The Big Year 2023!

 My friends!

My life keeps evolving, changing and finding it's best ways. I love the change, movement and everything I have achieved. I am constantly in search of a balanced way of living and past 7 years I have put most of my energy to my work. I love that I have been able to help so many of you, I am in awe about how many wonderful clients I have met and how this part of my life came about: I made it work. I was good, I achieved my goals. I am super proud of me!

All this is about my work in healing business, as a massage therapist. In more recent years (yes, after the covid hit) many of you have learned that I am not only a bodyworker, I am also a Finnish teacher and I dream about getting my book published. Yes, I have 3 passions and I have been trying to find a balance between all three. Balanced is Painless - that is my slogan, so I should be really good at this. Am I? Am I balanced and even more respectfully: am I painless? 

I have made some pretty big decisions in my life, like to shift my professional life towards healing people and losing a steady income in educational field, or to move to US and start my life completely all over again. The first one I made out of love to myself, since being a teacher in ever more demanding world was getting harder and harder.  The second change happened out of love to my family, who wanted to experience the life in US. I made it, I created my own way and found my purpose for living here. 

Then, after covid, I found the teaching again. That I can keep teaching the subject that was first love of my life, Finnish Language, in my own terms, create my own curriculums and help my students to feel empowered, skillful and innovative in my own language. That I can be creative with my language in my second home. That I don't have to lose Finnish and my detour to bodywork and healing was the best detour ever, since it gave me a meaning and purpose in my second home country. 

That's life! You get what you give up. So, it is time to let something go, to make room for more balanced and painless life.  I am resilient, I am goal-oriented and I am moving forward in Kata's Way. It means that I will give up bodywork. I will not renew my massage license in 2024. 

This is my number 3 big decision in life. I need to be painless and balanced. I need to give up the work that is taking too big of a toll to my body and give time to be creative. From this point on, Kata's Way is more about Teaching Finnish than bodywork. I am flexible and able to make hard decisions. This is my decision. I still have a massage license for 2023, so if you are an old client, you may contact me, but I am not taking new clients for massage.

But I do take new students, so if you are interested in learning Finnish, I am your girl. Read more on top of the page or contact me via gmail (kataopettaja). 

Thank you and enjoy the Holiday Season! 

FALL 2022

 Hello friends!

How have I enjoyed being in Finland and how will I enjoy coming back home in the near future. 

I have done some soul searching... ha ha, not really... actually I have had a few AWESOME treatments for myself and I feel like a newborn baby with only a minor shoulder issues. Sitting on a stol in front of the best healer made me realize a couple of things:

👊 I can not go without the REAL treatment for 3 years

👊 There is no better treatment, I have learned the best

👊 I simply can not stop doing this

👊 I need to go to Finland more often

        👊 I am so good at my work

👊but I will work only 2 days a week.

And not to mention how humble I am! 

I will be back at work  the most Mondays  and Thursdays 10 - 3. That's it!

My first day of work will be Thursday 9/8. 

There you go and Kata's Way it the Best, because I am Balanced!

P.S. I do have Finnish classes on Tue, Thu and weekends! But there are some flexibilities in my schedule if you want to learn Finnish. 

Not taking new clients any more!

 

I will be home until the end of August. I am not taking new clients 2022!

Hard decisions

 My dear friends and clients:

I have been privileged to able to treat you for 8 years. That is not in many ways a very long time period, but looking back, it feels like a half of my life. Maybe I feel that way because the other half of my life started when I moved to US. And that happened 2012. That is whole 10 years. I had no idea where my life would take me in the new country, but overall I think I did good. I feel very much at home in States at the moment although there will always be a longing back home - Finland. I am still more Finnish that American and we just have to accept that.

I have learned end experienced so much! I have evolved and being frustrated. I have powerfully pushed forward and achieved. I have been disappointed and what is the most important, I have learned to slow down and listen to, not only my clients bodies, but also my own. So, what it my body telling me (other than feeling so inadequate in written English)?

I have pains and aches like most probably all of us in this age. My back is doing pretty well, but my shoulders tho... they give me constant numbness, achiness and feeling of heaviness. Like, I really have no energy to lift my arms most of the mornings. Yes, I know my routines to help me get going, I know what to do and what to eat for a healthy lifestyle and definitely am not giving up on me. But then I am thinking that if any of my clients would describe the symptoms I am having, I would strongly suggest lessening the workload. At least finding a less strenuous job if nothing else. The question is: do I listen to my own advice?

I love what I do! There is no other way to say it. I feel deeply connected and such a pride of the fact that I am doing something good; that I am helping, and there is no better feeling than that. I want to keep working!

But I can not handle it anymore.

There it is. The sentence that has been lingering above my head for a long awhile. And of course I want to take it back. I don't need to publish this post... 

But hiding won't help me in any way. I already may have ruined my upper back and neck for life and the question is, is it worth it? I truly don't know. 

I don't know what will happen in the fall. 

As of now, my thinking is that I will see how my body adjusts to being work free for 6-8 weeks. I might feel like a new born and (over)book my calendar in September. I may find more Finnish classes to teach, so that I won't have time to treat clients. I may stay in Finland if the climate there suddenly changes to subtropical... I may feel overly energized and finally just use the modalities that are less strenuous to my body. I might truly start my third career and find a living in writing (in Finnish).

I am not able to make the terrifying, long lasting decision of quitting (that is truly how it feels), so I am doing something that is even more scary for me: I am gonna leave it open! 

If you are in my loop, I will text you in September and let you know. Most probably I will still work a day or two every week, but there is a big part of me who wants, finally, to be brave enough to make the bold move: to do something that is just best for me. Just me and nobody else.  

What truly is Kata's Way ponders Kata who has always had it her way. Balanced is Painless.

Out of office July 20th - August 30th

 

Plans for 2022

 My dear friends. 

I can't believe how fast time goes. This year has been good to me and my family, but as you all, I am so looking forward to more 'normal'  world without masks and travel restrictions. Many of you may know that the covid situation is worsening in Northern Europe at the moment while we are just accommodating the idea of things getting better here. Please, keep your fingers crossed for the situation continuing getting better everywhere.

Last couple of years should have taught us all to evaluate our lives, lifegoals and thing we want to achieve. It is so easy on the paper when you are pouring your soul into your personal notebook or stamping down the goals and prospects for your company. It gets definitely harder, when you are supposed to put your foot down and tell everybody what you are giving up, doing less and letting go in your life. I am lucky to have people around me who understand my goals of doing less and feeling better. So here are my goals and promises for 2022:

👉I am rising my pricing 10 % (this happens every 2 years just because I am gaining new skills all the time and also because the life is getting more expensive.)

👉I am taking every 4th week off even if it affects to many of my regular clients' scheduling. This is because:

    👊I have reached limits of my physical well-being in this profession (average massage therapist works for 7 years, I am starting my 16th year in this profession.)

    👊I am also working almost every weekend as a teacher, so off time is desperately needed.

    👊I am an avid writer and unfortunately I am the type of writer who needs space and time to get to the creative zone. 

👉I plan on going to Finland for 6-8 weeks on summer!

I still appreciate each and everyone of my clients, but it has been a rough journey to get to this point. I will be steady and more slowly working on my Ortho-Bionomy skills, but won't probably apply for any certification in it. I am perfectly happy doing things Kata's Way, since it is painless and effective. 

Have a Happy Holiday Season! 

A couple of words

 First of all, thank you to all my wonderful clients! I have been constantly changing and learning on my path to become a better healer and I could not have done it without you all. YOU are my biggest teachers and an everyday joy. I still enjoy doing what I do the best: helping my clients with their pain.

As you know, I have been reducing my hours on 2021, because I have been so fortunate to have been able to teach more Finnish. My work days are, and will stay to be, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The rest of the week is reserved for spacing out and taking care of myself, since on weekends I am busy with teaching. This possibility to use my both professions makes me super-happy!

I am still learning more skills with my Ortho-Bionomy studies, but I probably will not try to achieve any new certificates, since I will always be working my way. I will never say never, but I feel like this is who I am and I can keep adding new skills to my skillset  without taking tests or applying certificates. 

This is the second summer in a row that I am not able to go to Finland. That is not ideal, but I am going to take the life as it comes, and keep working throughout the summer. Please, contact me now, if you want an appointment, my September will be very busy and most probably I will not be able to take any new clients then! So, call/text me now, if you want to get to my books, I always will accommodate my existing clients first. 

And about next summer: I am already planning on spending 6-8 weeks home! Keep your fingers crossed for that to become reality and wish me luck in other sectors of my life too; I have some big dreams to (hopefully) come true in the future. 

Enjoy your summer, I definitely am having a good time! This is Kata's Way and it means Balance since Balanced is Painless. 

I am still here!

 We are getting to the end of this pretty interesting year. I feel incredibly lucky and blessed because I, and my family, am well and in good spirits. I won't take it for granted. 

I have been able to work pretty much through the whole year and so has my husband; again this is not granted in these circumstances. I have enhanced strict cleaning and disinfecting routines and so far I think it has helped me to stay free of the covid19. But there is never a certainty! I have been tested only once during the year, in the beginning of November, and got a negative test result. I am doing everything I can to keep the things the way they are. Here're my current protocols:

- I have at least 30 mins between clients so I have time to disinfect the surfaces, face rest and the bathroom between client

-I wash the sheets, towels, face rests and blankets after each and every use

-I disinfect doorknobs between clients

-I only see clients that I know; NOT TAKING NEW CLIENTS at the moment

-I allow even 1 hour cancellation policy if my clients get any symptoms

-I wear a mask all the time

-I check my temperature daily and isolate myself if I have any doubt or have met more that 10 people at the same time

-I do NOT normally visit anywhere else than grocery store, postal office or drive through coffee houses. 

If you know me, you also know that avoiding coffee houses is definitely the hardest thing for me. But I have been strong!

All the above means that I am seeing less clients than normal, but don't worry, I am also teaching more Finnish. That means that I have made commitments to keep teaching on 2021. Which means that most weeks I am available for massaging only 3 days a week.  And that means restricted hours for you. Please look ahead and make your appointments early if possible. 

My goals for 2021 are to stay healthy, keep working and reach the first step of credentials in Ortho-Bionomy. I appreciate each and everyone of you, especially at these times of unknown.

Let's stay focused and balanced: balanced in painless and that is Kata's Way.

Covid-19 Diary / How can I grow into this?

We are all overwhelmed, anxious and exhausted in April 2020. We have this new non-normal called corona-virus surrounding our lives from every perspective, and we are forced to isolate ourselves from many things. Most of all, we need to isolate ourselves from our friends, daily routines and activities that require any kind of contact with other people. Touching won't be allowed for, at least, few more weeks.

And touching is my work.

I have been trying to give myself a lot of space to be able to feel where I am. How can I live my life in this limbo which doesn't have an ending date. What am I doing with my life? I certainly haven't been able to do what I love the most, and surprisingly, I have not been able to do what I love the second best: writing. 4 weeks ago (I saw my last clients May 14th) I had very clear picture in my mind, that included a lods of blogging, self-journaling and completed exercises for my creative writing class. Now that I'd have the time! None of those has happened. None!

Instead I have immersed myself in a lot of studying, starting from Spanish and US Governmental system (yeah, I might consider that naturalization process after all), relearning gastro-intestinal system and ending up to deepening my psychological understanding. I have also been immersing myself into Ortho-Bionomy through several web gatherings that includes self-reflection, support and deepening the various ways of treating my clients. So where all that takes me?

I have decided that I will come out from this crisis with more resilience and positivity towards myself. I want to keep helping my clients the best I can, and as my top 3 character strengths are love of learning, curiosity and creativity, I will use those strengths to evolve and overcome some of the less strong characteristics I tend to describe myself. I struggle with gratitude and appreciation of what I have, and most of all: self-regulation. The lack of self-regulation in my life does not look like too little training or unhealthy eating, it shows like doing too much, pushing too far and making excuses about self-healing.

This definitely is not a new revelation, but something I have been struggling all my life, but I feel like I have found a refreshing way of working with it. Being compassionate toward yourself is not something you either have or don't have. Compassion is something you can learn as a process, as a constant reminder throughout your days, like a muscle I have been ignoring, but am now reviving and strengthening. This definitely sounds like my language: I can strengthen my compassion muscle!

How do I do this? I simply use 3 times 3 exercising every day. I will think 3 positive thoughts about myself every day. Some days I do this more often than the others, but my goal is to catch whenever my thinking starts leaning towards 'oh well, I just have this neck ache, what I can do', and start finding out what I CAN DO about it. That actually is the second step: do 3 good things to yourself every day! (And of course my first good deed will always be that empht cup pf coffee.)

That sounds simple, right? But it isn't. I need to do 3 good things that nurture my body, my mind and also my emotions every day. Yes, I am damn good about treating my body with the ways I enjoy, but as I keep nagging to my clients, we need to re-educate our body (and the mind and the spirit) to do things that don't feel so natural at that moment. My weaknesses from this perspective are lack of aerobic exercising, mindfulness and something that I call STILLNESS.

I need to talk about stillness a bit more. It is a very strong principle in Ortho-Bionomy, maybe even the most important, and definitely the one that I have strong feelings about. I have used so many years of my life to learn how to do, how to stretch, how to push or pull and how to be a tool to a change in the body. If you think it, that is the whole western culture's point of view and that is definitely how we have achieved almost everything we actually have achieved. That is amazing. I am so thankful.

But. If we look at this from a perspective of HEALING, the picture becomes somewhat different. Healing the body is not something I (or anybody else for that matter) can do. Healing is a process of your body, mind and spirit. We don't know what is the whole complexity of the process of healing, but we do know that each individual body (with mind and spirit) has a huge capability of doing so. Ortho-Bionomy teaches me how to be a facilitator of that healing. Which brings me back to stillness.

When I touch you, I need to listen what your body is telling me, and let some kind of reaction to happen. For that (and for everything to grow) I need stillness, because that pause is actually a beginning of a conversation. If I can't pause myself, how can I help you to do so?

I have given some thought to the lack of stillness in my life. Yes, I tend to be pretty active person and that is definitely okay, I am not going to try and change that. But when I have a moment, I need to stop and be still. I need to feel what I feel. I need to let myself recognize my emotions, name them and let them go (there is a tool to do that too). If I do that three times a day to STRENGTHEN my 'emotional muscles', I will learn to do so with ease and compassion toward myself.  That will tremendously help me to be in stillness with my clients with  ease, and save my precious vitality. To keep working, to keep learning.

The growth is a mindset! The strength lies in a balance of our life's components: working, learning, making a living, seeing friends, spending time with a family and being alone. Laughing. Positivity is a tool I have chosen to help me with my life, and I am appreciating this long pause in my work, because it has forced me to dig in deeper to what makes my life more balanced. And as you know, that's what Kata's Way is all about: Balanced is Painless, and so is Kata's Way.

I acknowledge this discomfort in my life, because life is a journey. I am growing. I keep nurturing my spirit with some exercising, some stretching, some unhealthy eating, some stillness, some dancing, some shaking, some studying, some boredness, some excitement, lods of coffee and stillness. To be able to be.

In hopes of seeing you soon!

P.S. Zoom-classes/treatments are still available, text to set your time.

Gut-Brain -Connection

Did you know, that our gut is the largest immunological organ of the human body (320-430 square feet) which means that 80% of the immune system cells are located in the gut. The information between gut and brain is a 24 hour dialogue through gut-brain axis, that is, vagus nerve (with a help of the blood circulation). This connection is a big part of the autonomic nervous system and functions as a security alarm to inform us when something is wrong in our body. (If you eat something inappropriate or dangerous, your gut makes you throw up.)

Our gut is full of bacteria, viruses and other microbiota which produce neurotransmitters and metabolites. Those are the important substances that do the actual communication between gut and brain IF there isn't too many barriers to overcome: stress, harmful bacteria, inflammation or restrictions in blood flow. Can you see now why I am so interested in this? As a trained bodyworker I can definitely help you with the circulation AND reducing stress level, if I keep the bodywork  and pressure of my touch in the right level. What I am mostly interested at the moment is HOW ORTHO-BIONOMY CAN REORGANIZE AND EMPOWER THIS SYSTEM AND THE GUT-BRAIN AXIS.

This huge communication system has now a name: Enteric (nervous) system and a bunch of scientist are looking for the cure to ADHD, autism, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's with the new information about gut flora and our individual bacterial fingerprint. There is still so much unknown about the subject, but we do know that stress reduces the information flow by reducing the amount of  serotonin and dopamine. If our body in stressful situations (injury, cancer, depression etc.) does not secrete enough of these transmitters and the gut-brain axis is blocked, the situation gets even worse and our body's healing powers can't really kick in. The latter I can help you with Ortho-Bionomy!

Ortho-Bionomy is very light form of treatment, but it really helps in various conditions. For me it means tuning in deeper to really listen your body and it's messages, and if you already are my client, you have experienced some bits and pieces of it. It is a HUGE advantage in my tool box and next year I will hopefully have a certificate to show that. The best news here are, that with Ortho-Bionomy I can treat you in some situations that for safety reasons so far I have refused to touch you (acute or severe pain, right after surgery or osteoporosis to mention a few).

Contact me about your unique situation and we can plan accordingly! If, and this is a big if, we decide that your treatment plan is to have plain Ortho-Bionomy Sessions, I will give my special student pricing for 2020 (25% off of packages 5 or more).

I love learning and helping you in your individual path of healing! I'm so proud to tell you that this is Kata's Way and it means that Balanced is Painless, but also because Balanced Gut means Better Functioning Brain, and Empowering your Immune System makes all the difference.

New Pricing 2020!

Hi you all! Today I'm here to tell you about my big decisions for 2020. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere nor will I reduce my working hours. I will still be available for my clients for 30 hours every week Monday through Thursday. Check my hours on the right column of this page!

As many of you already know, this year I have been studying a new treatment style called Ortho-Bionomy. These studies have not really changed the way I work, but the way I think! And it has been mind blowing. At the end of this year I can proudly say that I have already been studying this style over 70 hours. That's two full weeks of training, a couple of lectures, but especially hands-on practicing under the eyes of my wonderful teacher Jessica Marks from Happy Body in Asheville. That's a lot! But even that is only the beginning. Stay tuned!

I call my own style Kata's Way, and my motto is Balanced is Painless. I stand by this 100 percent. I have had my massage license in North Carolina for 5.5 years and during that time I have helped hundreds of clients! I have been able to bring back the mobility to the ankles, helped my clients rehabilitate several painful shoulder issues, kept my loyal clients running their marathons, opened up rib cages and diaphragms to serve better with voice production and got rid of several golf and tennis elbows among other issues. I have several weekly appointment slots for Neuropathy clients to vote for my treatment as the best way of keeping the neuropathy related pain away. I don't even know how many spines have been balancing themselves after my special seated vertebrae treatment sessions. Even scoliosis can be helped with this treatment! And the list goes on.

I am constantly keeping my eye on the therapeutic massage field in Charlotte. I follow (even try out occasionally) several Massage LLC:s and Inc:s and their pricing. I know that in the Spas you need to pay somewhere between $130-160 per hour, and that is not at all who I compete with. My competitors (including terms like therapeutic, advanced therapeutic, integrative etc.) charge anything between $70 (for membership) to $100 per hour massage. Advanced therapies (like Rolfing) are $130-160  per session.

So here is goes: my new rate for one hour treatment is $95 with cash/check/Zelle and $100 with credit. For my most popular appointment for 75 minutes is will be $115 cash/check/Zelle.

I did it!

I STILL offer 5-10% discount for series of 3 or 5. My treatment is still FULL  ONE-ON-ONE time with you. My treatment includes: massage, range of motion exercising, stretching, stretching guidance, essential oils, infrared heat, whole body analysis, balancing the nervous system, neural opening, lymphatic massage, myofascial release, deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy, whole body integration, structural and functional analysis to mention a few. All these and some more in each and every session! Without an extra charge.

I am so grateful to be doing this. And this is Kata's Way. It is Balanced, it is fun, it is evolving and extremely good for you. Welcome to the best possible treatment. Balanced is Painless. 

Here's link to full pricing list.

Let's treat your wrists - but ankles first!

So many of us have some numbness, tingling or even pain in our wrists. The more you need to use your computer, especially the mouse, more prone you are to any trouble in your wrists or in your thumbs. If these symptoms are left unattended for a long time, you could have ended up to a diagnosis called the carpal tunnel syndrome. While I certainly hope that you are seeking my help a long before you have that diagnosis, there is something worth trying before scheduling that surgery. The surgery should be ultimately the last choice and there won't be any harm done, if we try to resolve your 'tight' wrist in Kata's Way.

You know that wrist is connected to forearm. Hah, that's what I learned at the massage school. In my work that simply means that the first step to take care of wrists, is to treat the forearms, and the second step would be making sure that also the metatarsals (the bones on hands) and fingers are working the way they should. When we have proceeded to this point at the my treatment, it means that I have already opened the lymph on the forearms, discovered what is going on in your flexors, extensors and rotatores of wrist and most probably we have also done some movement therapy for your elbow to make sure that this hinging joint is functioning without any restrictions.

But wait a minute, before we can truly open up the lymph channels on forearms, they need to be opened on an armpit and chest. While I do that, I also check the tightness of your pecs (chest muscles) and their opposite forces which would be upper back muscles and shoulder rotatores. That actually means that I need to treat your upper back and spine, before we can concentrate to the forearms and wrists.  If you, like all the rest of us, have a slightly forward leaning posture, we should work on that before we proceed to the arms.

At this point I'll ask you again (it's on the questionnaire) or you just got reminded that you have actually have some discomfort in your low back. So, we'll take a quick look to that and find out that left and right side of hip muscles are kinda imbalanced and left (or right) hamstrings are awfully tight. While I work those hamstrings, I also notice same side lateral tightness in calf and we end up talking about how you broke or sprained your ankle several years ago and since that the one ankle has been looser or tighter or in the wrong position or shins has been aching or something else.

So, we make the treatment plan and start from that imbalance in the ankle and treat the shins, quads and hamstrings the next time. The third session is all about hips and some work on legs to be sure. On the forth session we concentrate to the spine and keep working on the posture in sessions five and six. Then, when you come back for the seventh time, we finally get into that forearm, which actually has already been so much better and numbness has already been dissipating significantly. I will still work with your arms, forearms and wrist for a couple of sessions, since we truly want to get rid of that pain and discomfort for good.

Basically this is my work with you: we'll start from somewhere, but eventually we need to touch every part of your body to make sure that different parts function in sync. Sometimes everything goes this smoothly, but many times I have told my client after the third session that we have reach the point where I'm not sure I can help you. And then I will do that again after the seventh session, if I still feel that I'm not delivering what you expect. This simply means, that treatment is a negotiation where I do my share and you do yours. I will give you my honest opinion and explain what I've accomplished and what leaves me questioning my abilities to help you in your current situation.

There is no guarantee in the bodywork, but as a therapist I will always try to find the underlying cause and you may discontinue the treatment plan whenever you feel like it. That is the way I work! My way in Painless, effective, different and time consuming, but it works. I don't deliver the schemed sessions since I never know what will happen ahead of time. So many times I have told a client that today we will focus your shoulders and then I have spent 60 minutes in the hips. This may seem that I don't know what I'm doing (half of the time I don't actually), but it also means that I have the skills to listen to your body and its needs. That's how we get results.

Welcome to Kata's Way! It's Balanced (whenever I am Balanced) and it's Painless.

That's the simple goal.

How did I get here?

The schools are getting ready to start a new semester, which means that it's time for the new cycle, the beginning of the (school) year. This is the time when I want to buy a new calendar even though my current one is valid until the end of this year. The beginnings have always been important and powerful times for me; I love fresh starts and  creating something new gives me such a joy and feeling of being in a center of things.

This past July has very much felt like a new beginning in my professional career. Here are couple of the reasons for these feelings: first of all, I have got a several new clients in July and that always refreshes my way of thinking. I love the challenge, and resolving some physical issues together with a client just feels extra good! The second thing that comes to my mind, is the fact that I (finally) got over the hump of turning fifty. I know it's just a number, but for some (hormonal) reasons, the past year has been pretty harsh for me. I have been struggling with some imbalances and it took me too long to figure out that not everything can be solved in the physical level. I have been taking care of me, I have been exercising, I have had a somewhat healthy diet and my family is here with me and everybody is ok. Still, I was exhausted, grumpy and in the surviving mode. Finally I decided to do something about it, and accepting hormonal (organic and natural) supplement has helped me to feel like me again!

The third thing that affects my life in every day, is the fact that I am Finnish! That might sound like a no-brainer, but the roots of the identity are pretty deep in me. You know, I am a Finnish teacher and my training for a massage therapist was not just that, it was the Traditional Finnish Way of holistic, therapeutic bodywork and multi-dimensional treatment. Being a Finn is my brand, my identity and my way of living. Back home I didn't ever think about it, but I had my colleagues and my professional networks to think things over. I was a part of the community in which everybody supported each others, and gave feedback or boost whenever you needed. I lost all that when I moved to the States. I re-created myself and my work (which wasn't easy) and I still take a huge proud of everything I have accomplished (like being able to write this post, which yet isn't without mistakes, but I get my message out there pretty easily) in the past 7 years.

That just brought me to the fourth circumstance: I have lived here for SEVEN years. I have already lived one big cycle in this second home of mine. That became very clear this summer when I spent four weeks in Finland being a tourist. Me -  a tourist -  in my own country! Every earlier visit that has felt awful and heartbreaking, like something gnawing slices out of your soul. But all of the sudden in summer 2019, for the first time, that was okay. I was able to give up an outer layer of my identity to make space for something new to emerge. I can be Finnish living in the US and I don't have to give up what I have learned even when I am starting to learn something new. I let go my pretty obnoxious adolescence and dug deeper into my soul. I found myself eager to return back home, to my current life, in the US.

So here I am. I am creating a new community, learning new style and having my life in order. We don't know what future holds, but at the moment I am full of positive energy, ready to conquer my career to the next level. Everything is changing while everything in my core self stays the same. I will be working next 20 years and future will bring us stronger and deeper Kata's Way. Still, that is the best and the most effective treatment that I have (or will) ever learned, because it's all about the Balance. I might have found a momentary balance in my personal life, in my physical body, in my work and all these other circumstances we call Life.

I am going to enjoy this Balance as long as I can. In my work I do sometimes know what I'm doing, but what's more important: when I have no idea what I am doing, my client's own ability to heal takes over! My job is to keep balancing. And taking care of myself. Balanced is Painless and sometimes life is too. Let's enjoy these moments!

Happy Summer!

I am back to Charlotte and back to work. My vacation in Finland was amazing! The weather was perfect, lower 70's with sunshine and I needed my (friend's) umbrella only once. The first week I was wearing my (sister's) wollen socks, but after that: pure joy. Well, and a zillion mosquitos in some places..

I have eaten all the Finnish food I have been craving, most of all fresh strawberries, Karjalanpiirakka (Carelian pastries) and Finnish hot dogs with Finnish mustard. The mustard is important, I don't really like hot dogs, but I do love the smell of burning them on fire. Did I mention mustard? And Beet Salad! Homemade goat cheese! Freshly harvested 'new' potatoes with pickled herring! Fresh pike perch from the lake!

I met so many friends from the different phases of my life and sat in the Saunas. All different kind of Saunas: smoke saunas, wood heated saunas and electrical saunas. Once on a floating sauna with hot tub where jumping to the lake was refreshing! Sometimes alone on my own pace, but most of the time with a bunch of friends, giggles, wine or cider and laughter.

I picked flowers from the ditches and meadows. I enjoyed sunsets and a full moon with a sun. Midsummer up North is always spectacular! The northern nature in June is something to look forward to: green, greener and greenest. I will be posting pictures in my facebook page and Instagram, so make sure you follow me!

I am just happy:

On summer time I usually work 3-4 days a week but will take a couple long weekends to spend some time with my family. I am happy be back home in North Carolina and especially happy to sleep in my own bed.

Text or call to get to my books and remember that this is Kata's Own Way and it's Balanced as well as Painless. 

Welcome 2019!

Hello everyone!

I have updated my web pages (finally) to 2019 and here is some things I want you to notice:

My hours are Mon, Tue, Thu 9-4 and Wed 12-6. So, hooray, Mondays are back in schedule for a moment. I don't know for how long.

 I will be out of town April 15 - 18. I have a good reason to get away for a week, but I don't want to be reminded of it. Yes, I'll have A BIG BIG BIG b-day. But life goes on...

...because, I am beyond excited to go to Finland for the month of June! I'll be out of town June 2019. Can't wait. It's been two years, so it's time to go home and make sure that I don't forget my roots and my language.

I have started a huge learning path to become an excellent healer with Happy Body and Jessica Marks in Asheville. I will add some wonderful listening and calming abilities to my handwork in the future years. I need this so much and in so many levels: I'm finally excited to have found something that'll profoundly teach me something new, but staying in my own mind set. And I have found like minded, passionate and supportive group of other therapists to help me grow. The style is called Ortho-Bionomy and it really doesn't change the way I work, it changes the mindset I put to my work. My treatment will still be called Kata's Way, because that is my way, and it's completely Painless and Balanced. 

And remember, I can help you or your loved ones with variety of issues, here are some examples:

Neuropathy

Frozen Shoulder or any Shoulder problem

Plantar Fasciitis

Head and Neck Ache  

I hope to see you soon, my pricing will stay the same for 2019. Book your appointment now, I am always happy to see some new faces with some new challenges for me to figure out!

This is going to be a great, and busy, year. (So busy that my voice mail does not keep up. If I don't call you back, please try again, my voice mail has kept some messages from me.)

Neuropathy

Hello my friends!

It's August and the beginning of a new season is on the door. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to buy new calendar, some notebooks and binders because the fall is calling. Maybe it's because I have been a teacher for such a long time, that in August I start preparing for a new (school) year?

Well, I don't need a new calendar at the moment, nor have I purchased new gadgets, but I am full of excitement after a couple more lazy months. Today I want to talk you about Neuropathy!

As you already know me, I won't give you a complete picture of the ugly and very, very uncomfortable disorder, that's your doctor's job, but I will tell how I have been able to help my clients who suffer this condition. Neuropathy can be not only painful, but also very disturbing with numbness, tingling, cramping, twitching, over-heated or restless legs and feet. It can be all of those at the same time.

There is nothing I can do to help with inflammation of the nerves or your (pre)diabetes, or other causes of this condition, nor can I promise to make your feet painless. But I do promise to:
- bring flexibility back to your tendons and muscles on your feet,
- help your ankle to function in it's best
- open up your peroneal, tibialis, gastros and soleus (meaning calves) muscles
- make sure that flexors and extensors of the feet are equally strong
- open up each and every joint, muscle, tendon and ligament connected to metatarsals and
- make your feet feel good!

When all this is done, many of my clients have been able to stay painless 5-15 days in a row! 

So, neuropathy is one of the rare cases when I need you to come see me weekly at least for 6-8 weeks and pretty frequently even after that, because we need to keep peripheral blood flow going and help the lymph climb up towards the heart manually. Clients with neuropathy also need to keep seeing me frequently; some clients stay symptomless with monthly treatment, others need the 30-45 minutes treatment every 2 to 3 weeks.

I hope that you are not suffering from neuropathy, but if you are, don't hesitate to contact me and get same help! We can figure out together if Kata's Way can help you. And Kata's Way is painless, very relaxing and effective. 

Summer is here!

I’m sorry that I haven’t been writing anything for a long time. But on the other hand I’m not, since not having time to put on blogging simply means that I have been busy. I’m so thankful for having many new clients and excited to have been able to share my new location with my dearest clients of all: everyone who followed me from Ballantyne Village first to my home office and now to my current location. I’m so blessed!

Yes, I’m still taking in a couple new clients but eventually I will go to a bit lighter  schedule for the summer time. I won’t be working on most Mondays (unless you’re my family), so please book ahead if you know your schedules and want to keep your regular appointment times. I will not visit  Finland this summer, but I’ll have my family visiting me, so I have cleared 2 weeks off of my calendar: June 19-22 I will be visiting NYC and July 2-5 taking my family to the beach. The rest of the July and beginning of August you can book your appointments Tue-Wed-Thu 9am-5pm.

I don’t see any big changes in front of me at the moment but steady work load at the current office. I’m surrounded by 3 wonderful therapist who are specialized in the breast health and helping us to find our optimal health and wellbeing. We are proud to announce that we offer excellent Reflexology Sessions by Caterina Jones on Fridays at my room! She has changed my life (the first session throw me to a pretty interesting detoxification process, oh boy) and I can wholeheartedly recommend her services to everyone.

I’m also discovering the wonders of Feldenkreis Method to keep my body going. Paula Alonso has showed me a completely new way of using my poor body (and yea, I thought I already know how my body functions, but again: oh boy), so maybe there’s a new alley for me to investigate workwise when I’ll get over this enjoyable being just a client phase.

So, being busy feels good but so does the summer heat! I hope that you all will have a wonderful summer and whenever you need me, remember that Balanced is Painless and that’s Kata’s Way!

Here’s my scheduling link: Kata’s Way. See you soon!

Out of town 3/26 - 3/30

I am pleased to tell you that I have been busy in my new office and I just love working there! I have already learned new things and gotten wonderful, caring and helpful new colleagues.

Also our Pilates classes on Tuesday afternoons are going well (if you are interested ask me more, we can accommodate 1-2 more health enthusiasts to our semi private classes) and I’m beyond happy to work at the place where there is The Infrared Sauna for me and my clients to use (it has NOTHING to do with the REAL thing, but it’ll keep you warm nonetheless).

I’m fortunate to have some more spots for new clients, but next couple of weeks are pretty much booked, because I will take some vacation time before Eastern. I’m counting the days for my best friend from Finland to come for a visit and we’ll make a girls’ trip to St. Augustine and Savannah the last week of March.

My next openings are the first week of April, but if you really need some balancing before that, shoot me a text and I will let you know if there’s a cancellation. I’m waiting for a spring to get here since that’s my favorite time of the year! Hope to see you soon and remember that this is Kata’s Way and that is Painless because the Balanced is Painless. Enjoy your time!

Self help and exercise

Part of this profession is to help my clients to help themselves. Taking care of him/herself should be everyone's priority and seeing a massage therapist (or any healthcare provider) just an addition among other things. Here's some of my tips to take care of yourself!

First of all, do something you really like to do! I know that the world is full of different programs, guidelines and 'this is what you should do to gain this or that' information about everything, but if you really don't like doing yoga, you should find something else to do that gives you the same benefits and enjoyment. There is plenty of options just among different styles of yoga, so go and try them all and then decide if you really enjoy one or the other. If you don't enjoy going outdoors, you won't get the benefits you are meant to get out of wandering in the forests. So do something you enjoy.

But we all need to find some type of exercise to do daily! Only active body stays active and movement benefits each and every system of your body. From my profession I can see many postural problems in today's world, so my suggestion is to also find enough movement to the upper body: yoga (partly), stretching, Pilates, boxing, dancing etc. I suggest you think about boxing for a moment: punching a bag not only takes out of some tension of your (mind) upper body, it also gives some desperately needed movement in all the plates of upper spine movement! That is what we all need.

All my clients are helped with their posture and I give a bunch of self help upper body stretching for every day use. Keeping an upright posture needs some effort in the world of iPads, computers and sell phones, so seeing me (or any other massage therapists) is not enough but everyday movement is essential. If you really want to gain some improvement in your posture, you also need to concentrate on your abdominal corset, and this is not at all what you think it is! The proper engagement of, let's say for example, transversus abdominis muscle is a delicate thing and most of us (yes, me too) have been doing it 'wrong' for years. You need guidance and long-term work to learn to isolate certain muscles and then use them in co-operation to 'hold' your core. I can help you with this too, but I rather guide you to see a true specialist who works with me on this. And yes, it took me 9 months to figure out what am I supposed to do when using the core strength in a proper way.

I think it's essential to do something for your body EVERY DAY! There's no need to run for miles if you don't like running, but go out and see the nature for 20 minutes. There's no need to do heavy weightlifting unless you enjoy doing weights, but move your whole body for 20 minutes every day. There's no need to go sweat in 90 minutes hot yoga if you don't enjoy that, but stretch yourself 20 minutes every day! And if all this is too much, rotate these exercises and do one of them every day. For me this is easy to do while listening books. I'm happy to pay my monthly Audible payment for a health reasons and with a good book it's easier to walk 30 or 60 minutes once in awhile.

But if you need some extra release for your body, Kata's Way is totally Painless and Balanced way of adding some extra care for yourself. I have Gift Cards for those loved ones who may need some extra pampering too... just call/text and ask.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

How to treat "Frozen Shoulder"

Picture from Sports Injury Clinic

Frozen shoulder can be extremely painful condition and it takes years to heal! So, if you have any pain or ache in your shoulder, at the proximal end (close to shoulder) of humerus or on the top of your collar bone, please, go get help before it gets worse! The first signal for any conditions in the shoulder area is restricted movement while reaching back (like trying to zip your bras) and reaching up (trying to reach something from the top shelf).

Shoulder issues always take months to develop. Sometimes the 'beginning' of an issue might be an injury, but the fact is that frozen shoulder won't be a simple result of that, although the injury will speed up the worsening of the situation. With the shoulder issues, every other muscle and joint (and tendon, ligament and nerve) of the upper body are impacted. So the treatment protocol includes a wide variety of work in the whole body. From my point of view the muscles need to be RELAXED before they can be stretched and/or strengthened, so the first weeks of treatment plan WILL NOT include strengthening or stretching (that will be extremely important later).

This client has a full range of motion in her shoulder!

Here's an example of the process of healing the frozen shoulder in 3-4 months. Be informed, that 3 or even 4 months protocol is only an example, and each and every situation is different depending on how bad the tendinitis and inflammation are in the beginning of the process. With extremely painful situation we need to wait things to calm down before we can actually start the movement therapy. If you are also seeing your physical therapist, my protocol will need to be cut to a half to make sure that the shoulder won't be exercised and treated too heavily (that would keep the inflammation going in which case no healing can happen).

Here we go with an example on the shoulder that is painless in rest, but restricted in movement (flexion, extension, inward and outward rotation, adduction and abduction):

1st and 2nd week: 2 times 60 mins every week to evaluate the situation and educate you about the meaning of upper body's impact to the shoulder.
3rd and 4th week: 2 times 45 mins every week to gently open up muscle tightness 360 degrees on the upper body. Starting a movement therapy if pain allows.
5th and 6th week: 2 times 30 mins every week to keep the movement therapy going and making sure that postural muscles are 're-educated' (this means holding a natural posture). At this time the other appointment can be replaced by physical therapy session if your insurance allows that.)
7th and 8th week: home stretching (or physical therapy) and a careful assessment of the lower body's impact to the whole body situation. 75 minutes whole body treatment each week.
9th to 12th week: depending on how much imbalance needs to be worked on the lower body, I would suggest to meet you 2 times every week for 30 minutes session OR one 60 mins session once a week depending on your situation. Some cases at this point I suggest 2-4 weeks break on the treatment and re-evaluate the process after the recess.
I also highly recommend maintenance plan to keep the shoulder in a good shape and to prevent the other shoulder from facing any issues.

As I already mentioned, all the situations are different and many variables needs to be taken into account, but with a lods of information, self-help, stretching, exercising and being open-minded when NOT to exercise but wait for the inflammation to calm down, I have been able to help my clients to recover from adhesive capsulitis in 3 months! When this happen, I feel deeply satisfied on the field of the treatment I have chosen.

Feel free to ask me more! Here's some information about Adhesive Capsulitis (which is usually called just Frozen Shoulder):
Web MD
Sports Injury Clinic

I still need to remind you, that my treatment is completely painless and still effective! Because that's Kata's Way and Balanced is Painless.

P.S. I do NOT take insurance and the value of the protocol I just described for 4 months is $1230. With my payment plan you could save up to 15% when paying each month ahead of time, but I won't accept 4 month payment ahead since we can't tell how the treatment plan develops in your special situation!