Come get your free massage!

I'm offering FREE hour and a half massages until I'm licensed.  I expect to be licensed in early October.

Offering:

Shiatsu

Swedish

Call 503-442-7177 to schedule a session.

Location in SE Portland, OR

Looking forward to it! :-)

Patience

I may choose to go back in time and write about Shiatsu Clinic, Thai Massage, Hot Stone Therapy and other fantastic classes and experiences I had while in school at OSM.  However, right now I feel it's more important to focus on what I'm creating, not where I've been.  So far this blog has helped me to move into a new space as I transition from massage student to LMT.

I'm waiting for the state of Oregon to send me a date to take the practical exam so I can become licensed.  I've completed school, taken the written exam, been CPR certified, turned in the application, the last pieces are falling into place.

Update: Oregon practical exam is scheduled for Sept. 29th!

Things to do while waiting:

• marketing materials - business card, website, opening flier/announcement, constant contact e-mails?
  
• look for a place to work 1-2 days a week while I get my practice up and running - possibilities: acupuncturists, massage co-op, chiropractic clinic
• check and refill my supplies - oil, linen, blankets
• create filing system for client info and a way to keep track of income/expenses (Quicken?)
• give free practice massages :)
• study kinesiology and practice for the practical

Things to do once I'm licensed:

• E-mail everyone I know, include special offer and link to website.
• Register new business with the state.
• Create a separate bank account for business.
• Place my cards/fliers around town and give to businesses and people I know.
• Talk to random people and tell them they need a massage :-)

I'll keep adding to this. Let me know if you can think of something I haven't.

15 months...

You can do anything for 15 months, right?  Not so, quite a few fellow students dropped out.  Massage school has the ability to shine light on your issues.  You get the opportunity to look more closely at the way you act or react to people, situations and to new experiences.

I sat in on a Massage Fundamentals class at the Oregon School of Massage in May 2008.  Honestly, I thought the teacher was corny and the subject dull.  In retrospect, I was scared and judgmental.  The students were learning how to give a foot massage.  I had always let my hands wander, freely exploring and enjoying the feet, here the instructor was telling students the exact strokes to use and what order to use them in.  She demonstrated on a student as the class gathered around, some sitting, some standing.

Then it was the students turn to work with each other. There was a bit of confusion as they didn't know what to do with me. All of the students were paired up, was I just to watch?  Secretly, I was wishing I could get a foot massage out of my visit.  The instructor paired up with me and I had a fantastic massage from someone with over 20 years experience.  It turned out one of the students didn't want to have his feet massaged.  So, as the students switched roles, I received a foot massage from both the instructor and one of the students.  The very same student to give me a great foot massage showed me so much about myself as our relationship grew.

I wasted no time in applying, getting transcripts sent, filling for a loan, and telling everyone what I was up to.  My family was a little puzzled, but supportive.  My friends rooted me on and talked me through my self doubt.

So the first term arrives.  I felt nervous and shy and unsure of the whole thing.  I was protecting myself and trying to prove that it wasn't a big deal.  I could handle this...right?  The course schedule included: Massage Fundamentals, Shiatsu I, and Anatomy and Physiology I.  The school didn't recommend taking Shiatsu along with Fundamentals in the first term because of the totally different subject matter, Chinese medicine and Swedish massage.  I had a gut feeling about Shiatsu, plus I'd been studying Chinese medicine on my own for the past 2 years.  The Shiatsu helped keep me sane though the first term, I really felt at home with the eastern modality.  A&P was the place where I had to actually study, and so for the first time, I did.

This kind of studying was different from high school or college.  Not only was it about the human body, I was now in school for something I had chosen with no "shoulds" on my shoulders.  I put my best foot forward and did well.

It was summer and the OSM tradition is to take all students to Breitenbush and feed them to the hippies.  What better way to learn massage?  In our 7th week of massage school we were to give a 1 hour massage to total strangers.  In someways, the newness of massage to our hands plus the lack of confidence proved for a unique experience.  I, for one, was totally nervous.  I tried to hide it, but I came across very awkward.  My first victim was a Massage Therapist and an owner of a spa.  She hired and fired LMTs!  I felt totally inadequate.  Looking back, it's because I was trying so hard to fit into the box.  My hands have always known what to do.  Just being in a "Massage Therapist" role put me in unknown territory.  15 months later, I am confident with my hands and as a 'Massage Therapist", but on that day I was humbled.

 This is me giving a face massage at Breitenbush:

I met many incredible people and opened up to people in a way I had never allowed before.  The months flew by. Each class taught me more about the human body, massage and more importantly about myself.

Coming soon: more stories about school

Journey into massage school

Since childhood, I knew I loved giving massage.  I would "play" with my dad's hands, rub someone's shoulders, head, back, or feet without second thought.  I loved when my mom rubbed my head or my dad helped clear my sinuses with his thumbs.

I love connecting to people through touch.

No one in my family ever received professional massage.  I never thought of massage as an full time occupation.  I'd heard about reflexology, my great-aunt knew it and would treat my grandmother. That was the closest thing I knew about professional massage.

It was 2006, 3 years out of college, I was unemployeed and depressed.  A new house mate had just moved in, she had studied massage in NC and she gave me about 20 minutes on the massage table.  I was in love!  I had no idea of all the neat tricks you could do that felt so good.  I desired to return the favor and one night she asked me to massage her aching arms.  Intuitively and a bit more consciously, I followed the muscles and lead the stagnant energy out of her arms, hands and fingers.  She was amazed and asked if I had taken classes.  That surprised me and stirred an idea...

During the next 2 years the massage school idea was dormant. I was looking into going to grad school to become an acupuncturist and Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor at OCOM.  I was taking the necessary science classes at PCC, getting acupuncture, taking Chi Kung and yoga classes, teaching gay tango, experimenting with contact improv and attending Heart of Now workshops. I had been getting healthier, eating better, biking more and getting to know myself.  Something didn't feel right about pursuing grad school for TCM. I realized I didn't want to fill my head with a different set of rules (eastern vs. western). I understood that my body knows things in a different way, not through the head and I got the confidence to seriously consider massage school. 

I was giving the occasional quick head, neck and shoulder massages at work (DiPrima Dolci Bakery).  I became certified to teach chi kung, which included adjusting students' stances and talking them through the movements.  All this was building my confidence.

It wasn't until 2008 that I began to look into massage schools.  I was stubborn about it at first.  I had preconceived notions about massage therapists that I didn't even realize were there.  Plus I thought, "I can give a great massage without more school."  Not to mention, more loans.  But Oregon law says you have to be licensed to practice massage, to be licensed you have to go to school and take board exams. 

I had a lot of great support from my chi kung community.  My family wasn't enthusiastic about it, although they didn't outright disrespect it.  They reasoned that I had already gone to college and had a degree in a more "acceptable" field.

I looked at the 2 schools in the area and chose The Oregon School of Massage for it's recognition of "mind, body and spirit", it's Shiatsu program, and because they have pleasantly purple walls :-).

I began classes in June 2008 and finished in August 2009.  More about the incredible time in school to come.  Stay tuned ;-)

My story thus far...

This is Me:

I liked school (the learning part), but not authority...
After completing high school in North Carolina, where I took AP classes and skipped school for yoga classes and unmentionable shenanigans, I left for college in New York City. I made it into Pratt Institute and spent my first year in the Foundation Program, drawing, painting, sculpting and learning graphic design programs (my intended major). Sophomore year, I switched to the Industrial Design program and there I stayed. I learned product design, furniture design, exhibit design, welding, 3-D graphics programs, and concluded with a summer in Denmark, studying and building Scandinavian furniture at the Danish Design School via DIS Program. All the while experimenting with drugs, sexuality, image, music...who am I? Overall a terrific experience.

After college, I moved out to Portland, OR. Not having the desire to actually get a job, I farted around working for my dad and for a number of other tyrants doing construction and woodworking. Little did I know I just wanted to "find myself".

So I did what a good little girl would do, I got a "real" job...dun dunn duun (ominous sound). Worked as a "Project Manager/Exhibit Designer" for Intex Exhibit Systems. I survived in that windowless cubicle for a year, mostly due to my friend Joe. We played Frisbee and walked on the railroad track for far too long at lunch. This is Joe:We worked for a crazy boss whose ethics were way off.

Around this time I was in denial that I was wasting my life in a cubicle, I happened to look on craig's list and decided to join an Eco Tourism group going to Ecuador to travel down the Amazon River into the jungle with the Cofan, an indigenous people. Before I left however, I was laid-off. I took it personally at the time, now I thank them. It was the best thing to happen to me.

We left in December 2005 and returned in January 2006. During that time I woke up out of my illusion. I awoke from the apathy, depression, lifelessness... whatever you want to call the walking zombies so many of us have become. I saw the world anew and decided I wanted to do something with my life that mattered. Yes, I had thought this before, but now I believed I could do it and I wouldn't settle for less.

Of course, when I came back to the states I fell right back into the depression. I couldn't see how to fit into a world based on greed. I knew the hippies and the yuppies didn't have the answer. Deep down I knew no one had the answer and I was depressed. I was getting unemployment and spending my time smoking pot and avoiding myself. I took yoga classes, participated in community events and still I couldn't connect with that feeling I had in the jungle...

...Until I found Tzun Tzun. He taught Tibetan Chi Kung though an organization called Quiet Thunder. Really, it wasn't about the chi kung. He helped us get back into our bodies through meditation, chi kung, and speaking the truth we didn't want to hear. I didn't like it at first, I was probably there as a form of self abuse. Over the years things have changed (and continue to change) a lot. Classes with Tzun Tzun are fun and challenging, it's a cultivation of energy and spirit.

Throughout all this, I learned about myself. I love connecting to people through touch. I desire to help other people get back into their bodies. I see massage as a preventative medicine and as a healing transmission to both parties.

My own study of energy and the sacred began with the trip in the Amazon basin, was revived in Chi Kung classes here in Portland and became my own during my journey through massage school.

Thanks for reading my first blog ever! It's amazing to look back and learn about myself through blogging. Who'da thunk?