Trade Ya!

I’ve been a fan of trading since I was a kid watching Little House on the Prairie on our rabbit-eared television set. Doc Baker might not have been paid a lot by his patients, but he ate a lot of home-baked goods and probably never had to go to the grocery store. On the other hand, you grow up and realize that money is still quite useful; Doc Baker got way more chickens than pie; and slaughtering, plucking, and cutting up chickens can be rather time-consuming, not to mention horrifying to many urban neighbors.

Still, I like to trade. I like knowing I have something to trade that people want. When I was an English professor, trade was slim. Not many people actually want their grammar corrected, and seldom do they sit down and write a book one can offer to edit. But massage therapy is a different story, and it feels good to work with my hands for some tangible good or service.

The first trade I ever did was for art. I sent that painting back to an old friend in Arkansas, as a gift and as repayment for the $200 that came out of her small budget to help me while I was in massage school, financially reeling from a sudden divorce, and literally wondering if I was going to be able to eat again in the last month before graduation. It was called Rose Garden Princess, and I propped it up and admired it for the few days it took to save the tip money to mail it. Every time the light changed, the painting changed. I was so proud of it and myself.

The most recent trade I did involved a puppy we’ve named Ike. Without trade, we could have never come up with the extra money for a pet right now. We love Ike, even in the pain of potty-training him. He’s sweet and bright, a special little guy who is worth way more to me than the dollar amount on the five or so massage hours I gave for him.

Sometimes I dream a little too big and think of all the things I could get if I had more of me to go around (like perhaps a little maid service!) But I believe that when I think like that, the miracle of trade becomes a burden. So instead, I just try to keep myself mentally open to potential trade relationships; I know that if trade is the answer to a need, the opportunity will come to me.

Massage and Alcohol Abuse

At first, I wasn’t sure that Melinda (not her real name) was drunk. I mean, my eyes, nose and my intuition were sure that she was, but it’s not like the front desk was going to be able to give her a breathalyzer test—though she certainly would have failed had she been forced to “walk the line.” And though I was adamant about the fact that we were not required to treat someone under the influence, for very good reasons, the massage client management was more silently adamant that we not turn anyone away unless that person was some physical threat to the therapist or any other people nearby. But I was a new therapist, working hard to get my feet under me, and so I knuckled under more easily than I might normally have.

On the other hand, maybe that wasn’t it at all. Or certainly not all of it. Because, you know, no matter how tight I held to the boundaries, she reminded me of my mother. Little, fine-boned, too skinny. Probably drinking more than she was eating most days. Bitter, yet an odd sort of innocent, trusting me. Physical and emotional pain just seeping out of her along with silent tears that seemed to flow sometimes in rhythm with the massage that was like balm for her. She was so much happier, so much clearer after a massage. And I realized in holding the boundary that my child self took a lot of comfort in being able to provide this relief for Melinda. I wasn’t a helpless kid anymore, trying to respond to needs I couldn’t possibly meet or breaking down and hiding in my room in an attempt to keep my own spirit from being drained away as well.

Not to say that I completely ignored my role, my responsibilities, or the drinking itself. On the one day she tripped and almost fell into the arms of me and one of the front desk staff, I took her to my room and asked her if she’d been drinking. She said she had had a few glasses of wine, because it was her birthday, but that’s all. I told her I hoped she wouldn’t take it wrong, but massage wasn’t good for someone who had been drinking, and all I could give her was a very light Swedish. She accepted that without argument as well as my suggestion that perhaps her husband could drive her home.

After a while though, knowing massage would not be able to help Melinda if she did not address her addiction, I went to a friend of mine who was a long-time recovered alcoholic, told her the story (sans names), and asked what she thought I should do. My friend had discovered in her first years of sobriety that lack of alcohol had allowed her body to heal and made her pain less. My friend suggested I share her own story (sans names) with Melinda so that Melinda would see the benefits of getting help in a non-threatening way. Ironically, though, on the eve of being ready to do that, I switched jobs and did not see Melinda again.

In a way, I was relieved. Melinda’s drinking brought up some very bad memories for me, not to mention putting me in an ethically sticky spot in regard to my job. In a way, I was grateful. I believe I was able to do massage for Melinda in a way that not everyone could because I understood her so completely in some ways. And in a way I was sad. Because relieving pain, giving people hope that pain does not have to be a constant in their lives, is why I went back to school at 36 to be a massage therapist. And I was also sad because I believe that pain will always exist where active alcoholism is a factor. I’m not sure I did exactly the right thing in the way I handled Melinda, or that I would handle the same type of situation the same way if it happened again; all I can say is that I certainly tried, and tried with the best intentions I could muster.

Another Kind of Business, Not Massage

Well, California can once again be accused of being different and difficult. It’s a land of fruits and nuts, yurts and yogurt, movie stars and serial killers. And one of the oddest hybrid massage licensing laws ever.

First, after a long-fought battle mostly amongst ourselves, the California licensing law isn’t a license, it’s a voluntary certification designation. And required education hours are set quite low, at 250 and 500, in deference to our economy and our quaint three-states-in-one political climate.

In Southern California where I practice many cities require close to 1,000 hours for licensing, and some require the higher hours plus national examinations. Further still, some require all that and add on their own exam and a long, expensive application process. Once obtained, the licenses have all kinds of interesting practice restrictions from “no glutes” (try skipping those on people with low back pain) to specifying the wattage of room lighting (Sixty watts can feel like a night baseball game to someone with a migraine.)

As you may suspect, the Southern California cities are trying to regulate another kind of business, not massage, that involves touching clients.

Up north in the other California, education minimums are less arduous, and in some cases not required. Our northern folks, much more civilized that they are, feel quite happy with 100 hours or two for good if basic rub. The great in-between, the valley where the fruits and nuts are grown alongside with the politicians, is a hop-scotch of regulations.

When I went to the Long Beach police station get a license in 1996, I had to hold up a chalkboard sign in front of me with my name and application number while a policeman took my pictures, front and side. I love the idea that we are finally getting away from city-by-city funhouse of regulations.Yip Yip Hooray.

But at the same time I must say that the California certification agency, which began taking applications in August, is a little too easy on education. Figure a good massage therapist needs to know more than Swedish and basic contraindications. And long haul in mind, shouldn’t it take a few months of teachers yelling in your ear to learn proper body mechanics? (OK. It did me. My mechanics are not perfect, but I’ve been massaging for almost 15 years, thanks to a deafening stream of Portuguese exclamations.)

Increasing hours, of course, would put a crimp in the big spas and resorts, who try to juggle big overheads by keeping labor costs low. Keeping required hours down helps ensure a good labor pool of recent graduates for the big players. Unfortunately, requiring less education also makes it easier for those in another kind of business, not massage, to operate.

I would like to think of massage as more of a therapeutic profession-in-the-making, heading say, for the education level of a vocational nurse as opposed to a certified nursing assistant. I say that, of course, knowing I have the hours already and such a requirement would force a lot of experienced therapists who haven’t taken certified hours back to the classroom.

As the California Massage Therapy Council bravely tries to herd all of us cats, I can say that as diverse as Californians are, at least we are on the brink of a high hill. Soon I can work wearing a V-neck scrub shirt without being in violation of my city’s cleavage regulation.

Pandora: Musical Godsend

It seems you never realize how important music is in your massage life until it stops playing. At my first job, a large massage business, we had the typical piped-in stereotypical massage music, which we often made fun of. I personally referred to it as New-Age-Neil-Diamond-Meets-Elevator music. It was somewhat relaxing, yet often repetitive. At least once a day, we had to listen to a track one therapist called the #$%^@#! song. “I’m sure whatever that woman is saying is wonderful and peaceful and loving in whatever language that is,” she said, “but it still sounds like she’s saying #$%^@#! over and over.” And truly, it did, and after that, I could never hear it again during a session without fighting back a snort of laughter.

Finally the therapists got together with personal contributions to try and improve the quality of the music, but we ran into some problems there as well. For one thing, some of my favorites, like the soundtracks to Snow Falling on Cedars and Pan’s Labyrinth made one of our younger therapists “feel like [she] was having nightmares,” and following up those pieces with some of the hula music another therapist brought in made ME feel like I was having nightmares.

But, I found out when I switched jobs, that poor music is better than none. In the chiropractic clinic where I worked, I was provided with a broken-down old boom-box that only worked, say, one-third of the time, and if anything will give you nightmares, it’s a CD-skipping version of O Mio Babbino Caro. Yuck.

Enter Pandora Radio. I have fallen in love with it. I access Pandora through my I-Phone and set up all sorts of cool channels for free. I have Eccodek Radio, Romantic Opera Radio, the guy-who-wrote-the-soundtrack-for-Snow Falling on Cedars Radio, George Winston Radio, etc. I select one of my stations, plug my I-Phone into a small set of portable speakers, and presto! I can listen to people singing odd songs I actually like, none of which sound like #$%^@#! If you haven’t tried Pandora, you should. And you’ll enjoy it outside massage as well: I like my Stayin’ Alive Radio for cooking. If you haven’t stirred, chopped, and sautéed to the Bee Gees, well you just haven’t lived.

Views on Flu

My blogging this week was thrown for a loop when I unexpectedly came down with a bug. No, not a cold or the flu. A computer bug. A Trojan virus to be exact. I was thrilled beyond imagination (which is to say the exact opposite).

As we roll on toward November, no one is exactly thrilled about those cold and flu bugs either. I have a client I see regularly who almost two months ago was already entering a state of high anxiety about flu season. After asking me an unusual amount of questions about the flu, flu shots, and how I felt about flu shots, I asked her if she was concerned about coming to me for massage if I did not have a flu shot. She said yes, a little embarrassed, and I told her that I would be happy to wear a mask during our massages, but I was not going to get a flu shot, simply because the few times that I have, I've developed full-blown flu.

I'm a bit of a short-term pragmatist, then, when it comes to my stance on flu shots. My father, who was a doctor, held the same view, for the same reasons. Like him, my decision is based on this reasoning: "I'm not on salary, I don't have vacation or sick days, and if I get the flu, I will not only be miserable and bored, I will lose income, I will not be available to help my patients, and I simply don't have time for that." I realize from talking to other people though, especially in this area, that there are people who boycott flu shots and other types of immunizations, because they believe that the shots do more damage to the body than even the expected exposure to certain parts of the flu virus.

But no matter what my choices and why I make them, I am glad my client talked to me instead of just avoiding the massage clinic during flu season in an effort to avoid any potential flu exposure. She definitely planned on getting a flu shot, and I definitely planned on not getting a flu shot, but there was a solution we could both live with that still allows her to get the therapeutic massage work she needs. I wish my computer bug had such a painless cure!

Tough Sheets Update

Well, the experiment with Bamboo and cotton yarn sheets, I am happy to report, is going quite well.

Earlier I wrote about how much I loved the light, silky yet warm feel of 100-percent bamboo yarn sheets, and how my clients appreciated them as well. Then, alas, after a few washings the yarn developed little pinholes and I had to retire them. Also, the bottom sheets were too tight for my double-stuff massage table. Luckily, I had only bought four sets, all on sale.

Now, several weeks after purchasing one set of 50/50 bamboo and cotton yarn sheets, I am pleased to report they are surviving the washing machine. The blend sheets have an advantage over all-cottons because they are more naturally anti-microbial. They also fit a regular or double-stuff table much better than my original selection.

They don’t have as much of the silky feeling of 100 percent bamboo, but they do hold up tons better than the all-bamboo sheets.

Blended sheets also have a hidden benefit for us therapists in private practice. You can fit twice as many sheet sets in a washer than with regular flannel massage sheets. Compared to twin sheet flannels I occasionally use, they take up a LOT LESS room in the wash. Anytime I can reduce the number of laundry loads and time spent folding is great news!

The clients, well, they aren’t as impressed with the blend. The effervescent endorsements I got for the all-bamboo sheets have yielded to simple “yeah, they are OK” type comments. I am waiting for the industry to catch up with us in the massage business and come out with a different weave or higher thread count so I can use 100-percent bamboo once again….

Find Touch Service Update Streamlines Communications, introduces Massage Supplies Store!

Yesterday we updated the Find Touch website, introducing some new features that make using the Find Touch service even more convenient! Here's what's new..

New Convenient Messaging and Mailbox
When applying for work opportunities, therapists now have the ability to include a cover letter and attachments directly with their job application, eliminating the need to send a separate email. Find Touch has also introduced archived messaging. When you send email from within Find Touch, your communications are now stored in your Mailbox for easy reference in the future. Employers and Therapists can now easily review any communications they have sent or received and track whole message threads.

New Find Touch Store
We are focused on serving the Massage Therapy community and many of you have written to thank us for the friendly and easy-to-use service. In order to bring additional value and convenience to members of our community, Find Touch has partnered with Amazon.com to launch the new Find Touch store where you can find many of the most popular massage essentials - supplies, accessories and equipment - in one place, at a great price. If there is something you do not see in our store that you think should be included, please let us know!

Enhanced Search Capabilities for Employers
As an Employer, you can now use the Find Pros page to search for candidates by name as well as other criteria that have been available in the past. This allows you to quickly locate someone you might have partial information about and are interested in contacting. We have also streamlined the search screen to help you find therapists that practice any of the modalities you pick.

We hope you enjoy the new enhancement in Find Touch and encourage you to continue sharing your questions and feature requests. Your feedback is what drives our continuous improvement!