Holiday Season

Happy Holidays for everyone!

Although we do not celebrate Thanksgiving in Europe, I do appreciate this wonderful time to spend time with families and friends. I think we all need a break once and awhile. I was happy to have my daughter home for a long weekend and start some baking of Finnish goodies.

Today is Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be followed by Small Business Tuesday, but I will not have any sale or campaign now nor closer to Christmas! I have set my pricing to a very reasonable level considering my specialties, and there will be no change in my pricing next year. I do appreciate my clients tremendously, so I will have a tiny Christmas present waiting for you when you if you are having your appointment before Christmas. I do not wish to get any gifts: Your appointment or referral is the best gift I can get!

I am working normally until December 22nd and I will have a week of rest right after Christmas. From January 2nd I have appointments available Monday - Thursday so, that on Mondays and Wednesdays I have an availability to work late at the evening (last appointment at 6 pm). This scheduling is valid as long as I am in the Ballantyne Village (our lease is ending in April).

I am looking forward to a new year and some changes although I have no idea where I will find myself. I can promise for sure, that I will have all my services available for you also 2017!

I wish you Happy Holidays and please make sure, that you will some relaxing time for yourself too!

P.S. I do have Gift Certificates available if you want to give to someone special a treat to the best treatment in town... It's Kata's Way where Balanced is Painless.

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.

Staying on top of Things: NEW TREATMENT

The fall and everything in pumpkin spice is here! I do like the colors of the fall (orange is my favorite), but I don't like pumpkin spice at all, so what a pathetic beginning of the post...

After the loooong and hot summer I have been trying to put together all the things I have recently learnt and make some kind of the synthesis in my head. I still haven't finished the Principles of Osteopathy, the book I have been reading for a long time. That's because this book is not an easy read at all, and I really want to understand what is meant in each an every page. I will get through it eventually, when my brains are ready for it.

But at this point I am very satisfied to look my life a few months back and see how much I have learned! After the move to US and struggling to begin and develop my business in the new country, I am so pleased to be in the point of my career where I can say that I have learned some new treatment techniques. I am developing  a new way of assessing and treating the rib cage area as a synthesis of everything I have learned so far.

In my original training in Finland the treatment of the ribs is mostly done in a seated position, so that the therapist sits behind the client and glides his/her fingers from sacrum area up towards cranium. When erector spinae and rotatores of the spine are softened, the therapist gently glides his/her fingers laterally to open up intercostal and serratus anterior muscles. This part of the treatment is one of my all time favorite (as a therapist, but also when receiving treatment myself), but that's pretty much what was taught for me about ribs.

This spring I learned basics of Total Body Balancing in the Ambrosio Institute, where a lot more emphasis was put on the front side of the rib cage. It is so amazing, how delicate, passive movement of the arm can affect the tissues on the surface of the sternum and ribs! In the Ambrosio Institute I also truly understood the meaning of parasympathetic nervous system in massage. Now I have more concepts and words to explain, what needs to happen during my treatment  from the nerves point of view!

As a topping to all this, I had an honor to meet Dr. Bruce Rind from Washington D.C. and see the treatment pattern he uses to help his patients. His technique is a result of years of practicing medicine and osteopathic treatments and contains many elements, which I do not or can not perform, but he gave me much information and confidence to put all my skills together! I do know how to relieve muscular tension in thoracic and abdominal area and along the spine. I have a training and skills to use Total Body Balancing technique. I can learn to utilize more kinesiology (I don't have kinesiology training in U.S. yet, only in Finland). And everything I have learned is under the principles of osteopathy.

I am so excited to help you with any structural or functional issues in the rib cage! You will be in safe hands, because I do work at the Chiropractic Office, so if we run into any questions I can not answer, there's more expertise advice in hand. I have developed a pretty large assessing tool to test the structural/functional differences between left and right side and in my treatment plan this assessment will be done in every 5th treatment, so we can monitor the change. I am anxious to test how this really works, so please contact me, if you feel like (or know) that there's a structural imbalance in your ribs! I will never use force or adjustment, my technique is gentle, massage and movement based soft tissue relaxation technique. I look forward meeting you soon!

This is Kata's Way and it means that Balanced in Painless! 

How am I doing this?

That is the question that I have to make myself every once and a while, and it's also a question my clients ask me, when they are worried about my fingers handling this job. My fingers and hands are doing really well, what sometimes bothers me, is actually my lower back. And that, my dear clients and friends, is the reason why I started my career as a bodyworker in the first place.

Let's put it this way: when I no longer have any low back (hip issues actually) trouble, I'll probably be dead. Because the truth is that all amazing bodyworkers' and therapist' have (had) some issues, so they are able to relate how it feels to be in pain and frustration. On our path of growing to a healer, you need to face different bodies, different issues and different situations, because you need to learn! You need to learn from books, from others, at school, in different situations and learn to make connections! That's actually my main thing: how different things connect to each others and what my role, as a facilitator for healing, in that process is. So, I am, actually, happy, that I need to face my own issues.

I also believe that everything we have experienced in this world, is stored in our body. The tension of the body, in it's simplest way, can be described as a guarding mechanism from pain. That is actually the most important function for muscles (together with moving the bones). Simply to keep a pain away. Sounds simple enough, but get s a bit trickier, when emotional and psychological pain is taking into consideration. An that is something I have tried to avoid for the longest time. I have always profiled myself as a healer of the physiological body. Recently I am getting to understand that you really can't separate the different parts of our being.

And that is the biggest lesson to learn. Don't get me wrong, I am, and will always be, the healer of the physiological body, but I also need to see the bigger picture: tho whole body and how it works. I, and you, need to respect the body's own ability to heal. When I will be a brilliant 88 years old grand old lady with all the knowledge and information about human body, I can still only be a facilitator for healing! That has been a big step to comprehend and some days I am still uncertain about my role as a BODYworker. 

So back to my body: I have these layers and layers of past experiences stored in me and everything seems (at this point) to linger around my (left) hip. It's like an onion (yes, it makes me cry) that I need to recognize and peel off, to get to the innermost. And I needed to learn all I have learned so far, to get to this point, and, I needed to leave my country to be able to see things more clearly. There is so much left to learn, but what I know now is the factual respect to our own bodies: nothing is left to undiscovered nor without consideration. My body knows the (different) truth (than my brains).

The wisdom lies not in the brain, but in the body. And that's why I need to do what I do! But I would never be where I am without this great network of mine. Because I'm so Finnish and modest, I won't list any names here. But you all who gathered to my house, live in my house, or who I met or messaged during past few days, are essential for me to keep developing in my path.

This is Kata's Way and that's Balanced just because Balanced is Painless! 

P.S. Our First Workshop this Fall is right on the Corner!

Being a self-employed

AI have worked in US for about 2 years and 3 months now. I am so lucky to have found the best possible people to help me with this journey and I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart! You all know who you are, so I am not naming anybody here in public.

I am also blessed to have a bunch of open-minded, super-nice and wonderful clients, who challenge me and my knowledge, but most of all, who grow with me and are patient to take in my learning experience as a body healer. I could not do this without you!

But I am still a sole proprietor, which means that at the end of the day, I got to make all the decisions and I am the only accountable person in my business. That has led me to do certain decisions like starting my LLC to be sure that I am covered if anything would happen. I am also adamant to make my living out of this (that my friends, as a massage therapist is everything but easy), so I need to be able to compete with all the other massage therapist in the surrounding area. And I want to be able to work in this business for years even if I am not getting any younger, so I have made some plans to take care of myself.

It also means that I need to do everything myself for my business: I do my laundry (yes, I hate those sheets once and a while because I am washing them every single day), my bookkeeping (I don't like numbers at all, but I like being in charge), my marketing, networking and all the planning. I know that I could easily pay someone to do certain things for me, but here comes the truth: every penny that I pay for someone else, is out of my salary and I can not afford losing those pennies. I am simply trying to make my living here. And yes, I like learning new things; especially I like it, when I figure something out and manage to solve some problem.

I am in a good place in my life because I have supporting husband, life skills and something special to offer. The most important thing in my business is my wide range of massage therapy skills to help and heal my clients! For me that is simply giving them the best possible care each and every time they come in. I can not have bad days (but if I do, I'll let you know and apologize). I also believe that one happy client will bring you two new ones if I do my job well.

And still, this is just a tip of the iceberg. I also know that having a successful business you need to keep on track with the newest marketing tools and inform your potential clients about my way of doing this work. Because my way is original Finnish and it is different.

Recently I have put some effort on marketing and learning new skills, since I haven't been using my computer too much lately (except wandering around in facebook).

Today I am especially proud of myself because I have been able to handle my facebook business page, opened my new business instagram, and was able to create pdf-files to embed into my web page, which actually is my blog. All these business tools, that we should be able to handle, and this it my decision: I only use free marketing tools! So please, understand how much effort a middle-aged massage therapist has to put to all these new tools and then: share, like and let your friends know that I exist and arrange these workshops!

To get any coverage with these free tools, my posts need to be liked! If one person likes my post, it will be shown to dozen others. The facebook, of course, wants me to pay for this coverage, but I refuse to. So, please, keep helping me out and hit that like-button for me! 

Thank you all and it is Kata's Way (or no way).

My facebook
My Instagram

And check out our Workshops this fall!
Pure Haven Essentials Workshop
Breast Health Workshop

New Pricing 9/1/2016

My new pricing includes 30 and 90mins sessions to serve you better. If you wish to have the whole body treatment that would be 75min appointment for $95! 

You may buy your sessions with the old pricing if you book your next appointment in August. 

New Client Special $75 / 60-75 minutes

30 mins treatment

$40 

3 x $115 (38.3/session)

5 x $175 (35/session)

45 mins treatment

$60 

3 x $165  (55/session)

5 x $250 (50/session)

1 hour treatments

$80

3 x $225 (75/session) 

5 x $350 (70/session)

75 min treatments

$95

3 x $270 (90/session)

5 x $425 (85/session)

90 min treatment

$110

3 x $315 (105/session)

5 x $500 (100/session) 

This is Kata's Way and Balanced is Painless. Take care of yourself! 

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.