?Vibrations turn to atoms and atoms generate what we call life; thus it happens that their grouping, by the power of nature?s affinity, forms a living entity.?
Hazrat Inayat Khan

Recently during a session a rhythmic pattern arouse in my perception that felt to me like a slow, very long rumble within the client.  At the same time I felt like nerves from my hands were magically connected to my visual cortex.  I was feeling with my hands but concurrently seeing what my hands were feeling.  Images appeared as though I were watching a luminous slow-motion 3D film of someone tumbling in gelatinous crystal clear liquid.  I watched close-up scenes as the client?s body slowly floated in my vision, each pore, each cell, each miniscule part of her sinking and then rising again as if an invisible wave was moving the viscous fluid which in turn moved her.  What was this rhythmic wave?  Then I recalled coming across an interesting reference months earlier about sound and thought there may be a relationship to our session.

We live amidst a sound emerging from a group of galaxies 250 million light years from Earth called the Perseus Cluster.  ?The sound waves coming from it are in the form of a single note?? which is B-flat, and the frequency of these sound waves is 10 million years.

If I?m not mistaken this means that if we were to draw this B-flat frequency in time with its sound waves then the amount of time it would take to draw one sound wave going from the wave?s valley, to its peak, and then to the next valley, would be 10 million years!  By contrast if we were to draw a wave of the craniosacral rhythm, while staying in time with its rhythmic wave, it would take about 9 seconds.

We can sense and work with many biorhythms in CranioSacral Therapy. Some of these rhythms are generated through inner biological processes, such as cerebrospinal fluid seeping, blood oxygenating, lymph cleansing, even elements moving through a cell?s wall will create some form of frequency.

We can also feel and utilize rhythms that arise outside of ourselves since we exist in an environment awash with vibrations.  Some of these outer rhythms merge into our body to become an integral part of us.  For example, waves swooshing upon the shoreline, water trickling from icicles, rainwater flowing from roof to gutter to cistern, and fire crackling can all have an internal effect.

One of the astronomers who discovered the Perseus Cluster sound said it ??may be the key in figuring out how galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the Universe, grow.?  Well then, could this sound be affecting our clients, the world, us?  Is it in some way organizing or at least affecting our growth and can we use this rhythm to help our clients and ourselves?  I wonder.  So I?m inviting this sound wave from the stars to arise more fully in my awareness.  Intuitively it seems there is much to learn from Perseus?s drone as well as other cosmic rhythms from our Milky Way galaxy and parts of the universe.

If you have time perhaps sit for a moment to experience Perseus humming, its low drone singing, dancing and chanting to us from 250 million light years away.

References:
Jenner, Lynn, ?Interpreting the ?Song? Of a Distant Black Hole?, Goddard Space Flight
Center, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/universe/black_hole_sound.html,
Page Last Updated: February 23, 2008.
Khan, Hazrat Inayat, The Mysticism Of Sound And Music, Shambala Publications, Inc.,
Boston, Ma., 1991.
Weider, June Leslie, Dr., Song Of The Spine, Sound Healing and Vibrational Therapy, Booksurge Publishing LLC, North Charleston, SC, 2004.

Recently Sheila Walker posted the following thread on hydration and posed this question to me:

“Dear John,
It seems we?ve become a society obsessed with the notion of hydration, as witnessed by the blooming bottled water industry. Seems as though, everywhere you go, you can see people with their water bottles in tow. Could you please share your thoughts on how relevant our fascial system correlates with cellular hydration and therefore how to improve the effectiveness of keeping ourselves truly hydrated?”

      As Sheila has observed, everyone is walking around with their cute little water bottles, guzzling copious amounts of water.  This is about as effective as pouring water over a stone.  The surface becomes wet, but the water never penetrates to the interior. 

     The “stones” I am referring to are the collagenous restrictions of the fascial system that do not show up in any of the standard testing now being done.  The “ground substance” of the fascial system, the environment of every cell of our body, should be a gelatinous to a fluid state.  When we undergo trauma or a “thwarted” inflammatory  process, the ground substance dehydrates.  As the cellular environment, the fascial system, hardens it produces crushing pressure on the cells and blocks the flow of water, nutrition, oxygen, hormones, and/or medicine into the cell’s interior.  These fascial restrictions also block the excretion of toxins from the cell. 

     So, unfortunately no matter how much water you take in, in the presence of fascial restrictions, it doesn’t get to where your body needs it the most.  This is why I say, without Myofascial Release, the intention of drinking plenty of water is good, but it is as effective as pouring water over a stone!  Myofascial Release enhances cellular function and the effectiveness of good massage, bodywork, and energy techniques.

John

While it could be assumed that people with back pain should not be exercising frequently, a new study by Robert Kell, professor of exercise physiology at the University of Alberta found that working with weights four days a week provided a significant decrease in the amount of pain and improved quality of life.

In the study, groups of 60 men and women with chronic low back pain exercised with weights in two, three or four-day weekly programs, or not at all. Their progress was measured over 16 weeks. The level of pain decreased by 28 percent in the 4-day a week group, 18 percent in the 3-day group and 14 percent in those who exercised two days a week.  What do you recommend for your clients?

 I have been in the massage business for about eight years. Within these  eight years, I have practiced massage on my own, but not as a business owner and I have worked for other people in spa’s and clinics. I have noticed now that I am a business owner I seem to get less tips. When I worked in the spa’s and clinics I did get tips, but the owners would not, which I thought was fair because I am giving them half of cost of the massage. What if you are a business owner, but you are the only employee. You do all the marketing, scheduling, and practicing. Is that work worth a tip or because I am the owner is that not necessary? Any thoughts? Bee Healhy. Bee Happy. Bee Well…..

Many therapists ask me about diffusing essential oils in their practice space.   The first thing you have to decide is what do you want to offer to your clients.  There are different grades of essential oils and which grade you use will determine the result you will get.

If I just diffuse an essential oil does it matter what grade I use?  The answer is yes, if you want to receive the benefit of the essential oil.  Can something that smells good but is not pure make you feel good?  Sure. Think of cookies baking. They smell mighty good and can induce an emotional response but don’t you want more for yourself and your clients than a temporary response?  

Most often, the essential oils found in spas and at essential oil retailers are Grade A (even if they say therapeutic grade on the bottle) which means they are manipulated to a standard. Any oil that is produced to smell the same from one bottle to the next is manipulated to meet the standard of smell.  Nature does not adhere to this standard.  A true therapeutic grade oil will have a different smell each time it is produced due to variations in soil conditions, weather, and other natural factors.  What will remain the same is the therapeutic indicators which must be tested to insure purity and quality.

By diffusing a true therapeutic grade oil you will bring the whole property of the oil in the olfactory (the seat of emotions), and into the lungs where they can circulate through the body and continue their work at a deeper cellular level. 

I began using essential oils by diffusing them at night for my son’s chronic sinus infections.  He would breathe in the oils for hours, and due to the anti-inflammatory action of the oils, his tissues began to heal.  I also diffused oils that were able to clean receptor sites, allowing cellular communication to become optimized. Through the process of diffusing the therapeutic grade oils as well as topical application, he was able to not only sleep through the night, but eventually be free of the infections. This is the power of choosing the right grade of oil to work with!

In my last post, I commented that, for the most part,  retaining clients is easier and cheaper than obtaining new ones.  In the same vein, it may also be easier and more cost-effective to reactivate clients than to recruit new ones.

Clients stop coming for massage for a variety of reasons.  For some, it’s a financial decision, especially in economic times like these.   People move or change jobs and your location is less geographically desirable.  They take on new responsibilities, and massage appointments fall off their radar. Occasionally, they stop because they’re no longer satisfied with the results they’re getting from your sessions.  I think this last reason is fairly rare, but it does happen.

Practitioners use a variety of methods for converting inactive clients back to active status.  Quarterly newsletters, postcards, and  special discounts are a few of the ways that can have positive results.

Other more personal interactions are also effective.  Sometimes a simple phone call to remind a client they’re overdue is all it takes.  I’ve done this many times over the years and am usually pleasantly surprised when the client thanks me for the call, then goes on to apologize to me (!) for  not coming in, and sets an appointment or two, or three.

Another way to be in touch with inactive clients is by sending them information that may be of special interest to them, from a newspaper, a magazine, or a website.  People appreciate it when you know their interests and care enough to pass on information that’s relevant to them.  You don’t even need to ask for the massage appointment in this kind of a communication, simply attach a note  that let’s them know you’re thinking of them.

I know you have a plethora of ideas and methods  for reactivating clients.  Care to share?

Be well,

Bob

In my new book due out October, 2009, Massage Therapy: What It Is and How It Works by Cengage Learning, one of the things I do is develop an idea called ?The Three Paradigms.? It was borne out of long, deep discussions in which I partook in 1990 as an original member of the Job Analysis Advisory Committee (JAAC), formed by the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA). The JAAC ultimately led to the formation of the first National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) and I served on that board as a founding member for almost five years. At that time, we presented the essential conclusions of our discussions in a brief article entitled, ?Three Paradigms, Five Approaches? in the Massage Therapy Journal, Summer 1991. It was co-authored by Carl Dubitsky, OBT, LMT, Patricia Benjamin, PhD, Raymond Castellino, DC, RPP, Jeffery Maitland, PhD and myself, Steven Schenkman.

Almost twenty years later, based on my own experience, observations, and thought and after years of further dialogue and discussion, I have greatly expanded on that initial idea in my book. I have always found ?The Three Paradigms? so central to understanding the scope of massage and yet no one ever took them and ran with them. That?s one of the things I try to do in my book. For years I?ve discussed them and often used them as the foundation of lectures and classes I taught.

For the purpose of this blog, I wanted to briefly touch upon an aspect of ?The Three Paradigms,? which opens up an important way to understand and view the entire field. When correctly understood, these three paradigms provide comprehension and insight into the full scope of massage therapy practice and its many positive, healthful benefits and outcomes. They are as classified as follows:  1) Relaxation and Stress Reduction, 2) Remediation, Therapy and Pain Relief and 3) Holistic or Integrative. These Three Paradigms together form an overlapping continuum of potential practice and treatment beginning at the most basic levels of touch, leading to the most comprehensive and advanced levels of therapeutic treatment and holistic care practiced in bodywork today. The idea of different paradigms in massage therapy is one that is intimately bound to the length and depth of successful education and training, continuing education, professional development and the extent of a therapist?s practical experience.

In Taoism, an ancient Chinese philosophy, there is a fundamental principle that reflects and gives explanation to the inner process of what takes place, either consciously or unconsciously, during the process of learning and becoming a massage therapist. It is the principle of ?Li (pronounced lee)? precedes Qi (pronounced chee).? It means that Li, the underlying notion or the idea of any ?thing? must first exist before it becomes manifest into material being through Qi, — the energy or vital force used to bring it into reality. In short, — idea precedes manifestation. For example, before a skyscraper can be built it first comes into existence as an idea in the mind of its architect who then puts all the detail down on paper to create blueprints of the building. The blueprints are then brought to life through the energy or Qi of the builders who turn it into a three dimensional physical reality. So in a sense the Li of anything is really like an invisible blueprint. This parallels very closely how in massage therapy the depth, quality and the extent of how ultimately what manifests through a massage therapist?s hands will be a reflection of how well they have developed the ?Li?s? of understanding their paradigm of practice and the particular bodywork or massage therapy modality used to facilitate that practice.

As massage therapy students evolve into professional practitioners, they absorb and then integrate their training and practical experiences into a kind of ?blueprint of understanding.? With the right attention and efforts, this understanding grows into a comprehensive framework or paradigm that equals the efforts practitioners have made to embrace their education and hone their technical skills. In the end it?s the clients and patients who become the fortunate (or unfortunate) recipients of the paradigm of practice that emanates as intention (or LI) through their massage therapist?s hands.

Discussion: I would love to hear more of people?s thoughts on this important idea of the direct connection between the depth and quality of practitioners? understanding of their work and how it impacts their level of competence, excellence, sensitivity and palpatory skills and the overall results of their treatments in whatever of the Three Paradigms they practice from.

What is it about aromatherapy that it evokes so much emotion?  I am not talking about when you use it – I am talking about when you don’t.  Aromatherapy is not only about smell.  Let’s say that again– AROMATHERAPY is NOT only about SMELL.  Let me tell you why…..

First off, what is about smell?  Our sense of smell is the only one of our senses that is not interpreted by local receptors for processing by the brain.  Smell goes directly into the limbic part of the brain where emotions are stored. 

Second, what about application on the body?  There are patches that people use for pain, contraception control and deep heat. How does application work and what is it’s role in aromaTHERAPY?

For a massage therapist your tools are your hands.  When you include aromatherapy your tools are the essential oils.  The term aromatherapy was created to encompass two aspects of essential oils – aroma – which is emotionally based and - therapy – which is body based.  Therefore, essential oils – the tools used in aromatherapy - work on the psychosomatic network; a network that encompasses emotional and physical.

I am a teacher for The Center for Aromatherapy Research and Education.  I teach from a French aromatherapy perspective and my students are always enpowerd by the knowledge that essential oils are tools used to facilitate healing as the client calls their healing to them.  Essential oils are tools – the therapist is the educator and facilitator.

The most important part of a tool is the tool itself.  Are the oils pure?  A way to check is that oils that should be ingestible, such as lavender, lemon and peppermint are ingestible on the label.  Second, know your supplier.  Email them, call them, ask them how are the oils made?  Are they distilled slowly with low pressure?  Are they grown with intention and purity; no pesticides, pure water, pure air?

Start out with yourself.  Try different blends – I use one called PanAway that is wonderful for any deep joint pain.  Try different combinations – I love using Lemongrass and Idaho Balsam Fir together for ligaments and sprains.  But please, try something.  You will open yourself up to a wonderful healing world that is so simple to do yet so rewarding.

Warmly,

Maria

As human beings we are faced with alot of challenges in life. Some of these challenges are tolerable and easy to handle, but sometimes life can surprise us with more personal, intense battles. In a world so demanding of our time and energy, how do we carry on as though everything is fine, when inside we are falling apart? When you work in a field such as massage therapy, where its so intimate and with the exchange of energies, how do we cope and not let our feelings get in the way? Now what if you are the boss as well? How do we do it, how do we face the day when we are dealing with such emotional personal burdens?

I personally just went through what would be the hardest challenge I have had in life so far. It was hard because I was dealing with the emotional trauma as well as trying to maintain a business and my responsabilities as a health food store worker, girlfriend, business owner and friend. I feel when we work as  massage therapist its easy to give advice and know what is right for our clients, but when its comes to us we neglect to nurture and comfort ourselves. In a time of suffering I think its ok to be a little selfish and take time for you to heal. Go through the emotions, feel alive from them. If you are are angry, feel angry and let it out, if you are sad, feel sad and let it out!!!!Sometimes its ok to take a day off from the business. I know this is hard for alot of people, but just take a day to sleep in, go for a long walk, take a bath, like I said nurture yourself as if you would a client or a good friend. The sun will rise again and clients will call. We are always taking care of others and we must take care of ourselves!

Massage therapy is also a business, I feel, where people are more understanding, and willing to be flexible when it comes to their therapist’s well being. We take time to build relationships with clients so we can be honest with them. No one has to know details, but explain there has been a death in the family, or a terrible tragedy has struck you, and they will understand, they will most likely feel happy that you told them, rather than act as though nothing happened and go on to give a bad treatment. Massage is such an energy connection practice that you would be doing them a favor by not giving them your negative energy.

For some of us, and maybe all of us at some point can use massage therapy as our art, our creative outlet. When this is the case we may be having the worst day ever, but when the client arrives and is settled into your table waiting for your gentle touch to treat their issues, all of our “baggage” can disappear and we direct our focus on the client. This is the best scenario of course! We can all understand when this is not the case and your focus is on your challenge. I can not express enough to bee patient and take time for yourself, so you will be ready to take care of others. As massage therapist our main goal is for balance with health and happiness.  As we go through life things are going to surface that we don’t want to deal with, or that stresses us out, or lessons in life that really take alot out of us, we are human just like everybody else, and need what every other human would need. When in a time of sorrow, we must bee patient for our well-beeing as well as those around us!

Bee healthy. Bee happy. Bee well

Melissa

Do you know what you are doing wrong?

Today?s massage marketing environment is substantially different than it was even ten years ago. If you?ve been doing the same types of marketing for years and they were once successful but are not as effective now there is a good reason for that.

Pull vs Push your messages to others

Society has changed and the way people expect to hear from you has changed. Where marketing and communications used to be your practice sending information ?out? or pushing information to patients and prospects, it is now about you brining them in or ?pulling? them to you. Communicating in our society has changed and your marketing communications should reflect that change from a push to a pull strategy. Pushing your information out to anyone that would listen in order to initiate a conversation worked in the past, but no more. Now there is a need to pull prospects and clients into your sphere ? this is today?s communication. This is how to connect with people today.

How Obama changed the face of social media

A great example of this was Obama?s presidential campaign. I did a ton of research on this for the healthcare conference I did a workshop in January. Obama did an awesome job ?marketing? his campaign and run for presidency. His messaging played an important role (for change) as well as the WAYS he connected with people.

Obama was able to raise over 200 million dollars through a pull marketing strategy. He did this by pulling people in one small step at a time. He received absolutely none of that money from businesses. He built an email list of 3.5 million people in a very short time span. In a very easy and nonintrusive way he simply asked people to join his list to keep up to date on what was going on. He would then ask them to donate small amounts, $10, $15, $20 increments (this is just like asking people to take small steps to improve their health). He spoke to them through short text messages through twitter and YouTube. All with their permission. All through short, concise marketing communications.

How do we know this? Simply take a look at what?s going on with new communication trends. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all about sending short, concise messages to people that asked to or agreed to hear from you.

Why the change?

There is so much ?noise? going on around us and we are all so bombarded with advertisements that we simply can?t process it all.

So healthcare consumers are electing who and what they want to hear about, just like consumers in any other industry.

Bringing this back to you and your practice, look at what types of marketing you are doing. Are you sending things out, out, out and not asking for a commitment or an action from your community? Are you doing the same old post cards, the same old grocery cart brand awareness?

If you are not asking prospects to say ?yes? to hear from you they are probably not listening. You don?t have their buy-in. You are pushing.

What are some pull strategies that work well?

Anything where you are getting your client or prospect to say ?yes I want to hear from you?. An ezine or this blog is a perfect example. You agreed to receive it. You learned a little bit about it, obviously are interested in healthcare marketing, and gave us your name and email address to learn more.

Blogs, podcasts, newsletters and ezines where the reader has asked to receive the information (rather than just sending it to them), are just a few examples of ways to incorporate a pull strategy into your marketing rather than the current push strategy you may be using.

If you are seeing your marketing is not as effective as it once was understand there is a reason. Look at how you are connecting with both your clients and your prospects.

Contact us at Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com or call 303-460-0285 for more information.

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit.

Kelly Robbins also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, ?5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits? at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.