The Massage Pundit

I realized some time ago that even if I stayed at my office until midnight every night, I’d still have things waiting to be done.  My list is long and on-going; cross one thing off and put on another. 

I’m an early morning riser and a recovering workaholic; usually up before 5, at the office no later than 7:30, and for the past four years since opening my clinic, I’ve been there until 7:30 many nights.  I’ve resolved to give that up this year as we’re heading into our fifth year.  I’ve been making a big effort to go home at 5 pm since the New Year, and I’ve probably made that goal at least half the time–a pretty big improvement.  I’ve also resolved not to work every Saturday this year, and no Sundays at all unless I’m teaching a class that’s of three days duration or longer. 

I don’t expect I’ll be doing any less work; in fact, I’m at home right now writing this column, and I do a lot of writing and class planning at home in the evenings or the wee hours of the morning. 

I’ve always been well organized, and I’m a stickler for punctuality, but even so, I’ve felt the need recently to take back control of some of my time.  Clients are the reason for our day, not an interruption of it, but I’ve started noticing how many other things that are interruptions are eating into my time.  Telemarketers call my office numerous times a day, in spite of the fact I’m on the do-not-call list.  People walk in the door trying to sell me something, in spite of the sign in red letters that says “no soliciting.”

I’m a plain-spoken person and I can be tactless at times.  I do try to control myself with clients and I don’t think I’ve ever been tactless in that area, but I’ve been catching myself getting a little testy with the uninvited callers and unwelcome solicitors, especially when they’re repeat offenders.  I’ve blocked calls, I’ve hung up on them, I’ve walked off and left them talking to the air while I left the phone off the hook; I’ve been a smart-aleck and asked them to give me their number so I could call back and bother them at an inconvenient time.  I’ve learned to say “So, I see you decided to ignore my no soliciting sign” in a voice that would make the wicked witch of the west cringe when someone walks in and starts their sales pitch.

My priority is taking care of the clients in my business, and taking care of the business end of my business.  I’m the maid and the laundry person, the receptionist, the bookkeeper and the insurance filer, in addition to being a massage therapist.  If you’re just starting out in business for yourself, chances are you’re doing all or most of those things too.  My office is spotless, but I can’t make the same claim about my house.  I just tell people I’m saving those cobwebs for the Halloween party.

While I think most people can relate to my irritation with telemarketers and unwelcome salespeople, I try to bear in mind that they’re people just like me who are trying to make a living; they just happen to have a job that irritates a lot of people. I wonder how many times a day the average telemarketer gets hung up on or cursed at.  I imagine their day is a lot different from yours and mine.  We’re used to our customers thanking us and singing our praises for making them feel better.

In the interest of promoting massage while practicing effective time management, I have decided not to hang up on telemarketers or be rude to unwelcome salespeople any more.  Instead, I’ll just interrupt them and ask them if they’ve ever had a massage.  Then I’ll start talking about the benefits of it until they get irritated and walk out or hang up on me. That’ll fix ‘em.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Once in awhile, everything just comes together.  This week was especially exciting for me. 

I’ve been trying to manifest a chiropractor joining our practice for several years.  I haven’t advertised for one; instead I trusted the universe to send me the right one at the right time.  That has happened this week in the person of Dr. Ezra Edgerton, who is also a naturopath.  He’ll be moving into the office the first week of February.  I actually met Ezra years ago at the Sunday music jam.  He plays the heck out of the fiddle too, and especially likes to play along on my Irish tunes, so it’s a double blessing for me to get him to join us. People walking up the sidewalk after hours may hear a jig or two wafting out the window!

A day after I got that news, I received the first copy hot off the press of my new book, One Year to a Successful Massage Therapy Practice (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins).  I wrote the book to give therapists a boost in no-cost and low-cost ways to market themselves. My hope is that it will really help those who are just starting out, as well as “old hands” who might be feeling a little stuck in their practice.

The third glorious thing that happened was snow!  Now, some of you folks who live up north and in the mid-west may be just plain sick of snow by now, but here in North Carolina, we haven’t had a good one since 1993.  I have attributed that to global warming, and I have actually been in fear that it was never going to snow again.  My dog is 8 years old and had never seen snow until this week.  He acted quite prissy about stepping on it at first, but then he really seemed to enjoy playing in it, and so did I.  I look at snow as a guilt-free day off work.  It’s beyond your control, so just take the day off and enjoy it.  I was quite surprised when one of my staff members called me at home to ask a question; it seems that four of my therapists, including one that travels nearly fifty miles to get here, had come to work anyway and were all busy!  They must have all wanted to work worse than I did, and apparently the people who had appointments scheduled weren’t going to let a few inches of snow interfere with their massage appointment.  My husband and I stayed home watching old movies on television.

I feel very honored to be invited to be on this blog.  I first read John Barnes’ book, Healing Ancient Wounds: the Renegade’s Wisdom (MFR Treatment Centers and Seminars, 2000) when I was still a new therapist and I’ve looked back over it many times.  Between Mr. Barnes and the other authors on here, I feel like I’m in very illustrious company. 

We’re all blessed, aren’t we?  We have the best job in the world–helping people feel better.  Every day is a new opportunity to make a difference in the quality of someone’s life.  That’s always been the biggest thrill for me in this business, even more so than the money, to see someone who walked in the door stressed out and in pain walk out an hour later looking like they just got back from a great vacation.  It is just a wonderful thing to be able to facilitate that for people and to go to a job I look forward to every day.  We’re all blessed, and we get to share that blessing in our work. 

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

p.s.  Go get a massage this week!

This weekend I took a five-hour roadtrip to the other side of North Carolina to teach a class.  As usual, I didn’t plan for an extra day or two to meander; it was just get there and get back as quickly as possible, and that’s kind of sad.

My husband was doing the driving, which gave me more time to look at the scenery.  We left the mountains where we live and headed for the coast.  Some of the things I noticed made me wish we had planned a longer trip.  There was a gold-panning operation going beside a beautiful river.  Another few miles up the road, a sign pointed to “The Old Covered Bridge.”  Some of you might see plenty of covered bridges where you live, but they’re a rarity in these parts.  One exit ramp had a sign offering up “The Country Doctor Museum.”

The land flattened out and I started noticing the beautiful dark waters of the swamplands, and the fertile farms growing winter hay.  Old tobacco smokehouses stood abandoned in the middle of some of the fields, looking ancient and forlorn and almost surreal. 

It seems that every mile or two, there’s a historical marker telling about some Civil War battle or campsite or general born nearby, or the homeplace of some long-ago poet or politician. 

I started thinking about how many interesting and beautiful things I’ve never seen are practically in my own backyard, and I’ll bet most of us could say the same.  We’re busy, we’re in a hurry, and we just don’t stop to see them. 

I’ve realized my business isn’t going to fall to pieces if I take an extra day off, so next time, I’m going to plan to take the byway instead of the highway.  Maybe even stop to pan for gold, or picnic on the river beside the covered bridge.  I’ll  just take time to slow down and smell the hay, and be in the moment instead of getting to my destination as fast as I can.  I wish the same for you.

 Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I’m a musician myself.  I started learning piano when I was six, picked up the guitar at nine, and I’ve been playing in one band or another continuously since I was a teenager.  Over the years I’ve added the dulcimer, various drums, the harmonica, the autoharp, and a few other instruments into my repertoire.  If I want the  house to myself for a few hours, all I have to do is get my fiddle out of the case and my husband will develop a sudden urge to go somewhere. I can’t imagine my life without music in it.  It’s my joy and my stress relief.

Most of the music I play is not an appropriate accompaniment to massage, which brings me to the point of this week’s blog.  Do you give a lot of thought to the music you play in your massage room?

I remember when I was a massage student, I was assigned to double-team a client with an older and more experienced therapist who worked in the clinic attached to the school.  I entered the treatment room and was shocked to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd coming from the CD player.  As it turned out, the client had brought it with him, and as he had explained to the other therapist before I entered the room, he didn’t like that “wishy-washy” music that was usually played when he was getting a massage.

We’re taught in massage school to check in with the client about the pressure, the temperature of the room and so forth, but I can’t recall any of my massage teachers suggesting that we need to check in with the client about the music in the room, other than to ask if it’s too loud. 

I’ve had a number of clients over the years who asked me not to play any music at all, because they just wanted peace and quiet while they were getting their massage.  I’ve had other clients that brought in a CD (although never another one that brought in Lynyrd Skynyrd) that they wanted to hear during their session.

A few months ago I was giving a massage and playing one of my favorite CDs, which happens to be soothing classical guitar music with some nature sounds in the background.  The client asked me to take it off because, she said, it was “creeping her out”. 

One of the therapists who works in my office used to work for a chiropractor who had music piped all through the building, including her massage room, so that she (and the client) was forced to listen to whatever was playing at the time.  The day she came to my office to apply for a job, she stated to me that she had been giving a man a massage when Marvin Gaye floated over the airwaves crooning “Sexual Healing.”  There was no way for her to turn it off or even down, and she said it was just the final straw for her in working at a place where she was unhappy in her circumstances.

I have learned that not everyone likes Gregorian chants, the afore-mentioned nature CDs, kirtan, Irish airs on the harp, the Native American flute, mantras, classical music, or even the myriad of music made just for massage and labeled as such.  Just because I personally like it doesn’t mean the client does. 

My solution to this problem is just to ask the client if they would like to have music during the session, and to offer to let them choose a CD from a basket containing a dozen or so various selections. 

Music, or the lack of it if that’s their choice, should be a part of the client’s total massage experience.  We need to be tuned in to what the client finds soothing and relaxing, and realize that it might not be the same thing we find soothing or relaxing.

And if you’d care to hear me play the harmonica, you can visit my website at www.thera-ssage.com and turn up the volume!

 Peace & Prosperity,

 Laura Allen