Category — Community Outreach

Sunday, March 8^th, was a beautiful day in Menlo Park!  Nineteen members of the National Holistic Institute Sports Team worked on 137 cyclists under the supervision of instructors Beth McNeill and Mark Nielsen at the Tri-Flow Grand Prix sponsored by the Velo Girls.

Students from NHI Groups 30, 31, 32, & 37 had taken part in a training on pre- and post-event massage for cyclists and were ready to work.  By about 10:15, the finishers of the first race made their way to the tables. The Sports Team worked on cyclists in each of the ten races.  The last cyclist was off the table around 5:00.

This was the first time massage was present at the Tri Flow Grand Prix and the cyclists were excited to see the NHI banner.  They were very gracious as well – the team earned $245 in tips!  This was a great first outing for the NHI Sports Team in 2009.

Thanks, Beth & Mark, for contributing this story and photos.

Laura Repetto shares her experience teaching anatomy to a class of Yoga Works teachers:

Practicing yoga and sharing yoga with students is a regular part of my week as an instructor at the National Holistic Institute.  To me, yoga is a great way to warm the body up before performing massage.  It was with great joy that I was able to work with Yoga Works teachers in training for their anatomy portion of their certification.  These classes marked the 6^th time NHI has been selected to offer this anatomy intensive training. Richard Middaugh and I shared the 12 hours of instruction and had a lot of fun palpating muscles, analyzing movement of the body and applying the information to yoga.

NHI President Tim Veitzer with NCBTMB Chair and NHI Graduate Neal Delaporta

Massage and Texas!  Two of my most favorite things together!  It truly was a delight to join NHIPresident Tim Veitzer in representing National Holistic Institute at this year’s American Massage Therapy Association’s Council of Schools (AMTA-COS) Conference in San Antonio.

For three days, we discussed, debated, and dreamed about massage education.  We even ran into some old friends like Neal Delaporta (above with Tim), the new Chair of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) and an NHI graduate.

Ruth Werner, pathology author extraordinaire, dropped by to say hello (below).

Joe Bob Smith, Ruth Werner & Tim Veitzer

And we were privileged to meet AMTA President-Elect Judy Stahl (below).

NHI President Tim Veitzer & AMTA President-Elect Judy Stahl

Of course, what would a trip to San Antonio be without yours truly in front of the Alamo!

Remember the Alamo!

As a special holiday treat, our Petaluma campus set up a series of Spa Treatments.  Clients had the choice of:

• Hot Stone massage
• Full-body massage with Salt Scrub
• Full-body massage with Hand & Foot Treatments

Needless to say, the response has been so overwhelming that we may try these Spa Clinics at the other campuses.  Be on the lookout!

You may think this is the beginnings of an extensive, yet rudimentary phone system…but it’s not.  It’s actually only a portion of the donations received so far during our Holiday Food Drive.

Because the community so supports NHI, we like to give back as much as possible.  That’s what being Holistic is all about.  This Holiday Food Drive in conjuction with our student clinc is just one of the ways we say ‘thanks’ to you.

Last week marked the beginning of a six-week, 15-hour Intro to Massage series with Lisa Mendiola-Flores for a select group of Emeryville High School Seniors.  Five students of the Target Success Academy (an Emeryville after-school enrichment program) and their chaperone, Ms. Moore, boarded the Emery-Go-Round after school which dropped them right at our doorstep. Lisa only thought she was excited; she says she’s never seen or felt such excitement from a new group of students!  

This 1^st class was a great success.  By the end of the 2.5 hrs, they performed both a chair massage sequence and tai chi!!  They were all very excited to go home and share what they had learned with friends and family. 

Over their 15 hours here at NHI they will have dabbled in some chair massage, Shiatsu, Potent Points, and hand and foot massage.  Additionally they will be introduced to the basics including body mechanics and bodywork standards.

Over 100 NHI students, staff, and graduates massaged at the 2009 Nike Women’s Marathon.  The marathon raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Our Sports Massage Team gave over 1,000 massages on race day and another 1,200 massages during the accompanying 3-day Expo.  Runners appreciated the work and our students received valuable experience.  Big thanks to the NHI staffers who made this happen: Lucas, Beth, Al, Jenna, Laura, Conrad, Jaime, and the many others who contributed throughout.  As an added bonus, all volunteers took home a free pair of Nike shoes!

Here is a view of the AMTA National Convention from San Jose Campus Manager Alicia Ramos.

I had a great time at the National Convention recently.  It was my first time at a National Convention and I was thrilled to meet so many great names in the industry!  Most notable for me was Judith Aston (above, with Melissa and me), who gave me lots to aspire to, personally.  I decided I want to be just like her “when I grow up”!  She is poised, graceful, strong, flexible and radiates wellness on all levels from her very being!  She was gracious enough to chat with me at the dinner/dance and I was able to see that not only was she amazing from a far, but she was genuine, too.

The other “big name in the industry” that I met that was most influential to me was Carol Osborne (www.bodytherapyassociates.com) who was honored as AMTA’s “Teacher of the Year”.  She gave an inspiring and touching speech at the Teacher’s Networking Luncheon and she taught “Balancing Art and Science in Massage Therapy”, which was one of the “teacher tract” workshops I attended.  From that class, I felt both validated (that NHI already uses some of her suggested activities/techniques to include both Art and Science in all our classes) and excited to share with the NHI faculty her tips that I believe will add even more depth, understanding and fun to our already fabulous classes.

San Jose teacher Beth McNeill reports from the field.

On Saturday morning, five students from the San Jose campus and I drove up to Napa to provide chair massage for the riders of the 4-hour Endurance Ride hosted by the American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM).  A student from Group 32 arranged the event through the president of the AFM.  She was also instrumental in bringing the riders and vendors and cornerworkers to the massage area.

We provided chair massage at the massage area, at the timing area and in the pits.  The students felt very prepared to work on the riders after attending a sports massage training focusing on the specific needs of a motorcyclist.  They all did great work throughout the day.  The riders loved having on-site massage and the President of AFM has asked us (NHI) to think about coming back for more events next season.

We all had a great deal of fun.  It was a wonderful to spend Saturday with this crew!

Here are Melissa Wheeler’s impressions of the AMTA Convention in Phoenix last week.

Joe Bob Smith (Encino Campus Manager), Alicia Ramos (San Jose Campus Manager) and I all met up at the AMTA National Convention in Phoenix on behalf of National Holistic Institute.  NHI chooses to participate in such conferences both to learn what’s current in the larger massage community and to give our students and alumni a voice in those happenings.  This one was so big it required three of us to go!

Author Ruth Werner, NHI Grad John Lambert, & Melissa

In addition to taking classes like Integral Anatomy, Balancing the Art & Science in Massage, and Massage Therapy on Trial, we met up with teachers, NHI graduates, textbook authors, and massage therapists from all over the country.  It was so inspiring!

Just to show the variety of our experiences, I met 2 Japanese publishers who promised to send me a Japanese-language copy of the textbook we use, Trail Guide to the Body! 

Books of Discovery reception

Joe Bob found the red, white & blue table he’d always wanted from Oakworks.

Alicia won a basket full of creams and massage lotions at the Massage Envy gathering.

Massage Envy reception

We all had a wonderful time at the Massage Therapy Foundation reception, hanging out with the Trail Guide publishers and Ruth Werner who is not only the author of the beloved book Massage Therapist’s Guide to Pathology, but the leader of the MTF’s Education Committee.  What does all that mean?  Read about the MTF and their brand new e-journal that they have just launched online – propelling our industry forward.  This massage research is available free to all at the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork.

Alicia in a portable Far Infrared Sauna at the AMTA Convention in Phoenix.

Would you like to boost revenue while easing your workload?  Massage therapists by nature can feel alone professionally, like a rowboat bobbing at sea.  They spend most of their working hours in a room with only their patients.  Many choose to work independently for themselves.

Weeks, months, and even years may pass without a therapist “talking shop” with a fellow therapist.  Hopefully, this means work is busy and running smoothly.  But, by not conversing with industry peers, therapists miss out on continuing (and relatively cheap) opportunities to learn the latest in patient care, business management, and marketing.

Conventions connect you to hundreds, possibly thousands, of people doing exactly what you do.  They have the same joy for massage, share similar business struggles, and desire to jointly improve both their personal lives and the massage industry in which they work.  You go from feeling like a rowboat to a fleet of ships!

Graduation from massage school shouldn’t be the end of education; rather, it should mark a whole new chapter of learning.  This means taking continuing education classes; reading massage articles; joining professional associations; and attending local, state and national gatherings.  Doing these things will elevate a therapist above other less involved peers, creating a livelier business and lengthening career longevity.

Author Ruth Werner and Melissa

While this was my first AMTA National Convention, I have always attended professionally related events whenever possible.  In fact, my NHI relationship began at such a conference!

Now that we’re back on campus, Melissa, Alicia, and I look forward to sharing more detailed stories about information learned, things seen, and people met.  So even if you didn’t make it to Phoenix, this blog can serve to connect you to the massage community at large.

Good morning!  I’ll post some convention pictures when I return to the office next week, but so much is happening that I wanted to get some of it down now!  Some highlights…

• Watching Judith Aston dance on a spinning cycle.
• Having lunch at the table with AMTA President M.K. Brennan.
• Meeting pathology expert and textbook author Ruth Werner.
• Learning more about massage therapists’ increasing ability to bill insurance companies for their patients’ treatments.
• Enjoying some spinach & artichoke dip with the magnificent Andrew Biel, author of our textbook Trail Guide for the Body.
• Sharing a spontaneous stroll through downtown Phoenix with Patty Glenn, President of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards.

So much more, but I must go do even more today!

I’m headed off to the AMTA National Convention in Phoenix.  Expect many a blog reporting from there later this week.

Guest blogger Melissa Wheeler writes…

So Laura Miner (now Laura Repetto, recently married to Roger!) and I taught 15 Yoga Teachers-in-Training a 12-hour anatomy course!  This was in conjunction with the company YogaWorks, and NHI‘s 3^rd time doing this!

It is so much fun and also very different to teach Yoga Teachers vs. Massage Therapists.  I am hoping that some of the yoga students would like to become massage therapists and vice versa!  They could do both, massage & yoga being so closely related, right?

Here are a couple of pictures, one with all of us after class (including one of our students “Deltoid Dave”).

Striking a Pose!

The other picture is of me, Melissa, with the leg muscles drawn on my own leg!  My 2 favorite leg muscles:  Peroneus Longus and Tibialis Posterior.  Look for a future blog to find out why those are my favorites.  If any of you NHI graduates are looking at this, you may remember me drawing on myself in your Kinesiology classes! 

Melissa's Artwork

For those who had Laura Miner as a teacher, I thought you’d enjoy seeing her as Laura Repetto with her new husband Roger!

Laura Repetto and Roger

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here are 199,000 words!

After Wednesday’s blog about the SF Marathon, several participants emailed wanting to see more than the one lone picture of the tent I posted.  So, thanks to Marz Jaffe’s efforts, here’s a link to 199 more pictures…

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/29680023@N03/

 As any good marathoner would say, “Pace yourself!”

If you compete at a sporting event in San Francisco or Los Angeles, you may have experienced a massage by some of our students or alumni.  We volunteer many hours to these great causes.  Last month was one of the largest – the San Francisco Marathon – where we were proud once again to be recognized as the official massage therapists.

It was a successful event by every measure!  Much gratitude goes out to Lucas Nevarez for coordinating this operation and providing us with the follow-up report.

We had 103 volunteers, 80 tables, and massaged approximately 1200 runners in just a few short hours. The students did an amazing job, taking care of many strained, overworked, and often cramping muscles. NHI was well received and appreciated by these aching athletes.  

San Francisco Marathon NHI Massage Tent

Something this size doesn’t happen without a lot of help.  Well-deserved shout-outs go to Nick Lanoza, Beth McNeill, Conrad Santos, Jaime Montenegro, Shoshana Friedens, Giselle Griffin, and Marz Jaffe.  Also, thanks to the staff and teachers who helped pump up the anticipation and excitement.

Being a part of a multi-campus, 100+ person “Whoosh!” is enough to send a shiver down anyone’s spine!

Yesterday, our clinic clients made several of our graduating students cry.  But these were tears of joy.  For our students were reminded why they chose massage therapy in the first place.

As their next-to-last clinic, we took our students on a field trip to a nearby retired living facility.  Wednesdays are normally “outing” days for the residents there, but they agreed to stay in this day to get massaged.  And for 3 hours, that’s exactly what our students did – experiencing some very powerful stories along the way.

There was the woman who had undergone back surgery, was about to have foot surgery, and suffered from Parkinson’s.  After her massage, she told our student, “You gave circulation back to my legs.”

Then there was Leo, 98-years-old.  He hadn’t left his room in 2 months.  But massage brought him out.  Feeling so good afterwards, he said he might even venture out of his room more often.

Students practiced the gentle, caring touch that many seniors need.  One woman cried as she told her therapist, “I haven’t been touched in so long.”

Several students said they received the most meaningful, heartfelt client feedback they had ever gotten.  As they graduate next week, career and money are foremost on their minds.  But at the heart of it all is the power massage has to help people.