It’s always exciting to receive results from surveys of massage therapists; this information tells us what you are interested in, and what you need to be successful in life and in practice.

MASSAGE Magazine recently received results from our latest Reader Survey, and you’ve told us … drumroll … we’re the best massage publication in the field. (And the majority—more than 70 percent—of our readers receive a second massage publication, usually as a perk of association membership.) I feel humbled, and appreciative of the MASSAGE Magazine staff and all the industry experts who help create every issue of the magazine and who contribute to our website on a consistent basis.

Here is some of what you told us:

1. Compared with readers of other publications, readers of MASSAGE Magazine are most likely to say that MASSAGE Magazine:

· is the magazine they trust most for accurate information
· has the most relevance to their profession
· has the most editorial integrity
· is the most useful to them in their practice
· has the highest quality appearance, and
· helps identify products they want to buy

2. Compared with readers of other massage publications, MASSAGE Magazine readers are most likely, after reading an advertisement:

· to have purchased/ordered a product or service
· to have called an advertiser
· visited an advertiser’s Web Site
· contacted an advertiser in some other way
· recommended a product or service
· filed an ad for future reference, and
· discussed an ad with others

This survey is closed, but I’m always interested to know how we can best serve you in print and online. Contact me at kmenehan@massagemag.com anytime!

Until next time!

I’ve traveled to many countries, and what I’m always struck by is that people everywhere are pretty much the same. Despite cultural differences, no matter what language is spoken, we all want love, acceptance, health, good relationships and to feel like we’re making a contribution to life. So the older I get and the more traveling I do, the more cynical I get about politics and about the corporate takeover of global political systems.

Case in point: China is a communist country, yet the United States eagerly accepts cheap Chinese goods for commercial distribution here, and outsources labor to China. Isn’t that a bit hypocritical, to have profit motivate our government’s actions, rather than an ideal of a higher order, such as working to ensure safe and fair working conditions for Chinese people? Rhetoric aside, some collaboration between U.S. citizens and those of other countries—especially (perhaps always) when done outside the auspices of politics or commerce—are positive and noteworthy.

Take a recent decision on the part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to foster collaboration between Chinese and American scientists, into research on Traditional Chinese Medicine.

According to the HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt in an HHS news release, (www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/06/20080616b.html), “This project will advance our understanding of when and how to appropriately integrate traditional Chinese medicine with Western medical approaches to improve the health of the American and Chinese people.”

Communicating on a human level—outside the realm of politics, of consumerism, of mine vs. yours—is what healing is all about. I’ve seen, via videotape, chi practitioners flowing energy to hospital patients in China, and the seemingly miraculous results that occurred.

I only hope that the Traditional Chinese Medicine doesn’t fall victim to bureaucracy, and instead is allowed to flower in its own right when used with allopathic medicine.