Shameless Self-Promotion
Check out the new tab at the top that I’ve added. It’s all about me!
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Are You an Ashiatsu Therapist?
If so, have you seen the new Graduates Corner? It’s a social networking site designed specifically for Ashiatsu therapists. Network, trade, photos, videos, name that Ashi stroke, you name it, it seems to be there.
I’m still waiting for other Ashi therapists in the north Alabama area to sign up. I need someone to trade with!
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The Valley of Bad Air
If you’ve lived in the Tennessee Valley for any length of time you’ve heard about how the American Indians used to call this the Valley of Bad Air. I’ve seen descriptions of how only certain molds grow here that are highly allergenic and how the air doesn’t move in the bowl of land we live in. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that a lot of people are suffering right now with allergies.
Spring has sprung and so has the trees and some of the flowers and the pollen is thickening. Thus, here’s a helpful little website where you can punch in your location and get some information on the pollen level and your area’s biggest current offenders.
My area currently lists juniper as one of its top three offenders. I have several of those in my yard so I am counting myself lucky that I’m not sick. Usually spring is tough on my allergies. Why not this year?
Some of it may be luck, but I think my neti pot has a lot to do with it. I started using one last November after I had my Fall allergy attack and sinus infection and I have been sinus healthy ever since. In fact, I’ve been able to cut way back on my allergy meds since I started using it. If you haven’t already tried one, now may be the time. I used to run scared every time the seasons changed hoping I wouldn’t get sick and barricading myself inside. This spring though, I’ve spent more time than ever outside and I’ve been able to enjoy driving with the windows down.
A lot of people I talk to are apprehensive about using a neti pot. The thought of pouring water up one’s nose is a scary prospect, but I’m here to tell you, it’s really not bad. I bought my pot at Walgreen’s (they also carry them at Wal-Mart now) and it came stocked with the pre-measured buffered salts you need. I would highly recommend those, they don’t burn like some of the bulk salts can. The neti “pot” comes in two different styles, one you can pour in and another you can “squirt” in. I use the pouring option as it seemed a bit more controllable, but I have friends who use the squirt bottle and swear by it.
Of course, I find that once I get sick enough and desperate enough, I’ll try anything which is how I came to the neti pot. Perhaps you’re there now. Try it. It’s a small price to pay if it works. If it doesn’t, you’re only out around fifteen bucks.
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Germs Have Fingerprints?
What is a Bacterial Fingerprint Anyway?
I’ve been reading lately about a recent study done to prove the concept that people can be identified by their own unique bacterial fingerprint. Fascinated, I keep coming back to it.
Did you know that for everything you touch, you leave behind a unique collection of germs? I never really thought about it that hard, but I suppose it makes sense. We leave germs behind, why not leave ones that are our own special blend?
Most of the stories I’ve read so far focus on the forensic and law enforcement angle. Very interesting, I hope they can find a way to make this work. More tools mean fewer dangerous humans on the streets.
We All Share Germs!
And while I can wholly support the forensic interest in this discovery, I wonder how volatile the blend actually is. As a massage therapist, I touch, to state the simple and the obvious. Do I pick up my clients’ germs? Yep! Otherwise, why are we as massage therapists and the medical professions at large educated so stringently on how to properly hand wash before and after contact with clients and patients?
Then even more questions arise such as, if I’m picking up my clients germs as I touch them, am I also integrating their unique blends into my own? Am I transmitting my unique blends to my client as I touch them? If so, is this a good thing? Does this blend help our immune system? Should we be out searching for new and different types of bacteria to add to our “arsenal”?
I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I’m going to be watching to see what happens with this line of research. For now, I’m going to go wash my hands again.
Relevant Articles
People leave unique ‘germ print’
Microbiomes: You Live in Your Own Germ Cloud
Analysis of Microbial Communities: An Emerging Tool in Forensic Sciences
Updated 12/1/23: The original article referenced in this post is gone so I’ve broken the links and added a few relevant articles at the end of the post.
Sharon Bryant at Harvest Moon Massage Therapy
is Decatur’s Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage Therapist!
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A Week In An Airport
I recently saw a client who had spent a week in airports across Europe and the U.S. trying to get home after spending the holidays in Italy.
I can’t say that I’d ever wondered what sleeping on benches and chairs and floors would do to my back. I suppose if I’d ever considered it, I figured I’d be permanently broken. This client, surprisingly, was not. Of course, she’s younger, still in college. Still, I was surprised that she wasn’t in worse shape.
While working with her, I began to contemplate the levels of frustration spending that much time stranded must have generated. I can’t imagine.
Afterward as I was driving home listening to the news from Haiti, I began thinking about how frustrated and desperate the survivors of the earthquake must feel. The outpouring of aid from the U.S. is encouraging. I hope it’s in time.
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Have You Finished Shopping Yet?
Have you finished shopping your Christmas list yet? I haven’t and I’m getting just a little panicked about it.
I figured some of you might be in the same boat so I wanted to toss out there that I have gift certificates available for those hard-to-buy-for folks on your list.
Call me if you’re interested.
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National Massage Therapy Awareness Week
Every day I’m a massage therapist I learn something new. That there was such a thing as National Massage Therapy Awareness Week is one of those new things.
I consider myself a walking, talking advertisement for massage therapy as it’s the only way I’ve identified that actually grows my business. That and I love it and as such love to talk about it so NMTAW just sort of fits right into the way I do things.
Anyway, the American Massage Therapy Association is promoting awareness about massage October 25 -31 this year and they want you to take time out for yourself and get a massage. I would love to see you on my table so call me or go to the Massage Therapist Locator at AMTA and find a massage therapist near you.
Have a great week and massage!
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Trade Etiquette & Ethics
One of the things I’ve been trying to do in order to keep myself in balance is trade massages with other therapists that I know. When I’m really on the ball I try to buy a massage from a therapist I don’t know in order to introduce myself and widen my circle of associates.
In recently trying to set up a trade, some questions came to the forefront of my mind and I haven’t had the opportunity to run them by a more experienced therapist so I thought I would put them here and see if anyone would like to offer their thoughts on the matter.
As a therapist, if you arrange a trade with someone and then are offered the opportunity to work with a paying client, what do you do? Do you cancel the trade? Do you focus the paying client to a different time slot?
My thoughts are that you should schedule the client to a different time slot. Is this a common practice? Or is it more common to re-schedule the trade and take the paying client?
I’m just wondering how other folks do it and why. Leave a comment.
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It Pays To Be Nice
I was in the doctor’s office waiting room yesterday morning waiting for my name to be called. I was there for a flu shot and dreading it. I’m a little nervous around needles. They make me faint if we’re not real careful.
Anyway, while I was waiting I leaned my head back and laid it on the back of the couch to try to ease the horrible ache between my shoulder blades. After a couple of minutes the gentleman across the way made a comment about falling asleep in public.
We struck up a conversation and I found out he was struggling to stay awake after an all-night shift at a local company. I felt bad for the man and continued talking with him longer than I ordinarily would because I know how miserable it is when I’m sleepy and just want to lay down.
Turns out he works with a very good friend of mine and we chatted as we waited. I went in for my appointment and while I was asking a few questions about the flu shot I was there for, he overheard one of the nurses say something about me being a massage therapist.
He was still waiting when I came back through the waiting area. He stopped me, asking about my massage therapy practice, and wondering if I “worked with gentlemen in my practice”. I could tell he was nervous that he might offend me by the way he asked it. When I assured him that I did work with gentlemen he relaxed and told me about some problems he was having with his neck and back. I dug a card out of my purse and told him to call me.
He hasn’t called yet, but that really isn’t the point of my post. The point is that I put myself out there a little further than I normally do and in return I made a personal connection and a business contact.
While I was still in school, the interpersonal nature of marketing a massage therapy business was a huge concern. I still worry about it and struggle with days where my introverted nature makes me want to go hide under my bed. I try to respect myself on those days and keep the chit chat of marketing to a minimum. But I do find that more often than not, when I put myself out there and talk with people, I end up feeling better when I leave than when I arrived.
I guess that’s a good thing. And it helps me remember that every business contact I make may not turn into a new client, but it is one more person who has heard my name and hopefully will remember and share that they had a pleasant conversation with me when they hear it again.
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Tips For A Better Massage
I found these tips for a better massage in an article on massage and breast cancer which you can go read here if you like. They are appropriate for anyone who wants to receive a massage.
When getting a massage, consider this advice from the AMTA:
1. Communicate with your massage therapist. Give accurate health information and let the therapist know your expectations and reasons for the massage. Tell your massage therapist what you prefer in the way of lotions and oils and whether you have any allergies.
2. Remember to breathe normally. Breathing helps facilitate relaxation.
3. Drink extra water after your massage.
4. Don’t get up too quickly and do allow for some quiet time after your massage session. If you’re dizzy or light-headed after the massage, do not get off the table too fast.
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