Let me re-introduce myself- My name is Anne Marie, Wellness practitioner, Massage Therapist, Prenatal massage specialist, Self care advocate, former Social Worker, intuitive healer, passionate about health and wellness, because health is your greatest wealth.
I remember as far back as a young child, maybe 8 or 9 years old seeing my grand mother used coconut oil and massaged it on her scalp. She said coconut oil was good for growing hair and massaging the scalp will help with the blood flow. My family is full of main stream health practitioners. My grandmother herself was a nurse, my mother a doctor, my sister a nurse and other relatives who are also nurses. I knew right away I did not want to be a doctor or a nurse. I wanted to help people in some other ways. I did not know what my calling was until I needed a job in my early 20’s after college. I took a job as a case manager in a substance abuse clinic. From there, I went on to Social Work school for my Master’s degree and worked as a social worker for at least 16 years. In my years as a social worker, one of the things I learned very early on was self care and self care does not just mean getting a mani/pedi. Self care means more than that; it means taking a real lunch break, creating boundaries, being ok and not feel guilty when you say no to someone, taking time to breathe and meditate, walking, moving, setting time for exercise and spending quality time by yourself. My work was very stressful, working with domestic violence victims. In social work terms I felt compassion fatigued. It’s not that I stopped caring, I felt unfulfilled, I was getting burned out. I’ve been wanting to do something else for a long time, but just wasn’t clear what it was. I’ve always thought of doing massage therapy but was not sure how I could parlay that into something much more, much greater like owning a business and doing more than just giving massages. I realized that I’ve always wanted to be my own boss, and making massage therapy my business. I was drawn to massage therapy because as I mentioned, I’m an intuitive healer and I enjoy helping people. Getting a massage was one of the ways I practiced self care. I believe in the power of touch. It’s incredible how a regular Swedish massage benefits the body in so many ways like lower blood pressure, activating the parasympathetic nerves, regulating the hormone cortisol, improved blood circulation and increase immune function. Touch is so powerful that studies showed that babies who were deprived of touch can actually die. Touch has emerged as an important modality for growth and development. But back to why I chose massage therapy- I wanted to be in the health care profession but not be a doctor or nurse like many in my family. I believe that I can make a difference and help people not just by manually relieving stress, but with my social work background, I can help people work through life challenges, past trauma, pain and burn out prevention.
So a blessing in disguised occurred one day in that I was let go from my job. That actually pushed me to take a leap of faith and I decided to enroll in massage therapy school. I was in my early 40’s going back to school again, but I had fun learning. I did not know that massage therapy was so intense as far learning about the human anatomy, Neurology, Myology, Soft tissue assessment and so much more. I got through it and was so happy to pass the NY state exam in 1 shot.
I have been practicing for 7 years now and I love what I do and continue to learn and develop my skills and my business. I decided to specialize in prenatal clients and work with people with past trauma. I’m beginning to work a lot more with post surgical clients and will get my certification in manual lymphatic drainage. I’m super excited about taking this training. I am happy to say not feeling burned out and I don’t believe I will this time. I look forward to seeing my clients and I’m grateful and privileged to be able to help and make a difference in their day, in their life.
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