Body Sense Winter 2011

December 20, 2011 4 Comments

Greetings to you all!

I hope that 2011 has been a great year for you!  I haven’t blogged as much this year as I had intended because it has been a year of many ups and downs that have kept both my hands and my mind extremely busy.  I am so grateful to all of you for continuing to read my blog and educating yourselves on the benefits of massage therapy.

As of this moment, my plan is to share the highlights of my year in 2 upcoming posts…until then, please enjoy the latest issue of Body Sense magazine!

Body Sense Magazine - Winter 2011

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2010-My Year in a Nutshell

January 3, 2011 Leave a Comment

So, here we are in the very beginning of January 2011.  Of course, everyone is looking back at 2010 and many blog posts will be devoted to “what have we learned”; and, admittedly, I did learn A LOT.  However, I feel that a quick listing of the highlights of my year will allow me the opportunity to sum everything up in a nutshell.  So, here goes…

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I needed to relocate my massage therapy office.  A blessing in disguise, I am now in a fabulous location right downtown in Farmington, having officially moved in October 13, 2010.  My clients and myself have enjoyed the proximity to so many wonderful shops, boutiques and restaurants, the weekly Farmer’s Market, and the local library.  We have also enjoyed the beautiful design of my new office that allows all of us to enter the space and experience immediate stress-reduction, as we are surrounded by peace, quiet, and soothing colors.

My massage therapy business thrived, despite the current Michigan economy.  Most of my clients have recognized the importance of regular massage therapy as part of their preventative care.  With stress levels so high, and the accompanying physical pain that is often a by-product of chronic stress, people are continuing to choose massage therapy as a low-cost, natural alternative to support their health.

I enjoyed the opportunity to mentor a newly graduated massage therapist, and although she has since moved on, it was a pleasure to watch her learn where her niche was in this amazing profession.  I wish Katie the best as she pursues her passion while working in a chiropractor’s office, bringing pain relief to his patients.

As with many things, though, when a door closes, a window opens.  I am thrilled to welcome Kristin Klein to my office.  She has moved here all the way from Alabama in an effort to join me in working with women and providing support during pregnancy, childbirth, and she is also offering postpartum doula services which will allow a new mom to have a second set of hands to assist her during her transition home in the first few weeks of having a new baby.

As a massage doula, I was blessed with the privilege of assisting 8 families during labor and childbirth to meet their babies for the first time!  5 girls and 3 boys took their first breaths this year, and 4 women became mothers for the first time!

On a personal note, my family suffered the loss of 2 wonderful women this year as well.  Within 2 weeks of each other, my husband’s 94-year old grandmother died peacefully in her sleep on July 31 and my sister-in-law’s husband lost his mother unexpectedly when she died in her sleep on August 11, 2010.  It was an incredibly difficult time for us, as anyone who has lost a family member can imagine.  Both women had been wonderful mothers and grandmothers, our Grammy was also a great-grandmother as well.  We will miss them both.  My own grandmother suffered a mild stroke and is thankfully recovering, if slowly.  My husband continues to care weekly for his father whose health is unfortunately deteriorating slowly.  As you can see, even massage therapists are not immune to experiencing times of great stress.  It is for this reason that I am extremely grateful to all of my clients who allowed me the honor of working with them during a very difficult year.  For me, giving massage  is as therapeutic as receiving it!

The year ended on a high note, as I attended the birth of my 8th doula baby of the year.  This was the 3rd baby for my client, all girls, and the first birth I have witnessed where the amniotic sac remained intact until the baby’s head was born.  That amazing birth will be a described in a separate post very soon.  Suffice it to say that in today’s highly-medicalized birthing environment, it is rare for a doula to see and I count myself very privileged to have the experience!

As of today, my own children have returned to school and I am returning to my office after a much needed break.  I am very excited to see what 2011 holds for me, my family, and my business.

Well, those are the highlights of my year.  I would like to thank my family and friends who held me up when I felt myself crumbling beneath the pressures that naturally come with so much happening.  I would also like to thank my clients, without whom, I would not be able to enjoy so much professional success.

I hope that everyone can join me in looking at the new year as one full of hope, promise, and good things to come!!!

Grammy, you will be missed by us all!

2nd Massage Therapy Room

My new Massage Room

Filed under birth, Business, Doula, Gratitude, massage, pregnancy Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Great Things Can Happen!

June 22, 2010 Leave a Comment

magenta vote for us 200x50 badge

I can hardly believe how last week went!  One day I went into my office and found a packet from one of our local television stations that was letting me know my business Tranquil Touch Therapeutic Massage For Women had been nominated for their “Vote 4 The Best” contest!  Then, the very next day, I received an email letting me know that my blog (this little blog!) had been awarded as one of Online Nursing’s top 30 Doula blogs for 2010!  What an amazing week!

I have to thank all my readers, clients, friends, and my family for supporting me for the past 6 years.  I also recently hired a new therapist to work with me, thus extending the opportunity to receive great massage therapy to even more women in our community.

Massage therapy was once thought of as a luxury that only the rich could afford.  However, recent studies have shown that as the stress levels of average Americans increases, their awareness that regular massage therapy is actually going to support their health and well-being is also increasing.  Low-back pain, chronic pain, and frequent headaches are some of the most common reasons for people to visit their doctors.  However, with healthcare costs rising and more people losing their health insurance, massage therapy is actually a very affordable option for pain relief.  It also helps improve your sleep and lower stress hormones.

Likewise, having a Doula at your birth is becoming more recognized as an essential part of a woman’s preventative healthcare.  Studies have shown that Doula-attended births have lower frequencies of high-cost interventions such as episiotomies, epidurals, and cesarean sections.  Having a Doula at your birth can lower the overall cost and increase your sense of empowerment, satisfaction, and speed your recovery.

It is my honor to be recognized as an expert in both aspects of a profession that I love.  Being a busy woman, helping to support other busy women, is a privilege that I will always be grateful for.  Life is full of ups and downs, trials and joys, and through it all, I will try to remember this week and that “Great Things Can Happen”, and do!

Filed under birth, Business, childbirth, Doula, Gratitude, massage, pregnancy Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Change Can Be Good

June 10, 2010 2 Comments

Well, if you’ve been following me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been alluding to a “Big Change” and a “Big Project” for the past few months.  I am happy to say that I am finally able to announce that at the end of summer, I will be moving my business to a new location!

For the past 3 1/2 years, I have enjoyed working in a beautiful space inside Ginger’s Mind Body Spirit Center on Orchard Lake Road in Farmington.  My clients and I have benefited from the natural surroundings and soothing space.  However, as so often is the case, things happen and changes occur.  Earlier this year, Ginger notified all of her tenants that she made the decision to put the building up for sale.  Admittedly, when I first got the news, I was deeply concerned.  When would the sale take place?  Who will be buying it?  How will it affect my business?  How will it affect my clients?  What should I do?

With the economy in Michigan still struggling to rebound and 2 kids to provide for, I’ve had some decidedly difficult, okay, let’s be perfectly honest, I’ve had some really bad days with all of this.  But, I’ve come to the conclusion that my reaction to the news of the sale of the building and my attempt to fight change was more of an issue than the change itself.  Some days I embraced the news, and had great things opened up to me.  Other days, I fought the idea of moving and all that it would entail, and my days went badly.  Today, I think I am at peace with it.

When the year began, I was planning on applying for a grant to pay for training to become a Registered Aromatherapist.  I was working with massage clients, meeting with prospective Doula clients and just going about my business as usual.  Within several weeks time, things had changed and my plans had to be placed on the back-burner.  I began looking at surrounding cities to learn their massage laws and for a new space and wondering how I could make it all work.  In the meantime, I still needed to take care of my business, clients, children & family responsibilities, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…

Fast forward to today.  I have found a wonderful space right downtown in Farmington.  I signed the new lease a while ago and, in an effort to offset the rental costs, invited a colleague to lease 1 of the 3 available rooms in the space for her own business.  We spent most of April getting the space prepared, including having the waiting room and halls painted and furnished so she could move in when her lease at Ginger’s ended at the beginning of May.   Last month I hired a wonderful new therapist named Katie who shares my commitment to women’s health and is currently working around my schedule in my space at Ginger’s, but who will be moving with me and using Treatment Room 2 at my new location. I have a wonderful, talented interior designer who is going to work on converting my 2 Treatment Rooms and bathroom into amazing spaces where my clients will be able to escape the hustle and bustle and stress of their everyday lives.  We already have the waiting room set up, and although my designer will be adding some final touches, I can say that I even feel relaxed just walking in.  Take a look:

View from Hallway to Treatment Rooms

View from inside entrance, looking to left

View from inside entrance, looking to right

While my clients and I have enjoyed walking through a beautiful courtyard, surrounded by nature at Ginger’s; moving to a Downtown location will have enormous benefits.  For me & my business, I will have increased visibility, a space professionally designed around my tastes, and expanded hours.  My clients will continue to receive customized care, a convenient location (only a few miles west of my current location), consistently competitive prices, and more flexible scheduling by having the opportunity to receive massage from Katie as well as myself.

Grand River view of Building Housing New Location

Main Entrance on South Side of Building

Focal Point Studio on Left, New Location on Right

Most of us like constancy and are creatures of habit.  We eat at the same restaurants, watch the same TV shows, vacation in the same spots.  We fight, avoid, and complain about change.  But, sometimes change is thrust upon us.  Sometimes we are forced to make decisions to change because those around us have.

I have been forced to make a change.  This will cause my clients to make a change with me.  I am choosing to embrace the change.  In fact, I am excited by the possibilities that this change will bring.  I have decided that in this case, Change Can Be Good.  Actually, Change WILL Be Good!!!

I can’t wait to see how everything comes together and look forward to welcoming all of my clients to my New, Improved, Massage Clinic!

New Location: 33425 Grand River Ave Suite 102  Farmington, MI 48335

See you there!

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