Hey Friends!
Today I have to give a shout out to dear friends in Templeton California, Elise and Thomas McMasters, who introduced to me an amazing therapy that has taken away 90% of my pain and kept me in the career I love. Their business, Ohana Bodywork & Massage Therapies helps many many people and they even work on pets too!
It all started about six months after I bought and opened my salon, Hair Naturally. I was experiencing, after many years being a hair stylist, chronic pain in my shoulder/neck area. I’ve decided to share my findings because I know many people work in careers that use the same muscle sets over and over, such as those who work long hours on computers, construction workers, even those who sit and drive all day, plus many more… even those with muscle issues not related to their work.
So, I had experienced pain off and on for years, but massage would help and it mostly went away. But at this point, it continued day in, day out for months and I thought I may have to quit my career. I prayed to God at this point and said to Him basically that I was ready to change careers if He would just show me the way, what He wanted me to do. Literally within one week, I was talking with some friends at a ranch I volunteer at about this and they mentioned the McMasters and their business in Templeton. I called and made an appointment and within four visits and a plan for exercises to do at home, 90% of my pain was gone. What I loved so much about this is that I was not then beholden to going to them every week or month for the rest of my life. With integrity and care, they taught me all about Somatics, which is a way to contract and slowly release your own muscles so as to release tension, almost like you had just gone and gotten a massage, so that I could do it at home and not have to continually put out money for chronic pain. Yes, I do go every now and then for tuneups and to catch up with them, but I don’t have to go regularly and for this, I am grateful.
If you are interested in this practice, there is a wonderful book about it by Thomas Hanna, who is the founder of this type of therapy. You can purchase it here and/or find a practitioner in your area. I hope you find therapists as thoughtful as the McMasters. You will not regret it.