Paying with a card might be free for you, but it costs the merchant. Do you know how much using your card costs me?
I accept payment for massage treatments at the clinic in a variety of forms: cash, cheque, debit, MasterCard, and Visa. Some of these methods cost me to deposit into my account, others don't.
Do you know how your payment choice affects local small business owners?
For my micro business the breakdown is like this:
Cash = Remember that stuff? Those bills are free for me to accept/deposit.
Cheque = A bit old school, but works like cash.
Debit = 10 cents, no matter the size of the transaction.
Credit = 2.8% of transaction total. The amount I pay our credit card payment provider is approximately $2.80 for every one hour massage treatment. Part of this percentage is charged on top of the tax I collect. Sneaky, aren't they?
So, what?
I operate a tiny little business. When you function at this scale, every dime of revenue and expense is accounted for. Although it can be helpful to have business expenses for tax purposes, there comes a point when you have enough expenses accumulated and just want to see income simply coming in. Last year I paid nearly $600 in point of sale fees; that same amount could have flown me to Maui for a continuing education course to further my professional skills. Receiving payment by cash, cheque, and debit keeps more money in my pocket, so I can invest it into growing my business.
I am grateful for all paying customers, and will accept any form of payment that they provide, but if it doesn't matter to you whether you pay by credit, debit, or cash, then I invite you to consider how your choice of payment method affects me. When supporting small businesses in your community, why not ask if they have a preferred payment method? You might just be helping them actually put more money directly in their pocket, and that is a very sweet thing indeed. See you in the clinic, Dana
Really, I'm not kidding. This is magic, and possibly the simplest face mask imaginable.
Okay, ready?
Here's the secret recipe:
One teaspoon of unpasteurized honey, smeared evenly over your face.
Let sit for several minutes.
Rinse off.
It's understandably quite sticky, so using this mask before a shower might be best. I've found that I don't require a cleanser after rinsing the mask, it takes care of this, too.
Honey will firm up your visage, shrink your pores, and fine lines will fade. All this thanks to magical workings of bees.
Give it a try! You don't have much to lose - except maybe a few laugh lines. Let me know if you notice a difference in your skin with repeated use.
Sorry Pain, you cannot pass through the gate. Pleasure gets priority.
Have you ever stumbled through your living room in the night to have the corner of the coffee table come in direct full-swing contact with your shin? I have many times - gee, maybe I should move the table - and I often find myself instinctively reaching for the injured area to briskly rub it.
Why is that?
One theory is that our brains don't want to feel pain and have mechanisms in place to reduce our perception of it. The ascending nerve pathways (sensation information going to the brain) have a preference for input that brings pleasure. That's right, we are all wired to feel pleasure before pain. So when we injure ourselves our instincts make us rub the sore spot to intercept the pain signals also trying to reach the brain.
Imagine that there is a gate keeper on the road to the brain, and a pain signal and a pleasure signal arrive at the gate at the same time. If the signal for pain isn't that important, ie: not life threatening, the pleasure signal will be allowed to pass through first and will arrive at the brain faster. The brain will receive the signal of pleasure before the signal of pain and therefore down-regulate the pain's message.
How does this relate to massage therapy?
With this theory in mind one can apply the concept of pain management through positive touch. If you suffer from chronic pain such as arthritis, headaches, fibromyalgia, et cetra you might perceive less discomfort from these ailments by experiencing pleasant cutaneous sensations in other areas of your body. To clarify: by receiving a soothing massage your brain may "turn-down" the pain signals it has been receiving in order to give preference to the pleasure signals.
Ronald Melzack, a Canadian researcher, with Patrick Wall introduced their "gate control" theory of pain in 1965. This theory changed how we look at pain perception and is still relevant to how pain management is approached. These researchers also validated the role of psychology in pain management by examining how mental state influences perception of pain.
One big piece to the psychological component of pain perception is how you think about pain when it is occurring to you. Your mood, personal experiences, environment, and context of stimulation can all alter how the brain experiences pain. People who live with chronic pain syndromes can learn to down-regulate or choose not to perceive as much pain by controlling their thoughts about pain. But this is a whole other discussion in itself.
Who can benefit from massage in this way?
A little positive touch can go a long way.
People suffering from these common conditions could benefit from regular massage therapy to reduce pain:
Osteoprosis
Fibromyalgia
Fracture
Pregnancy
Cancer
AIDS
No, I'm not promising that massage therapy will solve your health concern or disease, but it can improve your quality of life by reducing the amount of pain that your brain perceives.
Massage therapy has an incredible breadth of application and can be useful for anyone looking to improve their quality of life by making their body as functional and pain-free as possible.
In wellness,
Dana
P.S. If you feel like getting a bit nerdy and learning about neuoranatomy and chronic pain management, I've included some links that have been helpful to me.
Resources:
Dr Ronald Melzack discusses human pain perception and the development of
his Pain Gate Theory(5:25 Pain Gate Theory introduced):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRFanGInvlc
Dr John Campbell explains The Ascending Gating Mechanism (Pain Gate
Theory description starts at approx 1:20 mins):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9qbXKIAeNo
Graceful Agony blog post about the Pain Gate Theory: http://gracefulagony.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/gate-control-theory-of-pain/
It's harder to keep centered when life gets turned upside-down.
I dropped off the blogging charts and in the world of blogging this is a serious no-no but I needed to simplify my life and obligations, so this writing project was set to the back burner for a time.
I would have liked to notify my readers that I was taking a break but
until now I haven't even been able to open my blog to muster up the
words to say that I can't be here. Really, in the scale of bad things to
happen, the fall-out from my blogging absenteeism is small.
Sometimes life calls for simplification, and in my time of requiring recuperation I fortunately had the ability and choice to weed out some of the less essential activities that I participate in in order to create some ease in my life.
We all experience times in our lives when stress levels soar, sometimes due to self-inflicted sources, other times due to unforeseen circumstances. Being able to take an objective look at your life, to pick and choose what things are modifiable sources of stress-load is an important ability. I would like to think of my decision to take time-out as an example of me modelling the behavior I hope to see in our society.
I hope that the take-home from this post is that it is okay to let go for a while. If you feel like you need permission, here it is: go ahead, take a break. If you can, be forthcoming and let people affected by your choices know what's up, but give yourself some slack. Sometimes we all need time to just turn off.
I needed this time to myself to refill my coffers with ideas and energy. Contemplation, time with my loved ones, and some time away helped me regain my strength. And oh, how the ideas are bountiful once again! If you noticed my absence, thank you for your patience.
In my work, I see a lot of people with high stress levels
who seek massage therapy as one of the tools to help them manage. Stress
manifests in many levels as dysfunction in the body, and massage can aid
your ability to manage this thanks to your body's release of endorphins
during and after a treatment. On that note, I think it's time for me to book myself a massage.
A year ago I returned from a month-long adventure in India with an old friend. Among the intriguing cultural habits and customs my traveling companion and I became fond of, the infamous Indian head wobble brought the most pleasure. This delightful alternating atlanto-axial side-flexion gesture can mean anything from a friendly greeting to "I completely understand", "I'm not sure", "the deal is done", "what do you think?" or it can be used in combination with a smile to buy some time while you figure out a situation. You can imagine the confusion we experienced trying to decipher the meaning of this common and complex gesture as we bumbled our way through the incredibly culturally rich and already overwhelming environment that is India.
If you are unfamiliar with the head wobble, this video captures the diversity of this classic Indian gesture quite well.
And this video helps to decipher the many meanings and variations.
Now let's explore this unique custom from a more scientific vantage point, shall we my fellow anatomists?
The Anatomy
The bony components of the area responsible for the aforementioned head wobble include the bottom of the skull (or occiput), and the uppermost segments of the cervical spine. Muscles and ligaments intricately lash together these bones in all directions, overlapping and crisscrossing to make this one of the most mobile areas of the body. The sub occipital muscles have some of the most densely concentrated proprioceptive receptors in the entire body (second in sensitivity only to the fingers and lips). This density of nervous supply allows for the brain's very careful monitoring of where the head is in relation to the body, making delicate head motions and adjustments for balance possible.
Now that I'm thinking about some of the amazing features of the neck I have to point out just how much is going on in this area. Not only do we have a highly mobile stack of joints that surround the spinal cord (keep in mind that when a joint has
There's lot's of important tubes and wires in the neck.
great mobility, it sacrifices its stability) we also have massive blood vessels and the body's only vessel for air intake, the trachea.
Damage or disfigurement to any one of these structures can lead to death or at least significant bodily dysfunction. Since we are so vulnerable in this area, consider what I am saying and be mindful of how you treat your neck; it is the superhighway to the mother ship that is your brain. Tight neck muscles and poor posture are not to be ignored, they could be compromising your nervous, circulatory, and joint health!
Because of the complexity of the anatomy in the neck, there is not one muscle for each plane of movement. Instead, we are dealing with layers of muscles that work synergistically to the achieve combined actions of flexion, extension, side flexion, and rotation to execute the subtle gestures of the neck.
Muscles of the neck by Frank Netter, my favorite anatomical artist.
The Indian head wobble is a combined movement, primarily of alternating side flexion, between the two uppermost joints of the spine: the atlanto-occipital and atlanto-axial joints while the following muscles have influence in the co-ordination of the wobble.
Sub-occipitals
Middle scalenes
Splenius capitis & cervicis
Levator scapula
Upper trapezius
Sternocleidomastoid
That last one is one of my favorite muscles to treat. Ask me about it when you're next in for treatment.
I didn't know it was palliative massage at the time but spending those last lucid days with my father in the hospital turned out to be just that.
He became suddenly ill, recovered for a few days while I was able to spend time with him, then his condition worsened again. In just three weeks my dad had been in four different hospitals and two intensive
care units. His respiratory and blood pressure function yo-yoed so
frequently that his condition was reviewed by the doctors every eight
hours to monitor progress or set-back. Sometimes this meant receiving
phone calls from the hospital in the middle of the night for updates and
permissions.
A by-stander to a loved one who is critically ill has to endure waiting for diagnosis, wondering about the treatments, medical system timelines, and the simple and deep concern for survival and comfort; it all adds up to be a roller-coaster of emotions that can leave you with a sense of helplessness.
My family and I were forced to learn how to surrender our need to fix the problem. My dad's critical condition was in the hands of the hospital. We were encouraged to be with him and to touch and talk to him even if he didn't appear to be conscious. And we did.
Me and my pops on a
Mexican adventure in 2012.
Those few days between ICU stints, where he was off all sedation and ventilation, he and I shared some incredibly tender moments. Massage was a big part of our time together. It brought him comfort, and was a welcome form of positive touch that broke up the pokes and prods of medical procedures. It also made me feel like I was helping in an otherwise helpless situation. I suspect that I benefited by providing the massage as much as he did in receiving it.
Perhaps you have heard the Zen adage "chop wood, carry water." This is often interpreted as being mindful and present in all the activities of your life, even the mundane ones. But this can also mean to mindfully carry on in times of difficulty. No matter what state of consciousness you exist in - enlightenment,
strife, joy, or despair - you still need to do your tasks and know that
there will be more tasks when those are through. There is a grounding effect in fulfilling one's daily tasks and routines especially when you are in a state of flux. Doing what I know how to do for someone I love in a terrible time of need was me chopping wood and carrying water.
Leo Babauta explains this concept in another lovely way in his article The Zen of Doing.
Anyone can provide positive loving touch, and often it is a welcome offering. Don't be shy about reaching out; it can feel empowering to offer this type of tactile help.
Things to consider if you are providing massage to someone in the hospital:
Do they want it? Ask your sick loved one if they would like to be massaged by you. If you don't ask they may not know how to tell you that they aren't comfortable with you touching them. I personally can't imagine it but there are people out there who don't like to be touched. It would be awful to discover that even with all your good intention you were actually increasing their discomfort!
Is it safe? Massage can have significant effects on the body's systems, which also may be under the influence of medications. Always ask the patient's medical team if it is appropriate to provide massage. Usually gentle massage to hands, feet, and scalp are a safe bet, depending on what's going on with their body.
Policies? Many hospitals and facilities are scent-free. Be mindful of fragrance that may be present in your massage lubricant and the effects of this on your surroundings.
How? Just start gently massaging and follow your instincts. Keep your mind present by focusing on what you feel and how they are responding. Adjust what you are doing as you go. Ask them if they are comfortable with how you are massaging them, and be receptive to what they say. You will have to get creative about how to move around the hospital bed and equipment in order to reach the parts you want to massage. Be kind to your own body, it's not helpful to injure yourself by being in an uncomfortable position. Plus, the person receiving your touch will sense your discomfort which is certainly not pleasant for them either.
And then he was gone.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed a great gap in my postings. Please excuse my disappearance from blogging, now you know why. There is thankfully more chopping and carrying ahead of me as I meander my way through the grieving process of loosing someone so dear to me.
Be sure to tell your loved ones you love them and reach out and give that hug. Sometimes they're gone before you think they will be.
Life is busy. We all need to schedule in the things
that are important to us or they simply won't happen.
I am asked this question a lot, but there is no set answer. It really is a feel thing.
The reasons for seeking massage therapy vary from aiding your recovery from an orthopedic injury to keeping your stress levels at bay or improving your performance in physical activities. Each individual has different needs and I am here to support you in your goals, whatever they may be.
I strive to help people re-connect with their bodies and to learn to listen to the subtle language that their body is speaking to them. My new clients often leave feeling surprised by this new found body awareness. I witness people becoming aware of the signals their body send when they need a tune-up. If a self-care regime is no longer working then hiring help may be the needed next step.
So, how often should you come in? Here's a general guide:
Acute injuries often require a series of closely timed appointments (such as once a week for several weeks) in order to influence the changes in the tissues during the healing process. This appointment span can also be applied to those working to change postural dysfunctions. When undertaking such recovery programs it is important to follow the stretch/strengthen/posture advice I provide in order to get the best results from your massage treatment series. Your soft tissue is best influenced during the first couple of days after a treatment, so showing your body the shape you want it to transform into is crucial during this time.
Maintenance or stress management treatments are often booked 2-6 weeks apart. I have regular clients who have recurring appointments weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly. If you have a busy schedule and can only come on certain days or times then booking a regular recurring appointment makes certain that the perfect time slot is always available for you. Receiving regular massages also depends on how your body responds to treatment, what you can afford (in terms of both money and time), and what is going on in your life. Pregnancy, new fitness activities, or illness can change the frequency of needing a massage.
You need to tune-in and listen to what your body is asking of you. No one but yourself can hear this dialogue but I can help you learn the language.
Let's make an important distinction:
Massage Therapists work in clinics.
Masseuses work in parlours.
I am a massage therapist.I am not a masseuse.
I've been called a bodyworker (though this term makes my skin crawl due to the the combination of the words "body and "work"). My profession doesn't need any help with misleading the public about what services are provided in a massage; enough people are already confused. I tolerate bodywork as a term for soft tissue
manual therapy because the non-registered massage providers who understandably didn't want to be called masseuses had to come up with something that
represented their field of work. There are some very gifted non-registered practitioners at work. Some of the people who most inspired me to study massage therapy were of such status. Because they chose not to take the registered road they have a different type of practice but I do not have any less respect for their lifelong commitment to helping others through touch.
As a massage consumer it is difficult to anticipate the quality of services provided by a non-registered provider. Anyone can hang a shingle and say they give a good massage but there is no regulation on training requirements and this is why the profession of registered massage therapy makes such a stink about defining what their profession is and does.
I understand that there may be a generational difference
in the meaning of the term masseuse. I can never bring myself to correct my 90 year old grandfather on this flub. But I want people to begin to
understand what massage therapy currently is. Not everyone has caught wind of this, as I recently experienced at the clinc where I work alongside physiotherapists, a chiropractor, a Chinese Medicine practitoner, and another massage therapist. Our centre is bright, spacious, and inviting to those who are looking for a serene environment to tackle their health issues. Regardless of our clinic's appearance and branding, a gentleman dropped into the clinic to inquire if we did *wink-wink* "special massage". I clearly informed him that we did not ever provide that type of massage. I assure you that no seductive neon signs were luring him to our clinic, he just saw our sandwich board and inquired. This happens; massage may be associated with sexual touch. Massage has such a vast variance of interpretations worldwide that we are fighting an uphill battle in distinguishing the difference in types of hands-on techniques.
Let me clarify how it works. In order to be permitted to practice within a plethora of clinical
settings my registered massage therapist colleagues and I have obtained extensive schooling (3000 hours), taken
board exams, pay yearly dues to the college with which we are
registered, obtain yearly continuing education credits, and adhere to
CMTBC by-laws & The Health Professions Act. The reason these reserved
title specifications are in place is to protect the profession. When the public talks about getting a massage we want their language to reflect
the type of treatment received and leave no grey area about the
therapeutic value of the services.
I
don't intend to be hung-up on terminology but the
differences in connotation between the terms massage therapist, bodyworker, masseuse are significant. I think it's
fair to say that pretty much all of us in this profession consider this
terminological variance a pet peeve. Please help us clarify this
difference by using the appropriate terms.
In British Columbia the profession of massage therapy has claim on four titles that are not to be used by anyone other than their registered members. If you provide massage in this province but are not a registered member of the College of Massage Therapists of BC you may get some heat from our organization about what you are calling yourself; yes, there are people keeping an eye on such things.
The reserved titles are:
Massage Therapist
Registered Massage Therapist
Massage Practitioner
Registered Massage Practitioner
It's a minor linguistic difference to those who may not have a decent grasp on the English language and I'll forgive them and those who are simply ignorant until they know better. But for the rest of you, please don't interchange the word "masseuse" with "massage therapist". While my clients usually leave the treatment room happier than when they arrived I absolutely do not consider this providing them with "happy endings".
November 20th is Universal Children's Day. In 1954 the United Nations established this day to encourage all countries to institute a day to
promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and to
initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world's
children.
The Liddle Kidz Foundation is hard at work year round to empower caretakers to use infant and pediatric massage to promote the health and well-being of children who have a harder start to life. Not all of these children are fortunate enough to find themselves in an orphanage and many are forced to live rough lives on the street. The group the video below traveled to Vietnam to educate caregivers in orphanages about providing massage to the kids in residence. In some instances this was the second visit by Liddle Kidz to a few orphanages and the caregivers recount their first-hand experience of how the incidence of sickness has decreased, requiring less intervention of acute medical care, thus showing that touch has an important role in health and well-being.
This group went overseas "not to start a fire, but to pass a torch" and it appears that they have done just that by sharing their skills and knowledge. This foundation's work empowers communities to use positive touch to promote health and happiness of their liddlest members. This video sheds some light on an incredible program that I hope to one day soon participate in.
I have written more elsewhere in this blog about the necessity of touch, please have a read and don't neglect to reach out today and touch someone who is special to you.
Just the other day I recommended to a client to try using a sugar body scrub. She had an unfortunate reaction to the chemicals used in a pool that left her swim suit discolored and her skin rough and scratchy feeling. Sounded like the pool maintenance crew added too many additives! She was already well versed in kitchen cosmetics, even sharing with me her favorite hair repair recipe that she used weekly during her platinum blonde phase that included mayonnaise, raw egg, and an avocado. This is what I shared with her to help regain her usual silky skin texture:
Basic Body Scrub
You already have the ingredients in your
pantry for luxuriously soft skin.
1 cup sugar or sea salt
1/2 cup oil (olive, almond, canola - whatever is in your cupboard)
essential oils, if desired
The ratio of oil to sugar/salt will depend on the consistency you like most. Start with a little bit of oil and gradually add more depending on your preferences.
If you have eczema or another dry and cracked skin condition, stick with the sugar. You will find that the salt will irritate your already sensitive skin.
Olive oil leaves the most nourishing effect on the skin, but leaves you smelling a tad like olives. Almond and canola oil have no scent, but are lighter and less moisturizing.
Experiment to find what suits you best.
And some tasty variations:
Coffee Body Scrub
1/2 cup coarsely ground coffee
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
8 drops vanilla essential oil
Lemon Mint Body Scrub
1 cup sugar or sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbs lemon zest or 5 drops lemon essential oil
1 Tbs dried mint or 5 drops peppermint essential oil
How to Use
After your initial shower wash down, with your bowl of scrub concoction
poised tub-side, turn off the water and begin your scrub. Take a scoop
of the mixture in your hand and begin massaging it into your
skin in gentle circles. Try to massage distally on your limbs toward your core in
order to promote venous return, there by aiding your circulation, i.e: ankle to hip, wrist to shoulder. Don't forget to exfoliate your lips too! Conveniently, the scrub dissolves before you can
over exfoliate. Rinse thoroughly - without soap to keep all the moisturizing goodness on your skin - then towel off and enjoy your newly lustrous integument.
The shower floor gets a bit slippery, thanks to the oil, so please be careful! There's nothing wrong with sitting down to perform your exfoliation.
See you and your gleaming epidermis in the clinic,
Dana
