My fingers were trying to get these medial scalenes to show some sign of softness and life. Rebar. These scalenes felt like rebar. You know, that metal stuff they put in concrete to stabilize it. Rusty rebar. My neck always hurts there, my client said. Would you like to get rid of it? I replied. … Continue reading Accidents Happen
A client asked me the other day if someone–a very wealthy person or even a celebrity–asked me to be his or her personal therapist on a yearly salary, would I take the job? She added that Bob Hope had a personal massage therapist and she was sure there were others out there who employed personal … Continue reading Celebrity Massage Careers
I just do insurance massages, I don’t bill for them (thank the Gods). My wonderful boss is the one who walks the labyrinth on that one. So I was perplexed last week when a regular client came in feeling a touch irritated and betrayed about being billed for entire insurance sessions at the chiropractor’s office. … Continue reading Insurance Massage: What Makes a Session a Session?
I’m not one to whine – except in this space – and I have been floundering in computer virus hell for nearly a month. Cesar, the techie not the general, finally brought my computer back today and after some standard confusion, I’m at the keyboard again. Which is to say I’m at a crossroads. I’d … Continue reading Virusly Yours
I was raised on Coca-Cola. Straight or on the rocks. Peanuts or sans peanuts. It was THE drink. Why would you want water when you could have a refreshing Coke that fizzed up your nose and made you say “ahhhhhh” with satisfaction? I can still remember putting fifteen cents in the machine, opening the door … Continue reading A Watery Path
I think I’m becoming a Grinch about noise. Because it was the well-loved Grinchy-Claus who once worried, …All the Who girls and boysWould wake up bright and early. They’d rush for their toys!And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! Normally, I think total quiet is not only artificial, it’s too … Continue reading Fight Noise with White Noise?
It strikes me that May 1st — May Day — with its ancient associations with summer and fertility, is a good time to write about… fertility. When I was a child, I loved to go to the Little Rock Zoo. We lived so close that my mother strolled me over almost everyday to see the … Continue reading Fertility Rites
Living life by a clock is not always easy. In fact, it can be quite difficult when you are a sensitive and caring massage therapist often dealing with clients suffering from stress and pain. But like all good things, a massage session must come to an end … preferably when the schedule says it should. … Continue reading Life By the Clock: Why Keeping Within Time Limits is Not Always a Bad Thing
Are you in H.A.L.T? It’s a question I ask myself on days where I’m feeling out of sorts, but still need to be there for my massage clients. “H.A.L.T” stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. It’s a concept I first learned about in my years sitting in Al-Anon meetings and discussing how to handle difficult … Continue reading HALT!
Doing a massage the other day on a lady who works as an emergency room nurse at a local hospital, I ran into some solid granite. “I don’t like chiropractors,” she said. Ok. Why? “We see people in the emergency room all the time. The chiropractor adjusted them and they come in later in pain … Continue reading Crunch Time