LPB: Gary Clinton – Massage Therapy

Gary Clinton, Healing hands Massage Business headshot

LBP: Gary Clinton

Healing Hands Massage

Massage Therapist 

Who doesn’t love a good massage that gets you back on your feet and feeling like a whole new person?

 

This week I sat down with Gary Clinton of Healing Hands massage and discussed the importance of working with a Massage Therapist who really knows  the remedies that will get your muscles saying “Ahhh” instead of “OUCH!”

 

When Gary came across massage therapy as something he thought he might like to do, he had been searching for a new career for about a year. Having been retired for a year from his first career in the California penal system, he had spent that year looking for a new passion. “I was talking to Anita Costa, [the health coach] and she asked me what I thought I might want to do. So I thought about massage and how it has passed through my life, from a friend who I went to highschool with, to my ex-wife who was a massage therapist, and it sounded like it might be fun, so I researched some colleges.”

 

Gary checked out a few different schools that specialize in massage therapy before he finally came across National Holistic Institute, or NHI. With a 900 hour program that taught everything, from Spa Life to the different modalities of massage. Upon reaching out that school, they asked if he would like to come sit in on a class.

 

“Ooh, no one has offered me that! …So I went down and sat in on a sports massage class with a gal who happens to be from Michigan, which is where I am from and so we got to chit chatting and she said ‘Come back and try it!’ – I said I would think about it. The school then sent me an offer to come try out [the curriculum] for four days. I got to be a student for 4 days and by the time I got to the sixth day, they came to me and said if I wanted to continue I needed to become a student”

 

So Gary went on to become a student beginning courses in Swedish Massage, which was the style he really had been interested in upon beginning. “I was loving it…I went ahead and signed up and got with this group and we started out with Shiatsu which is a style of massage that is done fully clothed on a mat on the floor.”

 

Gary explained how the training was 900 hours and how he learned so many misconceptions about massage, for instance, there is a common misconception that deep pressure is needed in massage, and he explained that research has actually disproven that. Gary really feels he learned “everything.”

 

Over the course of twelve months Gary worked towards completing his training, learning for 4 hours a day with an extended course once a week to perform massages. “You are critiqued by the clients, they come in for $30/$35 and receive a one hour or one and a half hour massage, all performed by students, so it’s really the flavor of the day. We had 3 massages per week plus a work study we could sign up for, which paid $50 per clinic that went toward your tuition, and that was another 3 massages a week. There was also an externship which we had to perform 79 extra hours a week…where you choose a spa or chiropractor’s office, and I choose to work in a chiropractor’s office because they go hand in hand.”  

 

Gary explained that the training was really intensive, how you learn about all of the bones and muscles and how they interact with one another. Following completing his basic courses Gary decided to move on to the Advanced Classes – graduating one day, taking one day off and beginning again with the 6 month advanced class the following day.

 

“That was an intense course. There were very few muscles we did not learn to massage, talk about, read about or understand how to massage…we learned about the trigger points in every muscle as well.”

 

Now that Gary is a fully trained massage therapist I wanted to know which types of massage he feels he specializes in. Swedish of course was the first style as well as deep tissue massage. Gary explained again however that, “With deep tissue, once again, research has shown that deep pressure does not work, so deep tissue does not mean deep pressure.”

 

Gary went on to explain that the reason deep pressure does not work is akin to being poked in the ribs. When you are poked in the ribs you tense up, guard against what is happening and your muscles become tight and tense, defensive. This is similar to what happens when you begin applying deep pressure to a sore muscle, it tenses and becomes guarded, making things worse.

 

“If I go in and start rubbing your shoulder on a 3 to 4 pressure on a scale of 1 to 10, so, a medium light pressure and the muscle says ‘oh that feels good,’ so the brain relaxes the muscle a little and then you get to the next layer of the muscle and so on, until you get to the lower layers of the muscle releasing the tension.”

 

One of Gary’s newest integrations is the use of essential oils, which is something I love! Different oils can have so many different wonderful outcomes for the body. In my personal experience during the second trimester of my pregnancy I began to develop asthma and went undiagnosed for 6 weeks. I was having a hard time breathing, specifically when trying to sleep. Within the first few weeks DoTerra’s Breathe blend helped me to be able to at least get a few hours of sleep before I was back to coughing my head off. Breathe Blend also helped me through the flu early in my pregnancy. It was a safe alternative and made me a true believe in essential oils, so I was very excited to hear that Gary was learning more about how to use essential oils in his massage therapy.

 

Gary is currently taking classes to learn how to integrate aromatherapy into his massages which I believe is going to be an AMAZING addition for his clients.

 

With all of the education Gary has in massage and is continuing to learn in the natural health world, I wanted to know what he believes makes him different or unique. Gary explained it’s really his passion for making people feel good, the feeling of seeing his clients have a look of amazement following their massage.

 

“Once I got going in school, I just [had this feeling of] ‘Wow…’ I even had one guy jump up off of the floor following a massage and say, ‘you’re a doctor!’ and that’s what I like, I love to see the [client say or have a look of] ‘oh goodness that feels good’- I can’t heal…I can’t heal, diagnose or prescribe but I can damn sure make people feel good!”

 

Gary’s passion really is in helping people to feel their best, he explained that there has only really been one client who he walked away from without having been completely relieved and felt disappointed about. So, he went home and researched the areas of tenderness and found that  the muscle was likely one that was not easily massaged, under the shoulder blade. “There is a trigger point up under the shoulder blade and you have to position the body kind of hanging off of the table to get to it, but I actually followed up with her the next day…I actually follow up with a lot of my clients, especially if they have the same kind of pain each time. I also check in to make sure they have stretched, had enough water, etc.”

 

Massages are amazing and help us to feel great, but we have to make sure our follow up is there as well, drinking enough water to help eliminate those toxins that have been released from the muscle and following instructions for after the massage, like stretching.

 

I asked Gary what he thought the most common misconception about massage is, and he explained that the biggest misconception is that it is something sexual, and it’s not. “It has a bad rap, because back in the late 1800’s [massage parlors] would get women to do massage and some of the women couldn’t afford the training so they would turn to the oldest profession to payback their ‘loan’ so to speak for massage classes, and honestly, it still happens…”

 

Gary explained that the best title for someone of the profession is a massage therapist, because that is really what they are doing, providing a form of therapy. “It is just a healing therapy” Gary said.

 

Gary also explained that there are some people working out there as massage therapists who do not have the right certification.  “Before you didn’t have to take the test and only needed 250 hours of training. It is now California state law, to have 500 hours at a school recognized by the California State Massage Therapy Organization and take a test [to have certification]…and you have to carry a certificate right at the table…which also is something that sets me apart, I am mobile.”

 

That’s right… Gary is a mobile massage therapist who will come to your home, set up his table and you don’t have to go anywhere other than the comfort of your own home to receive an amazing massage. I know quite a few people who prefer staying in their own space to going out, my husband included thought it was incredible when I hired Gary to give him a massage 2 days before our wedding, and he didn’t have to leave our family home/venue. He was literally away from the planning action for an hour and twenty minutes and came back to it feeling incredible!

 

Gary did explain that there is still a bit of a stigma around this though with female clients preferring female therapists and it’s the same thing with some men, that they prefer a female therapist as well. Personally, I know some men who believe they need a male therapist because they don’t believe a female therapist will be able to provide the right amount of pressure, so Gary and I discussed how it’s not about the gender being able to provide the correct amount of pressure, but having the correct tools to provide the right kind of massage.

 

To wrap up Gary and I discussed how often he believes people should get massages.

 

He said “I believe twice a month, but [most people] look at massage as a luxury” He explained that this is a mindset that needs to be changed.

 

“I personally believe it is better than chiropractic. I actually had a Chiropractor as an instructor in school and he always said massage therapy first…because it’s so much better for you, it reduces the internal inflammation and there are so many benefits. So, I have to say at least once a month but twice is better. If you are working on nerve muscular therapy, you have to do more than one session so the brain gets back to knowing where the body is supposed to be without pain.”

 

Gary’s knowledge, willingness to continue learning about the body and the fact that he is mobile definitely sets him apart from so many other massage therapists!

 

If you would like to know more about Gary please  give him a call at 831-801-4129