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.

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. 

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!

Plantar Fasciitis

My clients keep asking me about plantar fasciitis and is there anything to be done? Yes! There is a lot I can do to help you either with your diagnosed plantar fasciitis or any other unspecified  heel, foot or ankle pain or discomfort. This is one of my specialties and usually pretty easy to fix.

Question number 2 is usually (and it should be) that how many treatments is needed to 'heal' plantar fasciitis? That is a bit harder to answer without knowing what has happened to the ankle (yes, an ankle is always involved), is there more muscular or ligamental changes and what is the current state of inflammation. If there is an acute inflammatory processes going on (that means there is pretty severe pain), that needs to be dealt with first, before we can really treat the area of pain. But that doesn't mean we can't start the treatment, on the opposite.

What ever part of the body I am balancing or treating, I will first treat all the surrounding tissues to 'make room' for the troubled part of the body to accept healing properties and lymphatic fluids to do their cleaning. In case of a foot issue that means concentrating on the muscles and tendons on your shins and calves.You can read more about the ankle on my last post, all that is valid with plantar pain! But the deeper (or original) reason for the discomfort could be found actually anywhere in the body, so there is no treatment plan without going through the whole body at least once.

With plantar fasciitis there is a pretty effective stretching program for you to follow, so I will be teaching that too, so you can fast up your healing process. But remember, stretching is much more effective if the tissues are relaxed, bones in their right place and muscles brought back to their normal length.

An answer to the question number 2 will always be an estimate, but I have been able to help my clients with these issues in 4 to 10 treatments. Sometimes we have concentrated to relax the foot for a half an hour twice a week for a couple weeks, before being able to rally work through the muscles of the calves and shins. Some clients have been training for a marathon, so we needed to schedule the treatments a bit differently: you just can not run 16 miles the day (actually 2 days) after the treatment!

In Kata's Way the key is, that Balanced is Painless and on our way to the whole body balance there is some steps forward and backward. Pain is your body's cry for help and we have to respect that and proceed accordingly. But, if you can not see ANY improvement after 3 sessions, we need to re-consider our treatment plan and if Kata's Way is the best suitable way for you.

I wish to see you soon and find a right way to help you. This is Kata's Way and it means Balanced is Painless!

P.S. I also offer an excellent, PAINFREE and most beneficial foot reflexology done in my way; half an hour ($40) or 45 minutes ($60) session available. Check the pricing for 3 or 5 series. 

Why I don't call myself a massage therapist?

Happy and peaceful 2017 to all my clients, friends and colleagues!

It is a snowy (about one fifth of an inch in my back yard) and cold (as least relatively) day in Charlotte and I am sitting on my couch by the fire to keep my toes warm. I have managed to do my bookkeeping for 2016 and some planning for 2017, and now I am trying to think something new to tell you. Like, it's new beginning, new year and everything is fresh and time to turn the next page.

But I don' think so. I am really excited to start a new year and all, but there will be no significant changes is my business this year. I have set my pricing, I have a very comfortable office (and by the way, we might stay at this office after all, so no panicing about that either) and my name is now out there. I have a wonderful, full calendar year working for Kata's Way, LLC behind me, so I have some material to make more detailed planning and keep going forward. So, it's time to look back before rushing forward.

Looking back brought me to one specific question, kind of in the beginning of my (second) career: what am I supposed to call myself when massage therapist really doesn't cover what I do?

I AM a massage therapist, but I am also specialized and majority of my skills (although it's hard to know anymore how much I have learned while living and learning here in US) are from a different learning paradigm and can not be compared in North Carolina's system. I can not just tell people that I am functional massage therapist because I have not done a specific studies about functional massage in NC. Or can I?

How important is it to have a specific title? The titles are for everybody to recognize my style, but that's the question: my style is not recognizable here in NC. So I will keep up doing my work to make it a bit more recognizable! I am specialized massage therapist and structural bodyworker. I also do some functional bodywork, but I don't know anything about functional medicine (well, I am a patient in functional medicine, so I do know something, but I have no professional knowledge in this matter). I have a holistic view to a human body specially in it's motion and mobility: how left side's restriction affects to right side's function and vice versa.

I think that this year is time to keep talking more about Kata's Way and less about specific terms which really do not give us enough information. But if you have a fresh new term in mind, that describes what I do (you really need to be my client to do that), please, share it! Until that, I am going to keep Balancing my Clients because Balanced is Painless and that, my friends, is Kata's Way!

Keep following me, this is going to be the best year so far. I will have visitors from home and I will travel home (after 2 years) in June. I will be telling a bit about my new exercise program and developing even more individual stretching/exercising program for my clients and much more. I have also returned to my roots and I am teaching some Finnish again, Isn't that great or what? I really wish to see you soon!

Happy October!

October is a month of enjoying life. Enjoy the weather here in NC, enjoy the routines that has set back after the hectic summer, and enjoy the quiet time before holiday season. That's what I have been doing! The morning walks at the greenway are the best thong to do especially in October.

I also took a trip to Washington DC since we had to renew our passports, and I fell in love with the capital city. I can't wait to go back and visit some more museums and learn more about this nation! The first trip was just wandering around and taking a tons of pictures to show my friends back home that this really exists; the capitol is not made just for movies and television series... maybe you don't know the feeling of  'living in the movie' that is pretty familiar to us who have moved here from another country. At least for us who have grown up following the American television shows and movies.  'Living as in a television' was a constant feeling the first year and half in US, but it's getting rarer all the time. At this point (4,5 years in US) I probably need to pinch myself when I'll be back home in Finland next summer!

My work is still my passion and you can check my availability on the right column of this blog, or just call/text me. I am working some Fridays, so please feel free to ask those too. Unfortunately I am not available on weekends, I truly need at least 2 days off in a row every week.

Some of you have heard that Ballantyne Chiropractic Wellness might be moving out of the Ballantyne Village, which is true. We don't know the schedule yet, nor do I know if I'm following Dr. Snipes, but I will have an office and availability to serve my clients all the time whatever happens! In case of transition period, I will be seeing my clients at my house in Blakeney area. So, exiting new things are right on the corner.

I think this is a perfect time of the year but 'cold' season is on it's way, so I want to wish you an amazing fall, and please, stay warm when you prepare yourselves for the holiday season. I'm planning some specials towards end of the year, but at this point there's no more workshops to be planned at Ballantyne location. Don't wait until last minute to feel your body aching, call/text me now to make your appointment to a very special care.

It's Kata's Way and it means: balanced is painless! Come and let's check your balance, you deserve the best care in town.

Take time to yourself and believe in what you do!

Two of the most important and the most difficult things for me, and I believe I'm not the only one with this, are to remember to take care of myself and to believe in my skills. It's easy to say, but sometimes difficult to achieve, to stay in a balance with your work, social life, taking care of yourself and free time. Yes, taking care of me just can not be considered as free time, not in this profession.

My work is quite physical, but even more intentional and staying in the moment. My job is to discover misabalance and disstress in my clients' bodies, and to be able to do that, there cannot be a huge misbalance in my own body, nor distress in my life. Or, I should say: there shouldn't be, since I'm struggling with the same issues as you are. I have muscle tension, overly stretched ligaments, reduction in lymphatic flow, my hip tends to rotate on one side and I do have a tension neck most of the time. Not fun, since I cannot treat myself.

So how do I cope? Of course I have a bunch of  great therapists around me and they certainly help me a lot, but I'm also getting better in taking time to be with me. For me and my overly sensitive body, it's a necessity to recognize why I get stuck. Sometimes it's just an amount of clients I take care of some week, but most of the time there's something else happening in my life, that I have ignored. Let me tell you an example.

I'm living one of my most interesting summers at the moment (I have only once been more excited than now and that was four years ago when we moved to States in the beginning of July). I had visitors from home to take part in my daughter's graduation and they stayed for over three weeks. On that time we drove to the beach and to the mountains and arranged a party for my daughter and also for Midsummer celebration (this is my family's tradition; to bring a piece of Finnish roots with us and celebrate the midsummer sun). And I was working. In a week I will travel to Minnesota, Duluth, to teach Finnish language at a week long seminar. After that I will be moving my daughter to the dorm for the first time.

I am super excited about all this, but it is taking a toll on my body. So what can I do? I just need to make sure that I have enough time to do nothing and enough time to exercise. I have just joined back to my book club, so I'll actually read something interesting (besides Principles of Osteopathy) and I have also started Pilates classes to challenge my body to work in a different ways. How exciting! To have someone guide me on-in-one for a couple times of week.

Because there is so much more to learn about human body. There is things you can learn from books, but that is not the only way, especially if you are a bodyworker. We all need touching, palpating and sensing what happens under our skin. And at least in my case, sensing needs time, you cannot rush the tissue for a quick reaction! I have decided to take that time and slow my process, feel the touch. If you feel like I am rushing with your treatment, please tell me that immediately. I believe that only working slowly with your tissue, in your body's allowance, all the sensations can reach the brain, parasymphatetic nervous system will activate and channels for refreshing and healing blood can flow to help the tissue.

I know, that this is the truth. Sometimes I still keep rushing and trying to prove that I can treat your whole body in an hour. Well, I can't! That is why I have added 90 minutes treatment to my services:
until the end of August, you can get 90 minutes treatment for $100 (or 3 sessions for $270, or 5 sessions for $425). I will update my pricing September 1st!

It is still Kata's Way and Balanced is Painless. 

You want to know a bit about me?

I think (well at least I hope) that you, who are reading this blog already know bit or pieces about me, but since I also hope that you refer my blog to your friends and colleagues, I want to tell a little bit about myself.

I am originally a Finnish Language Teacher from Finland and I never thought that I'd move anywhere farter away from my home than Tampere, where I lived over 20 years. And yes, I found my hubby at that city and my daughter was born there. She is our only child and currently a senior at Ardrey Kell High school, so we are soaked in a process of trying to find a great (and reasonable) college here.

So, what does a Finnish Teacher do in Charlotte, North Carolina? She is learning her way to resolve some physical issues that are causing a discomfort or even pain in our bodies. I started my way to this second profession because I had some back pain of my own, and I certainly did not like the way my doctor treated me. There had to be a better way to help than give a bunch off pills and tell that it's just a matter of growing old. I was in my early 30's at that time! I tried some massage (it helped me a ton!), some foot reflexology (so relaxing if it is done that way) and then I finally found a therapist who was called a Bonesetter.

He changed my life! He was a welder in his 60's and his office for this bodywork located in his garage. He glanced at me and said: "You little girl (33 yrs and a mother of one) have a major issues with your right knee. That need to be placed back in it's place, so that we can relax those muscles in your spine. Seems like you have issues at your right wrist also." All that in 2 minutes. I was blown away and thougt that he must possess some magical eye! And then he did his assessment and treated me 3 times.

I had seen my chiropractor 4-6 times a year 5 previous years to keep my body functional and able to work, and this man took all my pain and discomfort away in 3 sessions! There was absolutely NO PAIN or discomfort during the sessions, but my body felt a bit 'off' after each treatment for a day or two. I enjoyed every minute of his his sessions (no need to anticipate what's gonna pop next like with chiropractic adjustments) and: I was amazed!
So, I learned that this treatment is an 'ancient' and organic and kinda folklore's  way of massaging people and there has been quite a bit of these masters mainly in the Ostrobothnia area in Finland. I also learned that there's an association whose main purpose is to document this treatment as authentic as possible and educate newer masters to keep this historical treatment alive. There was not two words about it, I headed to learn this treatment myself and found my calling.

It took me 3 1/2 years to master enough skills to get a certificate and start helping my clients. I also certified as a licensed massage therapist and learned some reflexology, head massage and aromatherapy on my way, but there was never a question about what I truly want to do and which way to develop my skills. It is this Integrative, Structural, Functional, Medical, Therapeutic way of soft tissue treatment that I do the best. And yes, sometimes it is called as a bone setting, but I really don't like that name, since we don't set any bones in 21st century. We have a great amount of surgeons to do that; my work is to make sure that your bones have enough room surrounding them and by that I'm talking about muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and lymphatic system among other things. Those are the areas and systems I work with. And my work always includes touching.

Well, life is full of surprises and one of them was a chance (well, chance for someone, more like a challenge to others) to move to U.S. since my husband was relocated in his company. So here we are, and now a Finnish Teacher is re-educating some muscles and kinetic chains to move better, more effortless and painless ways. After 4 years in Charlotte I am definitely loving it and finding my ways to learn and treat my awesome, open-minded clients. I still don't know everything (ha ha, never will), but I am surrounded by these great therapists and co-workers I can learn with.

I had to accomplish massage therapy license here in NC (yes, I went back to school) and I have been working as a massage therapist practically 2 years now. I have done some CE (continuing education) classes and found myself a great office with the best possible chiropractor to work with. I am ready to do this!

But I am who I am, and I need to work my way. I wish that you will challenge my way, ask me questions and make me explain what I do and why I do it the way I do. I am here to learn and since I don't have many colleagues in U.S. (that's not completely true, there is one in Gainesville, Florida), I have to find this way as I go. Step by step. And every step is with a pure intention and an open mind. I have a great background education, but that is only the beginning in this career.

I hope You will enjoy this path with me: It's Kata's Way and Balanced is Painless.

P.S. I am struggling a bit between keeping this blog as authentic as my written English is or ask someone to proof read it. What do you think? Can you manage with my mistakes, this a blog, not my official web page, after all.

A couple Testimonials

I love my clients. I love my work. Here's two testimonials:

"Kata my friend I'm so thankful we met. Your hands are healing tools...better than any drug or medication. I feel my body healing with every session. I would highly recommend you to anyone who wants to improve their health of body or in need of pain relief. Thank you and I can't wait for my next appointment." Deborah Clese 2016 


"My sessions with Kata are extremely relaxing, and my aching muscles always feel so much better after I have seen her. She has a friendly nature, is very professional and knowledgeable, and what I really love, is that she genuinely cares about doing an excellent job. 

Kata has a gentle touch, but don't be fooled, the beauty of her work is that I experience tremendous relief without any painful massage. She is a gifted practitioner who is able to listen to my body and do exactly what it most needs to regain balance.

As I do a lot of exercise, and spend hours painting, I see her every month to help maintain good health by addressing any issues that have arisen since I last saw her." Rachel Linnett, 2015

Where did these months/years go?

Isn't it weird that even if this year's February has 29 days, time just flews by!

But for me it has been that way for past 3,5 years. Time definitely flies faster in U.S. than in Europe...

At this moment I am definitely feeling that this week should just stop and wait a bit. My baby is turning 19 in a week and mommy just can't really comprehend it! Were we in Finland, she would be done with highschool and having a few weeks off to prepare the big finals! And with finals I mean that they are testing EVERYTHING you have learned during three years of highschool. And yes, the tests are standardized, but you really have to write an essey in every subject. If my daughter were there right now, she'd be preparing to show what she has learnt in Finnish (she'd be graded as A), English (A), Swedish (A), German (A), Mathematics (A or B), Psychology (A or B), History (A) and maybe one more. 

In this life, in U.S. her big multiple choices  testing is already done, and she has been accepted to 4 colleges. In Finland she would have to apply and then wait for entrance exams in June, and then wait some more to find out if she'd be accepted. So here the most stressful part is already over, in Finland it's just beginning! Aren't we glad to be here?

And here we will stay! Our permanent residency cards arrived a couple weeks ago and it's time to a reality check: I will be living and working here in States for my future. That means that I'll make some changes in my work, clarify all the legal issues and prepare for my next level of learning! All this means that this is my career now and to keep it going, I need to concentrare even more to these things:

1) Keep giving each and every client an excellent treatment experience each time they come to see me with a specific problem.

2) Take better care of me and find out new ways to help myself and my clients to help themselves also between the treatments.

3) Learn new techniques and refresh what I have already learned, so that my treatment will be ever so painless, effective and comfortable to every clients' needs. I am here to solve your issues in kinetic chains and ease up those non-optimal movement patterns we tend to create in many traumas or after the trauma; a simple sprain in one ankle can change the movement pattern in the whole body!

I am so much enjoying my life at the moment! That is why I just asked myself if I can have some more recovering time and vacation for me this year. And the answer was YES, so make sure that you keep your appointment slots covered. I'm taking my first week off March 24-31! 

I will be taking my CE classes learning Positional Release Therapy (PRT) in D'Ambrogio Institute in West Palm Beach FL in the beginning of May and I am super-excited to learn this technique to help you! That puts me off work May 3-11 since I'll also visit my friend in Florida.

I am also hoping that some of my family from Finland will be spending some time here in Charlotte this summer, and in that case I'll restrict my hours during summer. Maybe taking the first week of July off. And then I'll be in Minnesota teaching Finnish the first week of August and that is just an amazing opportunity to go back to my past life for a while. I am beyond excited to fly there and be teaching my language again (if you didn't know, I was a Finnish language instructor for 17 years).

As a self-employee my list of absences this spring and summer looks a little bit scary for me, but on the other hand, all this is preparing for the future, spending some family time and keeping myself challenged. I am convinced that taking some time off, I'll be taking care of me and that is the main thing in this profession! I want to be able to give my ultimate best for each and every session with You.

Next fall my daughter is starting her college career and this mommy has all the time in the world to put in her business. Until that, let's keep the flow going and enjoy this moment. This is Kata's Way and my way is balanced: family, learning and work. Everything right now is here in States (so let me dream about the summer 2017 in Finland).

Our Feet

Those of you who already know me, also know that I like feet. Not just my own, but also my clients. That´s simply because everything starts there. Feet are like a basement of a house and you sure want to have a firm, healthy and stable base to built your house on.

Here is some facts (http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/picture-of-the-feet):

The feet are flexible structures of bones, joints, muscles, and soft tissues that let us stand upright and perform activities like walking, running, and jumping. The feet are divided into three sections:

• The forefoot contains the five toes (phalanges) and the five longer bones (metatarsals).
• The midfoot is a pyramid-like collection of bones that form the arches of the feet. These include the three cuneiform bones, the cuboid bone, and the navicular bone.
• The hindfoot forms the heel and ankle. The talus bone supports the leg bones (tibia and fibula), forming the ankle. The calcaneus (heel bone) is the largest bone in the foot.

Muscles, tendons, and ligaments run along the surfaces of the feet, allowing the complex movements needed for motion and balance. The Achilles tendon connects the heel to the calf muscle and is essential for running, jumping, and standing on the toes.

 My job is to make sure that each and every one of those joints are movable, muscles and soft tissues are flexible and there is no ischemia. What does that mean?

In my treatment I will check all the joints between each parts of toes, toes and metatarsals, between metatarsals, between cuneiform and cuboid, between cuboid and navicular etc, you get the picture. Sometimes the muscles and tendons are so tight that the first session goes on more superficial (soft tissues) work, since a big part of the picture are muscles of the shins (peroneals, tibialisis, soleus and gastrocnemius) and only in the second session we can try to move those ligaments to open the joints.

Opening the joints is essential because we want all the nervous tissue be free of any kind of impingement and discomfort. Is it painful? Definitely no, if it's done in a right way. When I am opening your joints, it happens with time and you probably don't even feel it. If we have more stubborn foot, I might ask you to flex and extend your ankle, so that you are always in charge of the movement. That is if I have a slightest idea that my work would give you any pain.

Why you want your feet to be flexible? Because that is how they are meant to be to keep you going. If we wouldn't need the flexibility all those joints give us, we wouldn't have that many joints in our feet!

Most of you have also heard about Reflexology, that addresses all the pressure points at the souls of the feet to help in a huge variety of issues. And yes, I do some reflexology, but that is not my specialty or the field where I am in my most comfort zone. In my believe, you can't get all the benefits of reflexology if you feet lack blood, are swollen or immovable. If the signal from the brain (like keep your feet warm) can't reach the feet, how can the signal from the feet (reflexology) make it's way to a different parts of the body? At least the reflexology session is much more helpful to you if your feet are healthy.

Okay, I will not start to explain about how an imbalance in one ankle affect to the knees and hips etc. You can read about that in my other blog posts (About Posture, More about Soft Tissues) . But what I want to tell you, is that I am able to help you so many issues with your feet: plantar fasciitis, bunions(!), rheumatoid arthritis to a certain point, achilles tendon issues, edema, calluses(!), corns, heal spurs, fallen arches, mallet toes and claw toes (depending on situation) and sometimes even in Morton's neuroma. My treatment is helpful also in cold feet or even peripheral artery disease and peripheral neuropathy if it is supervised by a medical doctor.

Unfortunately I can not help you, if you have gout, fraction, any kind of infection or osteoarthritis or osteoporosis (unless your doctor is working with us). I also need to know and be prepared, if you have warts, athlete's foot or any other kind of fungal infection.

And if you don't have anything special going on with your feet, just come and relax. I know some relaxation techniques that make you sleep in my table.

Loving your feet is healthy!

What do I do in my bodywork?

One of the goals in this blog is (to learn if in/at or some other preposition is correct) to tell you what I do when I'm treating my clients. My way of treatment includes (among other things) massaging, lymphatic work, stretching both tendons and ligaments and 'freeing' joints to their full range of motion (only if that's possible without causing any pain).

It is sometimes hard to describe what I exactly do, so let me start with telling what I will try to achive with my treatment.

My main (only) goal is to find a ways for you to be free of pain. Many times we can not achieve this goal with one session, but most of the times at 5-8 session (that means if you do your part of the job). If you are still in pain after 5 sessions, I probably am not a good fit for you and you need to see other specialist.

But I will promise you that you'll be feeling more and more balanced, refreshened and energetic after every treatment! Sometimes (well, most of the time) I won't let you take a nap while I'm working WITH you, since our goal is to achieve a gentle change in your body's kinesic pattern in a long run, not just relaxiation for the moment (that'll be an extra gift).

My goal is to make you feel better by balancing your physical body. Many times this includes bringing your more upright position while sitting. So, search for an optimal posture is definitely one of our main goals. Always and for everybody (including me). 

I want to write this down one more time: we are here to find a balance! From my point of view I'm talking about relieving tension, braking adhesions and even releasing trigger points in your physical body, but for you it can mean something different. It is always completely up to you how much you inform me about your goals, but I will do my best to synchronize my goals with your (body)s.

Just remember that I am forever curious to find out the possibly hidden reasons for physical imbalances and by balancing the physical, to give you some tools to do the rest.

Balanced is Painless and painless body wants to keep moving! Let me help you.