Open for Business

With building anticipation I scheduled and awaited the arrival of the previous weekend to have my first authentic trial of how running a business out of my home would logistically work. I had held a few opportunities in the past for clients on rare occasions and have played with the constraints of space in my home and the boundaries of others I share the space with, but this would be the first full fledge weekend of healing in my home and not at The Colorado School of Healing Arts.

Friday evening came and similar to the excitement and nervousness a child gets before the first day of school I shimmied and sanitized my way around my home ensuring that all sheets were thoroughly cleaned, all floors vacuumed and shining, and all crevices well cleansed of negative energy.

Saturday morning arrived and my first of eight massages for the weekend as well. I believe that every opportunity is an opportunity for learning and just what did I learn from the weekend?

1. How to just say no.
• I often fall into the sense of an obligation to another and tend to say yes too much. I know that I am certainly not alone and have many "yes people" in my life. A challenge of the past quarter has been to become a "no person" (or at least a balanced person), not out of spite or b/c you disliked someone, but b/c you can only do so much before you are doing too much and have burned yourself out. I knew going into the weekend there would be many time constraints as it is, but I still really had a desire to say yes to people. I did catch myself prior to letting those three little letters tumble out of my mouth pulling back and admitting to myself that I have to say no.
2. Back to back massages just don't work for me.
• I have a new found respect for therapists in massage offices that do massages every hour! Generally what I have found is it takes (on average):
• 4 min.-Intake
• 2 min.-Undress and get under sheets
• 1 min- Entrain to the client (rocking and assessing the body)
• 15 min- clients parasympathetic nervous system to engage (state of relaxation)
• 5 min- Draping/repositioning/bolstering (10 if you are doing front, back, left & right)
• 5 min-reengaging the body (every time the body releases, the client relaxes or repositions, every time a muscle tenses up, there is a period of reconnecting to the stroke and the body- a point of reassessing what is happening under the skin)
• Following this model 32 minutes of the massage become the logistics and in an hour massage (which in massage world is 50 minutes) you are left with 28 minutes of the meat in the massage. This doesn't compensate for clients running late, unable to relax (tense bodies won't let you in to the tissues as easily and actually lock up if you try to force yourself in) or time in between for me to stuff my face real quick, wash my hands, and relax myself so the massage flows better.
3. Self Care!
• I have always left a gap in between to eat which I neglected this weekend and by the time my 2nd massage was over, the earlier massages had burned through my breakfast (each hour= about 300 calories) and my stomach growled through the second two. I got smart on day two and hade sips of a protein shake in between, still second to a good meal in between!
• Both days I forgot to wear good gripping shoes and noticed times I'd slip on the carpet in the massage room. This obviously creates awkward positioning and poor posture.
• Stretching is so important! I normally try to maintain stretching in between massages and there simply was not enough time this weekend. After the massage I was so tight I was dreaming about a massage for me!

Overall it was a great  & exciting educational opportunity and I am thoroughly excited to get feedback on how the weekend went for my clients and make some adjustments based on different experiences!