soooo much.You have amazing talent and skill. Truly the healing arts !

JM

I love getting messages like that one. It reminds my of why I do what I do. I am truly here for the clients not even for myself. I am here for them.

Massage Therapist using Twitter

Are you following anyone on Twitter? Want more information about Twitter go here.

I have been using twitter for a few years now seems like I am now behind the eight ball because I have not used it that much. However I am now using it more than ever. I will use it to give information about massage openings in my schedule. Or other news in my office.

Want to follow me? twitter.com/hgheather

Hope to see you soon.

What great press!

I continue to be impressed with this company. I have not been able to use other skin care lines after I started using this line.

Earth Hour 2009

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

In all my years as a Massage Therapist I have met so many wonderful people. Performers, athletes, regular folks. I love my job. I get to be in a private space with people that they don't share with very many people. Everyone wants the same thing, to be treated kindly and cared for in the time that we have together. I take that responsibility very seriously.

Can you fix this?

What a week this has been. Nearly everyone that came to my office this week was in some kind of pain. Monday client bent over and tweaked the back, Tuesday client on vacation and the need to relax and unwind the neck, then another client with LB pain that was preventing the pre-season soccer play. Wednesday was another client with neck issues. Thursday repeat client with LB pain. Friday I had really no idea what what the day would hold. Repeat of the client on Monday, by the end of the day I had also worked with four more clients one of whom needed the work. Saturday morning I had no idea what was to be in the docket. First client arrived in pain, second client arrived in pain. Both different situations, still in pain.

That is what I love about my job. Sometimes I know what is coming and I can plan strategies to help, other times things just arrive and I have to fall back on experience to let me know what to do. I don't have an assistant to talk to a client before I see them. They just arrive.

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.

Words and phrases that drive me crazy!!!

Words and phrases that drive me crazy.

"What ever"
"What not"
"Just"
"Honestly speaking" Have you been lying to me the whole time.

I am sure that today I will find some others and I will add to the post.

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.

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.

MLB Contracts?

How does that relate to the massage therapy profession? Read this article about contracts in the MLB and you will begin to understand.

Red Sox player Dice K. Gets massage as part of his contract as well as some other perks. Pretty cool that when you get paid to play you get other things as well. You should read some of the perks that the players get, golf club memberships.

I am happy that they want massages. I am glad that they want those over other things that players could want. I hope that other people will read that they want massages and maybe consider having one or two themselves. Of course there will be another group of people that will think that because they have them massage is too expensive. Massage is not expensive when you compare it to how good your body feels after.

So just cause professional athletes get massage does not mean that you should not. I personally can not live with out.

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 need your help!

Since I am new to writing my blog. Yes, ok I am not new really to this. However I have not posted as often as I really should. I would like to get better at this thing called blogging. So here is my question. I need a source for some basic HTML so that I can make this blog look a bit better than it does already. Google makes it really easy to write and post and add pictures.

I just want to get better at it.

I am looking for things like how to add links so that the entire address is not in the document. I want to have a nice blue link to click on. I am sure that it is here right on this page. I am just not seeing it. Kind of one of those things once someone points it out. I will never miss it again.

If you can help me with this I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Heather