Decatur's Barefoot Massage Specialist...and more!
This post contains information that may be useful to the massage consumer.
Here at Harvest Moon Massage Therapy & Reflexology we are Lite(ing) it up Pink for the month of October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.
***Harvest Moon Massage is Decatur, Alabama’s Exclusive Provider of Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, Ashi-Thai and Bamboo-Fusion Massage
Did you Lite It Up Pink? Read More »
A few weeks ago I was asked by Lauren Bertolacci of LaurensFitness.com to write a guest post for her blog. I’ve been admiring Lauren and her blog for a while so I was honored when she asked.
Then I went on a camping trip and did a lot of hiking. The whole time I was on vacation a small part of my brain was on the prowl for a nugget that could bloom into something worthy. Towards the end of the trip I still didn’t have anything solid and started to get nervous. Then I came home and the consequences of being away a week slammed into me. Laundry, the new dog, grocery shopping, work, and clients all came back into keen focus.
The first night back on the table with a client made me realize that I was stronger and more centered. I was working with a sense of peace and joy that I hadn’t realized I’d lost before getting away for a while and resting. Driving home that evening I contemplated how I could have gotten so far into burnout territory without realizing it. And you know how one thought leads to another and I remembered an article I had recently read about muscle recovery and massage and suddenly I knew that I wanted to write an article for Lauren about the importance of rest and massage for muscle recovery.
For several days I rolled the subject around in my head and even looked up the article and several other pieces of research and related information. I just couldn’t seem to get started on it though until one morning I had a stern discussion with myself and finally sat down to start writing.
A few paragraphs into the article I realized why I had been procrastinating. Something about the subject wasn’t sitting right and most of what I’d written was more about body awareness and the brain/body disconnect than muscle recovery.
So I went with it and yesterday Lauren published Body Awareness and the Brain/Body Disconnect: A Bodyworker’s Perspective by yours truly.
A big thank you goes out to Lauren for giving me this wonderful opportunity, not just for publishing my work, but also for giving me the opportunity to look inside myself, listen and respect what is there.
Harvest Moon Massage is Decatur, Alabama’s Exclusive Provider of Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, Ashi-Thai and Bamboo-Fusion Massage
Awareness – Body and Soul Read More »
I realized recently after talking with some massage therapist friends that I don’t do a very good job of educating my clients on the benefits of regular massage. After careful examination, I realized it’s because I never want my clients to feel like I’m trying to upsell to them. I have an intense dislike of pushy salespeople trying to sell me things when I already know what I want.
So in order to better prepare myself and share with you, gentle reader, the following is why I and some other very knowledgeable people think it is important to make massage a regular part of your health and grooming regimen.
I think the most important benefit of massage is relaxation. Our society does not value it; instead opting for longer days, shorter nights and higher and higher levels of stress. For some, relaxation is a state they can no longer obtain and the lack of regular rest and relaxation, i.e., stress, wreaks havoc on the body.
A study in 1999 by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine and Nova Southeastern University in Florida gave us proof that massage reduces blood pressure. The risks of high blood pressure are long and scary and while more research is needed to explain exactly what mechanism of massage causes the reduction, I think we can all agree that however it works, it’s a good thing.
Other studies have resulted in benefits such as a reduction in stress hormones in the blood stream, alleviation of depressive symptoms and a better immune system response. In my opinion, these four benefits are so interrelated that once you get a response from one the others follow along. And these are just a sampling of the benefits that have been proven by studies.
Fortunately, it’s not just the massage industry researching the benefits of massage. The American Diabetes Association now recognizes that stress reduction helps with the absorption of insulin.
And we haven’t even talked about massage and pain reduction yet. Massage improves circulation to the muscles, circulation promotes healing, and pain dissipates as healing occurs. This is a simplistic explanation of the pain cycle, but you get the picture. Another study recently proved that muscles recover quicker after strenuous exertion when massage is incorporated.
All good things, dontcha think? So when was your last massage? Mine was too long ago.
***Harvest Moon Massage is Decatur, Alabama’s Exclusive Provider of Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, Ashi-Thai and Bamboo-Fusion Massage
Not Once in a Blue Moon Read More »
Post updated: 11/30/23
Finding a massage therapist online is not hard if you have a little time and are the curious type. My first step and the most straightforward is a search engine. We’ve all done it so I won’t belabor the point of how to do a Google search. The larger question here is how to know if the massage therapist you’ve searched for and found is legitimate. One of the downsides of the Internet is that anyone can position themselves as an expert. Unfortunately, massage therapy is not immune to this phenomenon.
Anyone can stand up a nice-looking website with enough willpower or cash so searching the internet is a good start, but you need to take another step to ensure the person you’re thinking about booking with is who they say they are and has the necessary training and qualifications. So let’s talk a little bit about how to verify that you’ve found a licensed and properly trained massage therapist.
If you live in the State of Alabama, like I do, it’s pretty easy to find out if the therapist you’re thinking about booking an appointment with is properly trained. The state board of massage therapy does that for you. All you have to do is go to the Alabama Board of Massage Therapy’s website and do a Licensee Search for the massage therapist in question. If the name shows up there, you know that the state has done the legwork for you, assuring that the therapist has completed the minimum educational requirements, has passed the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) or the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination (MBLEx) for massage therapy and jumped through all the appropriate legal hoops to be legally offering massage therapy to the public.
Going back to Google and performing a quick search on text for “massage therapy board Oregon” pops up the massage board for the state of Oregon. I just picked Oregon randomly because I have a dear friend who lives there and I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately.
Getting back to the subject at hand, Oregon is apparently a licensing state and they have a License Verification option. Oooh… I like the information they list on therapists, especially the part where “there has been no discipline on this license”. That’s a good piece of information to know when trying to choose a new massage therapist. I wish Alabama had that little bit of technological information included in their licensee search.
Sounds like a simple question, but as with everything where politics are involved, it’s not. There are states that have a massage board that regulates the massage therapy business and licenses therapists. There are states that have no massage board, but local municipalities regulate massage therapy businesses. There are states where you don’t have to be certified, but you must be registered and vice versa.
It’s a complicated question because we’re not regulated at a federal level. And I’m not suggesting that we should it’s just important to know that this is why it’s so hard to identify a lawfully compliant therapist from one who is not. After a little noodling around online, I found this website that has compiled a list of massage license requirements by state. I can’t vouch for the correctness of all of the information here, but it will give you something to start with if you can’t find what you’re looking for with a search engine.
If the state doesn’t have any type of licensure requirements you still have a couple of options in locating a suitable therapist. The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) offers a Find a Massage Therapist locator service. All therapists listed in this service are insured members of AMTA who meet minimum educational requirements and must agree to abide by a Code of Ethics. Good stuff, folks, I would go to anyone who I found using this service.
The Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP) organization offers a similar locator service to AMTA. I have never been a member of ABMP so I can’t say a whole lot about their organization except that they also insure their members who meet minimum educational requirements and also agree to the ABMP Code of Ethics.
And finally the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodyworks offers a locator service for those of us who are Board Certified through their organization. This is a good service, but not all states require NCBTMB or MBLEx exam passage to license the massage therapist and the test is expensive so most folks don’t take it unless it’s required.
And when all else fails, it never hurts to ask your friends and co-workers if they know someone good. Usually this is the best way to find a great therapist.
Now, get out there on the information superhighway, find a massage therapist, make an appointment and go. You could use a massage today, I promise.
♥
Sharon Bryant at Harvest Moon Massage Therapy
is Decatur’s Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage Therapist!
How to Find a Massage Therapist Read More »
Lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the portability of my Ashi massages. And I’m happy to say that, yes, I can come to your location. In early 2011 I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a set of Hardee-Ashiatsu Portable Bars.
I have the ability to travel with my portables for different events. To date I have had been able to use them at several outdoor 5Ks and occasionally I throw them up on my front porch just to play with them. I am always searching for more opportunities to travel with my bars. I enjoy introducing the public to Ashiatsu. The adult reactions range from sheer boredom to fascination. The kids are so much fun and will gather just to watch and wait for the opportunity to jump on the table. And yes, I work on kids, but mostly it’s just a simple stretch and they get a tickle if they want it. The adults are a little harder to get on the table, but once they do they are so glad they did.
Portables aren’t really appropriate for just one or two massages unless you’re willing to pay an outrageous set up fee. What they are appropriate for is events or conventions or office functions or anything really where people gather who would like a massage therapist on hand.
The following video features my lovely Ashi-Thai instructor, Jeni Spring, assembling a set of portable bars. I find it highly entertaining as she is really much taller in person than on the video. Her sense of style cracks me up and you can really see her personality coming through starting around minute 3:30 and continuing on until the end. Enjoy!
Portable Ashiatsu Massage Read More »
I have heard and read for years that it’s important to stretch before you exit the bed in the morning. Most of the reasons given have to do with blood flow and getting the blood that pools in the extremities out of the legs and arms and back into the core of the body.
Then I ran across “The Fuzz Speech” and this new approach to the importance of stretching and movement kind of smacked me upside the head. I knew about the “stuckness” that happens after injury or prolonged disuse of the body. As a massage therapist, I see these kinds of body issues every day in my clients. As a part-time desk jockey, I have struggled with these kinds of body issues for years. But I had very little visualization into what the anatomy and physiology behind it was.
I’ve never heard of this “fuzz” before and I am fascinated.
So the following video is a talk given by Dr. Gil Hedley about this stuff he calls fuzz that grows between what I understand is the fascial sheaths of muscles (perhaps it is part of the fascia?). The fuzz grows while the muscles are still, i.e., while we sleep or spend hours hunched in front of our computers or vegging on the couch. Enough fuzz and you realize you’re stiff and have trouble getting going again. Even more fuzz and it becomes strong enough to cause restrictions in movement. This is the point where I typically see a new client.
The solution to the fuzz? Movement, period.
As someone who struggles daily with getting enough activity and movement, I found this to be pure genius. It shores up my resolve to move more, to stretch more, to get more of the E-word.
So since I’ve told you all about it, perhaps you would actually like to see the video? Just a word before you view it, there’s cadaver footage in the video. In case you’re sensitive to that kind of thing, you might want to just listen.
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.
The Valley of Bad Air Read More »