Twenty years ago, a thought came to me during a massage therapy session. It floated into my massage studio and would not leave. I wrote it down. Once published, the thought kept moving. It turned up here and there: in a couple of books, in an occasional massage school graduation speech, on a massage therapist’s […]
Growing Up, Getting Real
I stand at the side of the bed, looking down long lines of stuffed animals. They form a plush parabola around my sleeping child. For years, they have held all-night, wide-eyed vigils on this bed. By morning they will have been flung at each other in crazy angles. But now, at 11 PM, they are […]
On Not Healing Other People
I spent the night in an awful dive of a motel. I had cleared my client schedule and headed out of town, eager to attend the workshop. It was worth the sacrifice. About 20 MTs were gathered in a massage school flanked by woods. It was the early 1990’s, and it might have been the […]
Quality of Care in a Thriving Oncology Massage Practice – Meet Our Teacher Erika Slocum
Massage therapists often ask for survival tips for growing a practice in oncology massage therapy. Here, we offer the first of occasional “Featured Teacher” posts about successful OMT practitioners among our instructors and colleagues. Erika Slocum has been teaching oncology massage therapy with us since 2011. She co-owns an expanding practice, BlueFern Massage Therapy, with […]
Of Hula Hooping and the Dreaded Self-Care Thing
Last month I celebrated my 14-month Hoopiversary. It marks the time I first picked up a hula hoop and began hooping in earnest. In the hooping community, the rules of serious hooping require one to record (and preferably post) a video documenting each major hoopiversary. I dragged my feet on this, worried it would be […]
My Silver Anniversary: 25 Moments in Massage Therapy
Last month I celebrated 25 years in formal massage therapy practice. I’ve been in the same office the whole time, with the same appointment times and the same furniture. Little has changed here over the years, which is good, because I’m not so wild about change. My profession and I have stuck by each other […]
Standing Out in Massage Therapy
On the way to my daughter’s school each morning, we pass a line of dense brown bushes in a neighbor’s front yard. Every morning, the bushes shriek at us. They shake and tremble and scream, making a huge deal out of something. On my return trip, they do it again. One morning, curious about the […]
The Health History of a Human Being
I begin this first-ever blog with a deep breath… …and the reason I am a massage therapist, from a piece I wrote long ago. We’re all a little older now, but my reason hasn’t changed. My clients’ stories continue to get me up in the morning, and I’m grateful. My two-page health history form […]