Once a Massage Therapist...

Kevin Coolidge

I'm a certified massage therapist, but don't practice professionally any more. The bookstore is open every day, and just takes up most of my time. It takes a long time to do house calls, plus it takes more space to do a table massage than most people think. Doing table massage in less than a 10x10 can be challenging, especially if the massage therapist is large.

I went to massage school in Boulder Colorado and practiced professionally for about ten years, but then I opened From My Shelf Books. I did some massage from home, but massage is unpredictable. Sometimes I would have a lot of clients and sometimes very few. The downturn in the economy didn't help. You pay the electric bill before you get a massage. So, we turned the spare bedroom I was using as a massage space into a home office.

I miss doing massage sometimes, and once you are a massage therapist; you really are always a massage therapist. My wife is always willing to receive massage, but sometimes it's hard to want to do it after a long day at the store. I still do massage her neck and back and do some massage work on friends. My friend Jen recently was having problems with her infraspinatus and pectoralis minor(you really never do stop being a massage therapist.

I did a few pressure points and some PNF stretches(proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) and was able to facilitate some healing and function. It's not 100%, but it's doing better. It's good to know I haven't lost my touch, and reminds me why I started doing massage in the first place.

It's been awhile since I've done paid massage, but I do have a massage chair that I haven't been using for what it is meant for. It's a shame that it's just collecting dust, and I wondered how I could get massage back into my schedule.

Those of you in Tioga County know that winter is slow. We have several employees here at From My Shelf Books, but once the rush of Christmas is over, we have to cut hours back. I'm thinking how to change that. I'm considering doing seated chair massage in the bookstore for donation. Your donation will then go towards our teen book club and other community activities we provide(and feeding our store kitties Huck & Finn of course)

A lot of massage therapists use chair massage to increase their regular practice, but I'm not looking to do that right now. I enjoy the bookstore and being a bookseller, but as a friend reminded me. I'm a pretty good massage therapist. She said awesome, but I'm a little out of practice, and that's why I'm going to do it for donation.

If you are interested, stop by the bookstore and check it out. Bring a friend, browse, have Kasey and our staff help you pick out the right book for you, and feel better...