Massage Makes Me Happy Day
Mark your calendar– March 20, 2018 is Massage Makes Me Happy Day! The MASSAGE MAKES ME HAPPY Initiative of the Global Wellness Institute aims to celebrate the healing powers of massage therapy and promote its benefits through research and education, advocacy and global awareness.
At The Soma Institute, we know that massage makes us and our students happy. We want to spread the word that massage has many therapeutic benefits that can allow people to live happier lives. Help support this initiative by treating yourself to a massage on March 20, and feel happier!
To learn more about the Global Wellness Institute, and Massage Makes Me Happy Day click here.
Soma Graduate Starts Her Own Business
 When Melanie Wilkerson enrolled at The Soma Institute, in May of 2014, she was 42 years-old. She had spent the bulk of her adult life, at that point, working in hospitality and was ready for a change. As fate would have it, she was scrolling through Facebook when she happened upon a post made by someone looking thire a licensed massage therapist.
Melanie had always had an interest in massage and began to look into schools in order to pursue this interest.
Fast-forward one year later and Melanie is graduating from Soma, and has been placed on the President’s Honors List. Move ahead one more year and Melanie is opening her own business, Renew Clinical Massage and Reflexology. Today, Melanie is still running her office where she has even been able to hire some fellow Soma Alumni. She loves being her own boss and being able to create the sort of work environment that is meaningful to her.
If you ask her how she was able to create her own successful business so quickly, she will cite the entrepreneurial mentality she has had as long as she can remember. She will also reference the disciplined, hard-working approach she brought to her study of clinical massage therapy both inside and outside the classroom. Giving free massages during her formal education was important, not just for her to build a clientele, but also for practicing the principles she was learning at school.
Finally, not to be overlooked is her time at Soma. For Melanie, the clinical perspective that is the cornerstone of The Soma Institute’s approach to massage therapy is especially important, even in a spa setting. The in depth clinical knowledge she gained from Soma has allowed her to meet not just her client’s wants, but also their needs. The support she received from her instructors was also highly influential. She took the initiative to reach out to faculty and ask questions about what she was encountering in her free massages, and they were more than happy to answer these questions and help make connections to things learned in the classroom.
As a result of her tenacious approach to her own growth as a therapist, and the guidance of Soma’s faculty and curriculum, Melanie was able to leave school with the tools necessary to provide clients with exceptional treatment, build her brand, and become her own boss.
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Trying the Feldenkrais Method for Chronic Pain
from the NY Times:
After two hourlong sessions focused first on body awareness and then on movement retraining at the Feldenkrais Institute of New York, I understood what it meant to experience an incredible lightness of being. Having, temporarily at least, released the muscle tension that aggravates my back and hip pain, I felt like I was walking on air.
I had long refrained from writing about this method of countering pain because I thought it was some sort of New Age gobbledygook with no scientific basis. Boy, was I wrong!
The Feldenkrais method is one of several increasingly popular movement techniques, similar to the Alexander technique, that attempt to better integrate the connections between mind and body. By becoming aware of how one’s body interacts with its surroundings and learning how to behave in less stressful ways, it becomes possible to relinquish habitual movement patterns that cause or contribute to chronic pain.
The method was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais, an Israeli physicist, mechanical engineer and expert in martial arts, after a knee injury threatened to leave him unable to walk. Relying on his expert knowledge of gravity and the mechanics of motion, he developed exercises to help teach the body easier, more efficient ways to move.
Navigating the Path to Wellness With Massage Therapy
from the AMTA:
It’s estimated that more than 51 million American adults discussed massage therapy with their doctors or health care providers in 2015.1
Stats like these tell us that more clients than ever view massage therapy as an integral part of their health care regime. In response, it’s essential that you understand when massage is indicated or contraindicated for specific pathologies.
How essential? Consider this: 20 years ago, massage for cancer patients was categorically judged unwise for fear that it accelerated the spread of the cancer.2 However, recent studies reverse this opinion, highlighting specific instances where massage is both indicated and highly beneficial for cancer patients. Similarly, researchers now feel that patients with any of the following five chronic medical conditions—or pathologies—can benefit from massage therapy.
ROCK YOUR RETAIL: KINESIOLOGY TAPE FOR CLIENT SELF-CARE
from Massage Magazine:
Kinesiology taping in massage practice is growing—and for very good reason.
Pain reduction, proprioception, movement mechanics and postural re-education; managing the fluid dynamics of swelling after an injury, surgical procedure, or related to lymphedema—these are some of the effects that kinesiology taping can provide.
As a practitioner, using this versatile tool in your office complements your soft tissue work in tangible ways and adds a very real perception of value and benefit for your client. This not only opens a gateway for client education, it empowers clients’ self-care.