Next weekend BCMT will be host to guest instructor Rachel Katz and her 2-day Sensory-Motor Manual Therapy training. This course is open to BCMT grads, current Integrative students, graduate of an approved 500-hour massage school, PT or other healthcare professional.
This course will expand your ability to address challenging clients by focusing on receptor pathways to alleviate pain. You will learn to make specific contact with the receptors of the skin, muscles, and joints – communicating with the deep brain for sustained change. Sensory-Motor Manual Therapy is easy on the therapist’s hands yet potent for addressing complex body issues, old patterns, and trauma. This class will benefit practitioners interested in a unique and new way to interface and engage mind/body dynamics with clients.
Rachel is is a specialist in unique mind/body and pain relief methods. She is the author of The Consumer Guide to Recovery from Car Accidents. In 2000 she completed Dr. Peter Levine’s 3 year training program in treating emotional and physical trauma. She is credentialed as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner.
Here’s what Elaine Calenda, BCMT’s Academic Dean had to say:
This class is amazing and so is Rachel Katz. I was referred to Rachel by my doctor for physical therapy. I was expecting the typical treatment, you know, resistive exercises and thousands of crunches. It was nothing of the sort. Rachel simply used her hands to gentle guide me out of pain that had limited my life for 6 long years. The method was painless and surprisingly effective. In a few short weeks, I was free from back pain. I had tried every kind of therapy, most invasive, and it only made the problem worse. I realized that fighting pain with pain only perpetuates the cycle of trauma. SMMT actually re-programs the brain, replacing the pain cycle with positive feedback.
I invited Rachel to give a demonstration of the techniques to my Medical Massage class. The students loved it and wanted more. If you’d like to add this powerful tool to your practice, now is your chance.
Massage Therapy Legislative Awareness Day at the State Capitol is Tuesday, March 16, 2010, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Massage therapists can volunteer to work in two or three hour shifts (8 – 10, 10 – 12 11 – 1, 1 – 3, 3 – 5) offering chair massage to legislators and capitol staff in the Old Supreme Court Chambers on the second floor of the Capitol. We have done this event once or twice a session since 2003 and have found it to be very effective in building good will and recognition. This year we are adding a “thank you” for our new registration law.
If you would like to volunteer to help with this event, email Nicole at Nicole@abmp.com or call 303-679-7638.
30 volunteers are needed for a successful event. We will have a few extra chairs available, but if you have your own, it is helpful. **Proof of insurance and registration are required.
According to a recent article in the Detroit Free Press, demand for massage therapists is holding strong, thanks to hiring by hospitals, chiropractic offices, nursing homes and others.
“We’re now being accepted by the health care profession,” said Karen Armstrong, supervisor of clinical massage at Beaumont Hospitals, which operates massage clinics in Royal Oak and Troy. Read the entire article here.
In a recent article on CUindependent.com the BCMT clinic was spotlighted as one of Boulder’s affordable choices to receive massage. The BCMT clinic provides nearly 7,000 massages to the local community each year and offers both professional and student sessions. Starting at $35 for a 60-minute massage the clinic is a great option for those looking to receive healing touch without breaking the bank.
Thanks to efforts by BCMT’s internship manager, Aspen Sullivan, BCMT is building a new internship opportunity for its students at the Acorn School of Early Childhood Development. BCMT students, supervised by senior faculty member, Gaye Franklin, are sharing the Peaceful Touch® method with preschoolers. Peaceful Touch® is designed for children ages 3 through 8, and its approach is based on three fundamentals:
• That touch is necessary for human growth and development
• That the calming hormone, oxytocin, is activated through touch
• That a permission process supports healthy touch and helps establish good boundaries.
Peaceful Touch® for children began in Stockholm in 1995. Currently, with more than 300,000 children receiving Peaceful Touch® on a regular basis, both parents and teachers see in children lower levels of anxiety and aggression, as well as improved concentration and better group functioning. Research has verified these observations.
From time to time, I hear the term masseuse used to describe the role of my peers and myself in the massage therapy profession. I think its time to to clarify the very simple difference and confirm the role of a certified massage therapist.
A masseuse, although preferred terminology at one time, is someone solely related to massage parlors and prostitution. Similarly, massage parlor is an expired term once used to describe the office of a masseuse.
A CMT is a certified massage therapist providing therapeutic bodywork and healing touch. CMT’s work at a variety of difference venues, including but not limited to, massage therapy clinics, wellness spas, hospitals, physical therapy offices and independently in private practice.
Now that we have this squared away, we encourage you to spread the good word as you hear people using the incorrect terminology to describe their CMT.
“In the color spectrum, green is at the center of the rainbow, representing balance, healing, emotional stability, love, peace and rejuvenation. Green foods are power packed with nutrients, energizing, detoxifying, rebuilding and immune strengthening. As greens grow, they provide oxygen for people and the planet. Green foods are rich in chlorophyll, a potent collector of solar energy,” writes herbology instructor, Brigitte Mars. Read article here.
According to a recent Gallup-Healthways poll, Boulder, Colorado is the place to be for health and wellness. Other cities that made the cut? Honolulu, Santa Barbara, and DC (really?) More about the happiest city in the States here:
I had the pleasure of spending last Saturday learning the basics of canine massage. I now know that dogs can have up to 23 bones in their tail, and that my little dachshund has triceps! I actually learned a ton, and plan on studying more down the road.
Carol & Canine Buddy in Dharamsala, India
I got interested in studying canine massage while in Dharamsala, India on a volunteer trip this past fall. I had a beautiful interaction, soothing a street dog with a limp. More recently, I bonded with a few scraggly, street dogs in Guatemala who preferred skin rolling and effleurage to table scraps.
BCMT animal massage instructor, Barbara Maciejewski, says that massage for animals is not a luxury, and I totally agree. My rescue pup, Quita, has been transformed from a fearful, withdrawn animal to a champion tail wagger thanks to all her friends at BCMT, who have massaged (and spoiled) her over the last year and one-half. My husband and I are adopting another dachshund soon, and she needs massage, too. She was picked up by the Denver Dumb Friends League as a stray, and she’s being treated for a broken jaw.
Want to give the gift of massage to your canine – or feline, or horse or rabbit – this Valentine’s Day? I recommend visiting the International Association of Animal Massage & Bodywork website to find a massage therapist in your area. Oh, and one more thing: don’t give your dog a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day, no matter how much she wiggles and whines for you to share yours!
I had a once in a lifetime opportunity, I was able to massage a cheetah in Africa. Actually, I massaged one of the cheetah handlers too. So, after spending about a week in Cape Town South Africa I went on a tour that forever changed me.
The tour was a wine tasting tour for the most part. The awe inspiring beauty of the South African wine lands is enough to take your breath away and the wine , well its exquisite to say the least. Our funny and lively tour guide Rob ushered us to 4 of the finest wineries S.A. has to offer. Each one only exceeded in elegance by the previous. Until we got to the Spier Winery, it was a more modest winery with a lovely lake and a Cheetah Preserve.
I could barely contain my excitement when we entered into the cheetah area. I learned a great deal about cheetahs that day, but the massage therapist in me could barely contain my eager fingers to explore the fascinating musculature of the speedy cheetah legs. The pelvis itself was very different then the typical house cat as well as the powerful thigh muscles that were exaggerated from other cats I’ve seen. A cheetah usually runs a consistent speed of 75mph, but a cheetah has been recorded as running as fast as 125 mph. Let’s just put this in perspective, a Corvette Twin Turbo accelerates at about 7.2 meters per second. A Ferrari Enzo boasts about 8.1 meters per second, which takes it from zero to 60 mph in about 3.3 seconds [source: AskMen]. A cheetah picks up speed faster than both of those cars. Its specialized body accelerates at 10 meters per second and gets up to 40 mph (64 kph) in three strides [source: Cheetah Conservation]. Wow, how is that possible?
The cheetah has an enlarged heart and lungs that enable it to take in lots of oxygen and circulate it in a very effective manner. The nostrils of the cheetah are also larger than most animals its size; the head is small and the waist is thin, with the body long. The cheetah owns long and powerful legs. The cheetah’s tail acts like a rudder as it runs. It also has semi-retractable claws that allow it to gain ground with every step. Interestingly, the cheetah cannot roar, but it can purr as it inhales.[source:ehow.com] Now that was my favorite part, as I was massaging this cheetah he started to purr the handler looked at me surprised, he said that the cheetah almost never purrs for strangers, I proudly said “maybe so, but I’m a massage therapist” he laughed and said that I must have that special touch then!
Well you know how word gets around fast in the cheetah pen, one of the handlers then asked me if I would work on her poor shoulder too. So I did, she had a messed up rhomboid and trap. Yes, it was amazing, and now when my clients say they want purr while on my table I just tell them, go ahead, if it’s good enough for a cheetah…
Thanks to efforts by BCMT’s internship manager, Aspen Sullivan, BCMT is building a new internship opportunity for its students at the Acorn School of Early Childhood Development. BCMT students, supervised by senior faculty member, Gaye Franklin, are sharing the Peaceful Touch® method with preschoolers. Peaceful Touch® is designed for children ages 3 through 8, and its approach is based on three fundamentals:
I had a once in a lifetime opportunity, I was able to massage a cheetah in Africa. Actually, I massaged one of the cheetah handlers too. So, after spending about a week in Cape Town South Africa I went on a tour that forever changed me.
