Massage Therapy

Lately it seems there are a number of people getting sick. And today I had to come home early from work. I love what I do. I'm the one who is to make people feel better not the other way around! Yes I'm talking about massage therapy. It has come to my attention that somehow it has found a way to a couple of blogs that I read on a somewhat a regular basis. I want to send a thank you to both of them Digger and dh both are males, one who recently received a massage, and the other knows of the practice. I was trained by the most respected instructors at the school that I attended. Each one brought with them a different style in teaching massage strokes. I learned many kinds of massage. I'm not done learning new techniques. I would like to continue my education by learning to become a Holistic Health Practioner. This will teach me how to work on expecting mother's and hot stone massage. I don't know if I will use this type of massage at the job that I'm currently at though it is nice to know and have just in case some one wants one. I have already chosen the school that I would like to attend. It will be the same one that I attended for ten months. I'm familiar with the instructors that taught me the skills and the techniques they had taught me before. So far I have eight different styles of massage. They are:

Swedish: Stimulates circulation, increase muscle flexibility.

Deep Tissue: Releases stagnated, knots, and spasm that lie deep within the muscular tissue.

Shiatsu: Affects the vital energies of the entire body much like acupuncture but without the needles.

Sports: Light compressions and stretching for pre and post events.

Chair massage: Manipulation of soft tissue and acupressure utilizing the chair
for seated clients.

Jin Shin: Non-invasive light touch (acupressure) to move Chi (vital life force) energy
through the body.

Strategic Swedish: Designed specific techniques on specified areas of the body.

Reflexology: Utilizes reflex points, primarily on the feet, that correspond to
other zones in the body.

The hardest part was knowing the anatomy of the body. Finding time to study that was the easy part getting up before the break of dawn. Then again it wasn't so with a 3 year old who was turning 4 in the fall who sometimes got up when he hears you in a different room. After the hard work putting in the 730 hours that was needed it was worth the full time of schooling and the part time work. And sometimes having to put up with fighting over the t.v. or trying to spend time with the family, yes I will admit there were times when I wanted to quit and usually about that time of thinking my dearest friend would tell me no! You are not quitting your going to finish. The Lord got you into school and the Lord will see you through it. You know she was right, of course she was one of my clients I have had privilege to work on her children as well, including her dh. Not too long after I finished school I ordered two different massage magazine and one that came with my insurance, they keep me informed on the latest news on different types of massages and what other therapist's in different states are doing. And making it known that massage has come a long way than previous years, by reading articles some on cancer patients, hospice care for those who cannot get out of the home others on energy around us. Some dealing with life and death making sure that you have enough support around you educating clients of the knowledge you have learned a long the way. I have had a few clients that have arthritis in their shoulders one with a crippling disease called fibromyalia, she had to leave work to have surgery done on her forearm she had lost feeling in two of her fingers. Another has scoliosis an abnormal C shape or S shape curvature of the spine, before working on her I drove to my school asked my instructor if she had any information on Scoliosis she gave it to me. And said you have done a good job in finding what was needed before working on her, some have come to me asked if I could relieve the stresses of working every day. And yes I do take care myself I still workout five days a week before the kids are up, taking a time out when I find myself feeling overwhelmed. Yikes! I have written too long of a post I must go.