Let's talk about head and neck ache

Do you have a tension neck or migraine? I certainly hope that you don't but if you do, let me explain my way of helping you.

In case of a migraine, I will not quarantine any results, since the migraine can be caused by so many different factors that are beyond my knowledge (like hormonal imbalance), but if there's any muscle tension involved, I might be able to ease your situation a bit. So, what I will explain next, is more how to deal with a tension neck or tension head ache.

First of all: there is no easy or fast fix! For some people, massaging can actually make the headache worse and some cliets always get a headache after a neck massage. Is that normal? Yes. Is that necessary? NO. From my point of view, there should NEVER be headache after my treatment, because it means that we have done something to aggravate your body.

If you tend to get headaches after the treatment, the first thing to do, is to drink more water before and after the treatment. The second thing is: tell me about it, and we'll make a treatment plan so careful that you won't get your ache again!

How is that done? In Kata's Way I will treat you each session only as long as needed, and I will first make sure that your lymphatic drainage is working the best possible way (this is pretty much opening the chest and arms). After that I will work on your mid and low back, that is to make room for upper back muscles to relax. Think about a room full of people (upper back muscles) and you need to get in (without a headache). It will definitely happen easier, if some of the people get out of the room (opening mid back muscles) before you squeeze in! In my way, this is preferably done in a seated position, because that is the best way to release tension on rotatores and deep erector muscles.

Only after that, if we decide that it's comfortable for both me and my client, we will work on upper back and shoulder muscles. Most probably, in the first session, I hardly touch your neck or head more than opening a lymphatic drainage in a very gentle way. And that's simply because your body isn't ready for it yet!  No matter how much you want, you can not force your body to open or relax faster than it's able to do in a given moment!

So, it might take one 90 minutes session (in an ideal world) to get rid of a headache, but most probably it's going to take 5-10 sessions of 30-45 minutes. In this time we will have enough time to discover if the underlying cause for your headache is truly in your neck, in upper back muscles or maybe one of the nerves down to your hands are impinging so that we need to release muscles, tendons and other blockages in arms and forearms before the neck gets any release. Sometimes the neck ache can be caused by tendinitis in forearms or wrist issues.

My pricing is by a minute and I could be selling you a package deal of 5X45 minutes to begin with, but if we are only using 30 minutes, the remaining 15 minutes will be put to your bank. I am willing to deal with a fact that your body is unpredictable in it's current state of accepting therapeutic treatment! If you want some relaxation for the remaining 15 minutes, that's another thing, in which case we can maybe add a truly relaxing foot massage at the end of a session.

Kata's Way is best in practice when we are resolving some therapeutic goals, not in relaxation. To get the best possible outcome for your money, come open minded and communicate with me towards our goal in each and every session. If the goal for the session is relaxation, I'm happy to put you to sleep, but in therapeutic work I might need to keep you awake to get truly important feedback during our session!

I hope to see you soon in my office. This is Kata's Way which is Balanced, because only Balanced is Painless!

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!

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).

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