Healing Arts Therapeutic Massage

07/30/2025

🐛In a discussion with a friend today, learned that caterpillars have up to 4,000 muscles in their tiny little bodies.

For reference-- 🏋🏼‍♀️Humans have over 600 skeletal muscles (depending how they are classified, i.e. overlapping as digestive, cardiovascular, etc.)

But wait...
🐘 An elephant's trunk *alone* has about 40,000 muscles.
🤯

You're welcome for today's dose of anatomy trivia!

07/08/2025

All hands on deck!

According to CNN, at least 89 people have been killed after devastating floods hit central Texas early Friday, July 4. In under two hours, the Guadalupe River swelled beyond its banks, surging higher than two-story buildings at about 30ft. As rescuers continue to search for dozens of people who rema...

06/28/2025

Happy Adventure Race Day!🛶🚴🏽‍♀️🏃🏽‍♀️

Sports recovery & Ashiatsu (barefoot), & Relaxation massage mini-sessions for RACERS, VOLUNTEERS, & SPECTATORS.

🪭Come cool off in the AC & sip the freshly-infused Spearmint+Lemon balm+Lime h2o!🫖💧
Timber City Adventure Race

06/20/2025

Excellent advice for balanced posture in the garden center! 🤣🤣😉

06/19/2025

Juneteenth 🖤

06/11/2025

03/28/2025

Thanks for the invitation to discuss the vast world of massage therapy!:
The variety of career opportunities from clinical necessity to luxury experiences, and the many ways in which massage therapy may benefit people from all walks of life.🤲🏽👐🏽

02/12/2025

The front walk was shoveled 4x today... Can you tell? 😆🥶❄️
If you're out there clearing snow:

1. Pace yourself, and take enough breaks so your muscles can recharge. Moving large muscles helps your body generate warmth, but don't over-tax them.

2. If the snow is deep/drifted, try doing half-scoops (instead of all the way to the ground at once), and remember to bend/lift with your knees instead of relying only on your back/hips. Half-scoops requires double the passes with a shovel, but reduces the immediate strain on muscles and joints.

3. [Optional, but recommended for enrichment] Have fun. Make snow angels and forts. Go sledding. Make your favorite cuppa-something-cozy and watch the ambient snowfall from indoors.

12/14/2024

⚠️🧶🧵🪡✂️ My fellow fiber artists‼️...

If you tend to sit with your work in your lap rather than at a table where your elbows/arms can rest, and you wonder why your arms, shoulders, and neck get so tight and sore, here's what you can do to counter that discomfort (and enjoy your craft much more!):

1.Find a pillow, cushion, or blanket wrapped into a thick roll.
2. Place it either on your lap, or higher onto your torso so that your elbows and even your upper arms rest on it comfortably.
3. Proceed with your craft.

The point is to reduce strain caused by engaging more muscles (you guessed it, in arms/neck/shoulders) just to hold your work up where you can see it and to have space to actually do the work. The upper arms can rest more neutrally, resting the larger muscles that would otherwise hold your arms up in front of your body for sustained lengths of time (I SEE YOU... I, TOO, GET LOST IN MY WORK AND CAN DO THIS FOR HOURS...WHATT???). This way, more of your energy goes into the smaller muscles of the lower arm doing the finer movements for your craft of choice.

--» This is all about ⏩WORKING SMARTER, NOT HARDER⏪ so you can keep doing what you do without taxing your body unnecessarily.

P.S. REMEMBER to give yourself PERIODIC BREAKS! Whether that means completely getting up and moving your whole body to refill your tea/coffee, to stretch, or even a simple "mini-break" to set your work down, stretch your arms and turn your head to either side to interrupt the long-sustained posture to do your work. 👉🏽Even stopping for only 10 seconds to move, about every 10 minutes, can make a difference than if you completely neglect to do this for yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What this post isn't about, but is visible in the photos 😁:
⭐My craft of choice is (never say "knitting" to a person working with a single "needle" that's hooked on one end...this could save your life.)

I love all styles of crochet, but I'm obsessed with which uses an extra long/extended hook.

My absolute favorite Tunisian crochet pattern is . I like taking scrap yarn and combining non-"matching" colors and surprise myself.😁

12/08/2024

The candied popcorn🍿 ought to come with a ⚠️warning label.🤤

12-5 today/Sunday downtown at Healing Arts >> Krafting Korner's craft sale🧵✂️

🧶 items (dish scrubbies, hats & baby hats👶🏽, mini Christmas trees🎄), ☃️, accessories 🐾, 🗝️
Novelty and drinkware☕🥤, charms👟, accessory bags👜, design 🖊️

12/03/2024

☕Coffee, 🕯️candles, and 🃏cards. Good morning!☀️


🕯️Left candle: "Detachment" featuring white sage🌿 from

10/30/2024

A new client today who came for a massage set up for them by a family member they were visiting, went to reach into their wallet today post-massage. I explained that I don't accept tips.

Usually I recommend saving the $ for a future massage, or paying it forward to someone in need. They beat me to it, and took this from a small stack in their card holders.

They could have just as easily verbalized the words, but there's something about a tangible item as a simple but impactful positive memory. Paraphrasing their words: There are a lot of people working thankless jobs or thankless tasks, or who are doing a lot of good but only hear criticism about anything sub-par, and it's nice to know someone is truly grateful for the good you do."

As a massage therapist almost always helping people with pain relief, I do actually hear Thank-You often, especially when someone has had intense or prolonged pain not alleviated by other interventions. But in other areas of life (I know this applies to everyone), we often go unthanked even for seemingly mundane, everyday things, even though those things are still very important to the world we live in.

This person carries these cards around to give to people who help take care of them... At the store, at the gas station, at the drive-through, etc. because their work is important and makes an impact on our day.

P.S. Actual words from client: Women seem to "get it" (understand) this moreso, and seem to have a more profound/serious appreciation. "The guys just kind of look at me like they don't know what to do with it. You can pay it forward "
(...Not my inner feminist and activist high-fiving that comment with some girl power...😁🙏🏽👏🏽🙌🏽💪🏽♀️)