A couple of years ago, I took a seasonal position with a country club spa as an Esthetician and Massage Therapist. Part of my new job would be to grow the esthetics program and part would be to take care of the overflow of massage in between facials. A few massages a week was not going to kill me, right? This quickly turned into a few each day, which comprised mostly of deep tissue massage. At first the pace was manageable, but I was also experiencing a familiar pain in my hands. It began to hurt a little more each week. This progressed and before I knew it, my hands throbbed like someone had hit them with a hammer. I grimaced through daily tasks. Opening a jar or shaking a hand was now impossible to do. Not one to quit easily, I hung in there. Icing my hands only brought temporary relief. I resorted to the use of my forearms to the detriment of my shoulder. A cortisone shot was in order. I had forgotten the misery my body had suffered in the past from doing deep tissue massage with my hands. The painful memories were all flooding back to me. I began asking myself, “What was I doing? How was I going to keep this up?” Wah, wah, wah. Then the obvious answer came, ” Stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop being stupid by hurting yourself and go back to practicing what you preach!” Ashiatsu and barefoot massage training had saved my hands a decade ago. It had launched Barefoot Masters® and www.My2Feet.com as a worldwide continuing educational provider for all massage therapists. It made perfect sense, even the second time. Duh! Immediately, I went to the spa manager and suggested he add Ashiatsu Bar to the menu. Seemed like a logical win/win, as I had already trained three of the spa massage therapists that worked there. His stubbornness and warp speed judgment were legendary, so it didn’t surprise me when he said, “NO”! Rather than accept defeat, I suggested he receive an Ashiatsu massage at my office. It would speak for itself. Sadly, this never happened. Shortly after, he suffered two consecutive physical fitness-training injuries, which led to extensive surgery and recovery. The writing was on the wall. It was not meant to be, so, I took my own advice and stopped doing massage at the spa and just did facials. I went back to doing Ashiatsu at my office. The following season I quit the club altogether to help my husband with his new business along with the resolution to develop three new facial massage ideas that have been rattling around in my head. The loss of income was substantial but I chose to trust God in this decision. I’m happy to report that God has kept his word to sustain me and has made good come out my experience. My hands and shoulder have fully recovered. My husband’s business is doing great! And there will be three new facial massage home study courses with Ceu’s coming your way.
