February 2011 Blog Posts (33)

I am consistently shocked to discover that there are still many massage therapists offering massage with hot stones that are not following proper (or ANY) sanitation procedure.

As a consumer of hot stone massage modalities, you should be greatly concerned with the sanitation procedures that your therapist utilizes for their stones and equipment. In 2009, this…

Now that I've got my own table, I feel like a "real" MT student! Thank goodness for tax rebate checks and my Sierra Comfort rep Cassidy. I am so glad I found a private distributer in Los Angeles, I was terrified of having to buy a table online. Luckily, Cassidy let me hop on (with a friend) and test drive the tables before I decided. I did every weight bearing move I could think of and it was damn sturdy.

While I am IN LOVE with Astra-lite, it was a bit out of my budget as I've still…

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Concerning massage, just like most anything else, there is body action of some kind. Of course that has to be. I must raise my arms and place my hands on my partner to practice Massage. But what is my body action an expression of? That's the question.

Is it an expression of my own small mind, trying to do something? Or is it an expression of the deeper sense of unity? Is it creating goodness out of badness, when a client is stressed out, or in a weakened…

If you have seen any of the footage or photos from the aftermath you will know of the devastation and loss across the city. This is the 2nd large quake to hit Christchurch in 5 months. The first was 7.1 and despite the magnitude there was no loss of life (To put this into perspective the Haiti earthquake was recorded as 7.0)

The quake on the 22nd February…

I want to share a personal side of me and my profession.  Many of us have our stories that we share when we're asked, what made you start your interests in massage.  Honestly, my mother and father.  They were both very loving, and had a great pat on the back for the good things we did as their children.  My mother would always relax us with a wonderful back scratch with her loving hands.  My father always needed back work and would ask for me to fix his pains.  It all kinda built from…

Some women are attracted to brains, others to brawn. Me? Nothing’s better than a great pair of sideburns on a man. That is… until now.

We all have a things we look for in the opposite sex, traits we size up within mere moments of seeing or meeting someone new. They don’t necessarily have to be sexual and…

 I just published a post in which I was very careful in choosing my words.

I avoided using, and took out any reference to, the word profession.

Why?

Some time ago I read an article that…

I have long desired to see the standards for massage therapy education raised in my state and across the nation. Here in North Carolina, the requirement is only 500 hours. That varies in the US, from the unregulated states that have no requirements at all, to the 1000 hours required by New York, Nebraska, and Puerto Rico. The rest fall somewhere in between.

Our neighbors to the north in Canada have a few provinces that are unregulated, but those that are regulated have a much higher…

I am posting this separately from the previous discussions on here that have deteriorated into the most vile insulting and mudslinging bunch of crap I have ever seen in my life.

Laura Allen

Sadly, there has been more vile insulting and mudslinging bunches of crap. One need only take a look at the archives found at…

Saturday, April 2 at 10:00am - April 3 at 4:00pm

Crystal Light Therapy Center; Bend, Oregon, USA

Create your own ceremonial deer skin drum as you listen to captivating stories of ancient drum making ceremonies of the Dakota Sioux! This…

Back in May 2010, one of the presentations I gave at the Highlighting Massage Therapy in Complementary and Integrative Medicine Conference in Seattle gave an overview of my research group's work to definitively measure the effect of massage therapy on cortisol (the stress hormone produced by the cortex of the adrenal glands).  There were a couple of persons at the conference who wished to attend a simultaneous session and who asked if I could later make my slides available to them, so I…

At Your Service - What a Country!

I received an email in my inbox today soliciting for a webinar. It got me thinking about the resources available to massage and bodywork…

So I can see it's been awhile since I've been on the site and figured it was time for an update =) 

Since my last visiting here I have graduated from Rasmussen College with my Associates degree in Massage Therapy on Dec. 19, 2010.  I took my National Boards exam on Dec. 23 and passed!  It was a great Christmas gift to myself to graduate and pass the boards!  I sent out my application for my state license the beginning of Jan. and I'm still waiting for it to be processed.  My…

I have never posted a blog before. Can't teach an old dog new tricks, I am trying to change that!

I would like to post the major event I have been putting together and would like to invite each of you reading this to check out my website with the Summit details and registration information.

This is to be a totally different event than just a seminar, convention or conference. We are calling it a Summit because we are going to have 14 presenters (names and bio's on my website)…

I just started contacting employers to see about performing chair massage on their employees. I always get the question, what is the name of your business? Do I need to actually set up a business to sound legite? I am just doing this as freelance work on the side to see if I can build it up into something.