Wednesday 26 June 2013

Hands – the tools of your trade

As a massage therapist, your hands often say more than your words; greeting a new client with a warm handshake, adding expression with gestures, the gentle placing of towels and linen and, of course, the giving of a massage. As tools, they work hard for you.
With a little care and commitment every day, these tools will see you through many years as a professional massage therapist.

Clean
Second only to your smile, your hands will be the feature your clients focus on to form an initial impression of you. It may seem obvious, but ensure your hands and nails are always scrupulously clean, with nails cut short. Wash hands in warm, not hot, water and a non-drying soap.

Smooth
Endless washing can strip hands of natural oils so it is important to moisturise regularly. There is nothing quite as uncomfortable as a massage from a therapist with dry, cracked and rough skin on their hands. An instant softening treatment for hands can easily be made at home. Mix together a teaspoonful of oats, a little olive oil and one drop of lemon essential oil. Massage well into dry hands and rinse. Use this as a gentle exfoliant on hands twice a week.
An added bonus of using a high quality, cold-pressed oil for your massages is that it will keep your hands well-nourished and smooth. Top this up with regular use of a hand cream containing natural, skin softening ingredients and an SPF to help prevent signs of premature skin ageing.

Strong
After hours practising massage as a student or giving massages from 9-5 as a therapist, your tired hands will benefit greatly from some stretching and strengthening exercises. It is central to your work that you maintain flexibility and dexterity in all the joints of your hands.
Basic stretches that can be incorporated into your day take just a few minutes and can be done anywhere. All stretches should be done at a slow, controlled pace.
Wrist stretch – Place both palms together as in a prayer position. Slowly bring wrists down, keeping palms together. Ease palms apart slowly to feel a stretch in your fingers. Release by moving your wrists upwards.
Fan stretch – Holds hands up, fingers together, palms facing forwards. Fan out your fingers and thumbs, hold for 2 seconds and slowly release.
Finger flexor stretch – Place right hand on a flat surface with fingers relaxed. Using the fingers of your left hand as a ‘scoop’, gently lift the right thumb up and back, supporting with light pressure and hold for two seconds. Release and repeat with each finger. Repeat for the left hand.
Hand exerciser – Similar to a squidgy rubber egg, these can be purchased from any good sports retailer. Simply squeeze the exerciser to improve hand strength or roll between the fingers to increase dexterity.

‘Helping hands with a little self-care’

Monday 24 June 2013

Marketing

Marketing

Product
Make sure your product: you - is of the highest quality. Are your skills really honed? Are the equipment and treatment room of the highest quality? How can we aspire to be the best that we can? Is our appearance immaculat...e and the way we approach people and communicate, warm yet professional, welcoming, reassuring and assertive?

Price
People don’t just buy because of price. Many factors come into the equation, including the client’s confidence in you and what you are able to provide. It is important to see what the competition is charging, but this doesn’t have to be an indication of what to charge. So many people use price, as a measure of quality and to charge too low will therefore be a mistake.

What we offer is a service, often thought of as “intangible”. You can’t see it, smell it or taste it before deciding to buy. It is therefore important to make our service as accessible as possible to the hesitant or nervous potential client. Offer introductory incentives, be available to talk through their questions and concerns and give talks and demonstrations for the public to meet you in person, as often as you can.

Place
Is your clinic accessible, is there parking, it is easy to find, do you give directions to find you readily, is the environment right, does it have the right ambience, do you work during the right time of day, to ensure your supply is meeting demand?

Promotion
Promotion includes, using the media effectively, advertising, giving presentations, getting referrals and being a self advocate. Advertising can be an expensive and often unproductive way to get more clients. Referrals are by far the best way.
 
Gill Tree, Managing Director

Monday 17 June 2013

Massage Benefits

As you lie on the table under crisp, fresh sheets, hushed music draws you into the moment. The smell of sage fills the air and you hear the gentle sound of massage oil being warmed in your therapist's hands. The pains of age, the throbbing from your overstressed muscles, the sheer need to be touched -- all cry out for therapeutic hands to start their work. Once the session gets underway, the problems of the world fade into an oblivious 60 minutes of relief and all you can comprehend right now is not wanting it to end.
But what if that hour of massage did more for you than just take the pressures of the day away? What if that gentle, Swedish massage helped you combat cancer? What if bodywork helped you recover from a strained hamstring in half the time? What if your sleep, digestion and mood all improved with massage and bodywork? What if these weren't just "what ifs"?

Evidence is showing that the more massage you can allow yourself, the better you'll feel. Here's why.

Massage as a healing tool has been around for thousands of years in many cultures. Touching is a natural human reaction to pain and stress, and for conveying compassion and support. Think of the last time you bumped your head or had a sore calf. What did you do? Rubbed it, right? The same was true of our earliest ancestors. Healers throughout time and throughout the world have instinctually and independently developed a wide range of therapeutic techniques using touch. Many are still in use today, and with good reason. We now have scientific proof of the benefits of massage - benefits ranging from treating chronic diseases and injuries to alleviating the growing tensions of our modern lifestyles. Having a massage does more than just relax your body and mind - there are specific physiological and psychological changes which occur, even more so when massage is utilized as a preventative, frequent therapy and not simply mere luxury. Massage not only feels good, but it can cure what ails you.

http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php?article_id=468

Originally published in Body Sense magazine, Fall 2001.
Copyright 2001. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.

Friday 14 June 2013

Feeling Stressed? A Natural Remedy


The next time stress has you hankering for a high-fat, creamy treat, skip the ice cream and try some homemade guacamole – the thick, rich texture can satisfy your craving and reduce those frantic feelings. Plus, the green wonders’ double wh...ammy of monounsaturated fat and potassium can lower blood pressure.

One of the best ways to reduce high blood pressure, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is to get enough potassium — and just half an avocado offers 487 milligrams, more than you’ll get from a medium-size banana. To whip up your own avocado salad dressing, puree a medium avocado with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and a dash of cayenne.
 
Posted on Essentials for Health Facebook Page

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Giving Presentations and Teaching Your Therapy



Teaching massage is to me joyous work that not only gives your participants wonderful skills that they can use on friends and family, it develops and enhances you as a therapist and acts as a ...great marketing tool. When I first started Essentials for Health I taught many massage workshops all over London and got a lot of faithful massage clients as a result.

I am also a huge advocate for giving presentations about your work and believe them to be one of your best marketing tools. In a previous article I spoke about how giving the service of a massage is intangible - it can’t be sampled in the same way a car can be test driven or a perfume smelled. By going out and speaking to your public, you will build rapport and gain their confidence. If people like you and feel comfortable why wouldn’t they book with you?

It is often quoted that people would rather die than talk to a group of people. This reaction seems a little extreme particularly when to my knowledge no one has actually died from speaking in public!!

In actual fact, public speaking can believe it or not be an enjoyable experience especially once we realise that we can make friends with those terrible nerves that cause our hands to shake, voice to wobble and those butterflies to feel more like Kamikaze pilots!!

So this article will cover some guidelines for both teaching and presenting.

Over time I have come to love speaking in public, when it finally dawned on me that the only way to give presentations was my way.
To be me, with a few golden rules thrown in for good measure.


So, what are the “golden rules” of presenting?

KISS - keep it short and simple
Ensure there is a beginning, middle and end, and make sure the beginning and ending have impact. Command attention at the beginning and go out with a big bang
Know your subject
Know how to use props and visual aids
Have simple, clear messages
Wherever possible, give examples and anecdotes
Get to know the audience
Organise the presentation logically and time it
Use prompt cards
Rehearse and practice
Learn to laugh at yourself, you'll need to!
Use humour, particularly when you make a mistake!
Be enthusiastic
Smile
Involve the audience
Keep jargon out
Act and look confident, even if you're not
Scan the room and include everyone, even if they look like they're asleep!
Breathe!
Be prepared for the emergency; no flip chart paper, no powerpoint, only a few in the audience
Be visual, summon up any acting skills
Enjoy!
 
Gill Tree, Managing Director

Monday 3 June 2013

Touch Foundation

I started Essentials for Health to change the world though the healing power of touch. My experience in social work had led me to working with some of the most vulnerable in our society including people who were alcohol and drug dependent, the homeless, those with physical and learning disabilities and the acutely ill. It was no surprise that my massage clients were often those that other touch th...erapists felt under confident to work with, the dying, the sexually abused and those with HIV and aids.

Early in the company’s history we had strong links with the local community in east London where EfH was born and many of my students through EfH were able to work with similarly vulnerable groups, sometimes paid and often voluntary.

I always wanted to continue this service and have always dreamed of having our own charity to facilitate this and am extremely proud to announce that the Touch Foundation has been born! To start with we want to offer our massage e-course to clients of charities such as Relate, the British Heart Foundation and Scope.
 
Do you have any contacts? The Foundation will be instrumental in offering massage training to professional care givers and those in the medical profession as well as being a link between charities and those therapists who wish to volunteer. Pledge your time and interest now!
 
Gill Tree - Managing Director