A note to my massage clients while I am unable to work:

To my wonderful clients! I’m sorry that right now I am unable to practice massage. I have impinged the motor nerve on my left hand from a herniated disc in my neck, which happened in a car accident a long time ago. The injury has gotten worse over time, and now I lack the use of my left hand.

I go in for surgery on September 21, and should be back to work six weeks later. I look forward to working on you all again, and will miss you while I am gone!

In the mean time, please call these very capable and wonderful therapists!

Erica Boulangee, Beyond Massage Aspen 970-274-8717
Andie Rubel, Chiropractic, Massage, Acupuncture 970-948-5123

Thank you and see you in the fall!

Kate

What the heck is fire cupping?

 

 Hey, guess what! I finally made a massage website, and my little sister took all the photos!

Check it out!

Finding the Rhythm of seasonal cross over, and Fire Cupping Dennis.

Its been a heck of a week, I'm having some days where I start at 5:30 in the morning with a run, get home, shower, make breakfast for the kids, get them to school, head to the mountain, train hard all day, grocery shop, pick up the kids from after school care, make dinner, get them started on homework, teach an MA class, put the kids in bed, give a massage to a client, work out my core, shower, and fall in bed exhausted.

Its a lot, but each portion is rewarding, fulfilling and necessary. Managing how these things happen while balancing everything is challenging, and some stuff falls through the cracks, (especially when one of my kids ends up ill, wow does THAT throw a curve ball in the mix), but I'm finding that I can do this. 

Alissa has moved back in with us, and we missed her muchly, her enthusiasm for training helps me work out harder even when I'm tired, and she never gets sick of me talking about turn shape.

My little sister, Liat is moving down from Salt Lake, and we are somehow going to find a place for all of us to live after Christmas in harmonious chaos.

Meanwhile, the crossover from shoulder season to teaching is happening slowly, I'm not booked until the 17th, which is why I still need to crank out the writing and the massage, so we can pay our bills. While I feel a bit on the scramble to survive side, I also feel really positive.

I miss writing my blog, because I am making sure that I am with my kids, training hard, eating well and sleeping enough so I have patience with my kids, concentration during the day, and longevity to give a good massage in the evening.

I'm grateful to be on track, being back on snow makes me feel energized, enthusiastic and sane. Working on skiers who are also training hard is incredibly rewarding, because I feel like I can facilitate their healing, opening, strengthening, whatever they need, so that they can perform well on snow, too.

The boys and I are helping each other out, they ask me how my day is and if I am getting strong, and I ask them about robotics club and choir, reading and recess.

We just finished reading the second Harry Potter book, and Ethan is now reading the third one to us, for a change, which is wonderful.

All in all, I'm finding the rhythm of my life, and that feels good. I still need to work on managing my schedule so that the little things, (and some big things) don't fall through the cracks or get put off indefinitely, but I feel like I am gaining ground here, and there is a light ahead.

Solace Healing Massage is transferred to Aimee Higgens!

Well, its almost time to say Goodbye to Bozeman! I have found an amazing talent to take over my business at Tonic Salon, the (very reliable) and talented Aimee Higgens will be taking over Solace for me starting... tomorrow!

I will be giving massage for the next two weeks on a limited basis, as I am turning my focus to packing for the move and finding a place to live. I also need to study for and take the National Exam and the Colorado State Boards so I can work at the Aspen Club and Spa and the St. Regis when I get there!

That little push from my readers helped me over the hump, thanks for the donation love, guys, aside from a nasty bout with the Swine Flu this weekend, I'm moving forward fast, it feels like my wheels are unstuck and I'm heading down my path at a steady clip.

Oct. 24 isn't so far away! (But should I stay for Halloween with my kids? EEK! I've never missed it yet...)

Wherever you are right now is perfect. This story ends with a tattoo.

I was walking in to my treatment the other day at Tamara’s new space, and there is a sign outside that says “The Still Point”. As I walked by it, I smiled, because I recently was reading about this concept in Myofascial Release, and I love it.

The Still Point.

I walked on.

The Dead Point.

I walked on.

The moment.

Suddenly, things started plugging in for me, I walked down the stairs into Tamara’s office.

“How are you?” She asked. I smiled at her and held up my hand.

“Hang on, I’m having an epiphany…”

“Oh, okay!” She said and headed into the room to prep.

I thought about the Still Point in MFR…
“The therapist, using the myofascial unwinding process, acts as a facilitator, following the body’s inherent motions. When a significant position is attained, the craniosacral rhythm will shut down to a still point. During the still point, a reversible amnesia surfaces, replaying all of the emotional states that occurred during a past traumatic event.” (For the full article, click here.)

I love this concept that things can only come out when you gently and patiently achieve a still point.

I thought about the Dead Point in climbing…
The dead point is when, for instance in a dynamic move in climbing, your body has stopped going up and has yet to begin traveling down. This is the optimal time to close your hand around the hold. In this way, your body continually travels up, without shocking or loading the tendon, the grasp occurring just at the moment when all is still or dead…

I thought about the present moment, the moment in meditation when your mind is miraculously still and all is quiet, time slows down because there is no time, just this moment, and the next, ultimately present, you experience your world in a vivid and extra real way.

This felt like the beginning of some sort of thought that I needed to follow, this felt like a sign post to me, little connections about the still point, about things happening when you stop trying to make them happen, but allow or facilitate the unwinding, the opening, the movement, and sometimes, stillness, the lack of movement, being in this moment is what you are looking for. Trying to rush ahead to the conclusion, we so often miss whats going on, the possibilities of the now…

This wasn’t new, again, I feel like I stumble across permutations of this concept every couple of weeks, and I realize, oh, its that same thing…

But then again, the things I struggle with are often the “same thing” just on another level of understanding. I’m struggling right now with ideas of being alone, what it means to truly sever. To be single, but to let go of everything and not need a new string to hold on to, just to be, in the still point.

I’m struggling quite a bit with it, and because of that, related issues that affect my ultimate goal, keeping focus on training my body so it can perform to its potential in 1046 days at Tryouts, are flaring up.

My relationship with food has been challenging to say the least since the season ended in April. I’ve gained and lost 10 pounds in May and again in June. (And we are only half way through June.) Along with that journey comes a lot of fear, a lot of sabotage and a lot of judgment.

I have finally found that I am able to not crucify myself when my life gets so crazy that I can’t stay on a strict training program. I have finally found some grace for myself there, and I feel today like I’m inching toward a new understating, everything I’ve been hung up on seems to be unwinding since this crazy epiphany began it all.

Let me back up a bit. The morning of this day, Thursday, started out with me being very tired, having for some reason not slept well the night before. I backed the Bronco into the pasture fence and broke the tailgate and exploded the rear window. I was running late, so I drove into town and parked under a tree hoping it wouldn’t rain in the truck.

I went in to a long counseling session, in which my amazing therapist challenged me to examine some things that I’ve been looking at, but not really looking at deeply enough. She held me accountable on some tough stuff, which shook the foundation. This is a good thing. This is the point of therapy, this is the way I like therapy. No bull, to the point, face the issue, then, sit with it, look at it, and see where it leads you. Usually it leads you through fear and into the sunlight, but sometimes the fear is very dark, and all your coping mechanisms scream at you when you head that way. That’s usually a cue for me that I’m doing the right thing…

So here I am, leaving counseling and realizing that I’m in crisis. It’s a quiet crisis, but its there nonetheless. I feel alone right now. I feel afraid to look at what is going on in my life, at the opportunities to practice being okay with being alone, to truly experience being completely, totally on my own. Alone.

Looking at that, I realize that this is my oldest, most frightening “bad place”, I recognize all the coping that has hung on needing to feel NOT alone, not abandoned, not spinning through space… and I’ve healed, I’ve come so so so very far in the last five years since I recognized the major source of trauma in my life, and asked him politely to leave.

And now, here I am, a calmer, stronger, more sure person, who has shed so much coping. I feel comfortable in my skin. I’ve learned to spend time alone, but not to feel alone and be okay with it… does that make any sense?

Alright. So here we are again, its Thursday, the next thing after counseling was a two hour Myofascial tutoring session, in which I was the body being worked on. We did lots of deep but gentle techniques, diaphragm unwindings and such, and now that's over, and I travel to Tamara's new space, and we are in the body work session, and Tamara, of course, immediately picks up that there is stuff going on.

I missed my massage session last week, and my body has been hurting in a way that medication can't touch.

She works myofascialy. I refuse to let go for the first time that we’ve worked together. I’m pushing, I’m asking myself to let go. My body hurts, and I want to let go and feel better.

I’m demanding, I’m frustrated, I’m breathing, my body hurts and I can’t seem to relax and let the work happen. Tamara stays grounded and slows down. I let go of the idea of being able to let go and identify what the fuck is going on with me today, write it off to being premenstrual, and resign myself to the fact that I’m an over sensitive, ridiculous person.

I tell Tamara “I feel very alone.”

She tells me, “I know. But remember that we are never truly alone.” Internally, I roll my eyes at her. That’s not what I wanted to hear. I wanted her to tell me that one day, I will be able to stay connected in a vital way, that I won’t scare away the person I love with my lack of fear about feeling, experiencing and giving love. I want her to tell me its going to be okay.

She tells me that its okay to feel fear, because that’s what I’m feeling right now.

Sigh.

I tell her that where I am is scary. She tells me to remember that wherever we are in our life is perfect in that moment.

I roll my eyes internally at her again. I’ve heard her say this before, and sometimes I can wrap my mind around it, and sometimes I can’t. Today, it feels like a load of crap, because where I am does not feel perfect. It feels dangerous and scary to my soul. Because it feels alone and unknown. We used to call this place “the big bad”. And when I approached the Big Bad, I’d tell Tom, and he’d make sure that I didn’t feel alone. He’d triage it, STAT. Because that’s what I thought I needed.

Keep me from feeling the scary thing.

But today, I was feeling alone, because no one was saving me. The people I trust who mentor me were not pushing me, but not towing me to safely either. I was left floating in it, just as I needed to be.

Because in this moment, I was feeling whatever I needed to feel. Where I was was perfect. I just wasn’t seeing it.

Something shifted suddenly, I had resigned myself to feeling scared, which I guess means I’d unknowingly accepted where I was. I was overwhelmed with what I felt coming, and rather than just letting go, as I’d been able to do in the past, I clamped down and held it in as much as possible. I was not. Going. To. Cry.

After the session, Tamara left, and I fell apart. Cried all over her table. Frustrated, scared. Felt stupid for not letting it go in session, felt greedy about processing my shit during body work, felt needy, felt lacking for feeling scared. Felt angry for not being okay being alone. Felt angry at my past for setting me up to be scared of being truly alone.

Do these things sound judgmental to you? They sure do to me!

I wandered out all puffy eyed and looked at Tamara. She smiled at me, like I was normal. I smiled a watery smile back at her.

Then, I headed to my space to give a massage. I was worried on my way over there what in the world I could possibly do for the person I was going to work on. I felt exhausted, but oddly at peace, like something was shifting, like there was some new understanding surfacing. I looked at the sign on my way to my truck. The still point, it said.

I went through the ritual of preparing my room for my client, warming the space with candles, incense, the hot packs, the towels, the tea made, the music on, a few moments of meditation, just feeling the breath, sitting on the old creaky oak floor, just getting out of my scared monkey mind and into the present, this moment where a body would lay on my table and I would connect to it, feel, and facilitate, just as Tamara had for me.

It didn't matter that all THAT had just happened, and was happening inside, that was one part of this present moment. The other part was that life was going on all around me. Other people were hurting. Other people were happy. The stylists were doing hair, Amanda was on the phone, there was a kid sitting on a skateboard. It was time for my client's massage.

I left my doubt behind and went into my session, and just lived under my hands for ninety minutes. It was a good session.

Acceptance for where I am seems to be compassion toward myself, and it gives me just enough space to be able to extend compassion to the person I am with.

After the session, I headed over to Third Chapter Tattoo in Bozeman, to meet with Chad for the third time. It was time to get a new tattoo.

I half hoped he’d have something come up, and wouldn't be able to do it. I wasn’t sure I was in a place where I could make a permanent decision about my body. I wasn’t sure which tattoo I was going to get, (Chad has designs for six more pieces I want to do.) and I was scared that I’d get pushed into a sad place and then have no one to commiserate with me, no one to celebrate with...

I was bouncing back to that scary, alone place, but at the same time that sort of pinball feeling felt quieter, like echos of an old pattern.

I went in, Chad was ready to do the arm piece. I’d been thinking of two I want on my feet, they seem less… obvious, less scary, less committed.

He sat down and started finishing off the piece for my arm. Fuck it. I let go again. Lets get the one I’ve been wanting for the last two years. Lets get the big deal.

Aequinemitas. Patience through Peace of Mind.

The word with a swirl underneath it. Tom designed it for me years ago, it was meant to look like a drop of essential oil sinking into hot water. If you are present enough to watch, the oil unwinds as it infuses the water, the scent unwinds into the vapor, the body unwinds as it accepts the heat, the mind unwinds as it accepts the scent...

Today, it reminds me of Myofascial work, because it looks like what my hands feel when they are working, and it has to happen with patience and presence, you can't push or force, you just connect, and wait, and follow, and the tissue heats, accepts, and lets go, unwinding...

But Patience. I’ve been practicing patience as my main focus since I got pregnant with Ethan 8 years ago.

“You’re on baby time, now, Kate.” The voice of Nkem, my beautiful Midwife, the woman who set me on my healing journey.

“If you can have THIS much patience, it makes turning that much easier.” Squatty, trying to help me ski bumps effortlessly.

“Kate, be patient, that part will come, but we are doing this now. Patience, Grasshopper.” Andy, helping me enjoy this without worrying or wondering about the possibility of that.

“You need to think about walking at a steady pace that you can maintain all the way to the top so you don’t have to stop. Better to keep going, and go slow, than to go balls out and then have to stop over and over.” Kurt, teaching me, of all things, how to walk. How to walk up a mountain.

I’ve spent the last year training at a break neck speed to pass the Three, trying to absorb all the information that I can about skiing, feeling voracious, but for the first time, feeling patient. Hungry, but patient. Feeling information going in, unwinding, understanding dawning, smoothing out the wrinkles and creating deeper understanding through questions, reading, and practice, and then more patience…

I took a sharpie at the end of the season last year, and wrote “Aequinemitas” on each ski. My little sister, Liat, who is a graduate in classic languages found this word for me when I told her I was looking for a word for patience.

I’ve needed patience in friendships, patience in relationships, patience with self…

I needed patience to get this tattoo, I’ve been here three times and it just hasn’t worked out.

I sit in the chair, we go through it, I get excited, I get nervous, then I let it go, because it doesn’t really matter how I feel, its going to happen. Its going to happen now.

I lay down on the table, and the gun begins to vibrate, the smell of rubbing alcohol, the ritual of preparation again, plastic down, Vaseline on the table, on the glove, on the ink cups, color in the cups, my first color tattoo, they have all been black till now…

Greg puts on some blues music, it make me think of hanging on to what I can’t have, it make me feel that alone-ness acutely, and suddenly, it occurs to me that I am getting a tattoo by myself for the first time. Fifth tattoo. First time alone.

Suddenly, its perfect. I had taken a pic, I was going to live blog it, but now, suddenly, this moment is perfect. This is an opportunity to practice being alone, doing it alone. Doing it only for me. Being patient to share, being present in this moment.

I lay down, its cold in the shop. The gun goes into my arm, stinging, buzzing, the flesh there is so tender, it hurts so much more than I remember, so much more than I thought it would. I know I’m going to be here for hours, I leave my phone on the floor in the other room and listen to the music and look at Chad’s tattoo’d head, this man I barely know inscribing the most meaningful thing, inscribing this moment.

Marking this moment in time, this moment when I decide that its okay to be alone, that we aren’t truly ever alone, that I’m enough for me, that this moment, wherever I am IS perfect, because it is what it is. It’s a time to practice being alone.

I feel a peace, a bliss all over my body, I focus on the scratching the pain the sensation of the gun abrading my skin, for two and a half hours, Chad is pressing down on me, making art in his own world, I’m in mine, in bliss.

He gets close to the armpit, and I feel it through my breast, in my ribs, down my arm. I think of the bracelet that I gave my mom two Christmases ago. It said, “While Alive, Live.” on it. I gave it to her hoping it would give her courage to care for herself. She gave it back to me this Christmas, hoping I would have the courage to do the same.

This tattoo is like that bracelet. This tattoo is marking the moment. In this moment, I understand the word Aequinemitas in a new way.

Feeling, but also living patience, because my mind is peaceful, because I’ve accepted that wherever I am is perfect. I am alone. Because that is where I need to be in order to become.

Wherein all my dreams come true... except housing!

Wow, what a week its been! I was walking around Aspen this afternoon in a bubble of bliss, just completely humbled and grateful and rawther blown away by everything coming to fruition. What a year of hard work! By SO many people! And it all led up to this.

Okay. On Friday, I drove to Salt Lake City, and my friend Kurt caught a ride with Mike and Laura and met me out there. We explored the Spiral Jetty, a beautiful earthwork by Robert Smithson (1970). It's one of my favorite pieces of art, and I was excited to share it with Kurt. It was funny to see his reaction, folks who don't spend a lot of time in the art world are sometimes baffled by works like this, and we had an interesting discussion about this piece, and art in general, in seeing beauty in things you wouldn't think are beautiful... it was an interesting afternoon, and I have lots of pics of the jetty and the surrounding ruins, which I think are amazing. There were a few dead pelicans, and the salt had begun to encrust them, speaking of unusually beautiful things...

After the Jetty, we walked out on the ruins, the water has receded really far, so the Jetty is completely exposed and black again, last time I was there, it was white and surrounded by ruby red water. Its been fun to see it in several permutations, and interesting to think about the preservation conversations, as the body of the Jetty is eroding away into the lake bed. I hope they don't try to add stuff to it and preserve it, Smithson was particularly interested in entropy, and I think it would destroy the piece to try to preserve it. Let the lake claim it again, eventually, there will be just little points of the basalt sticking up in a spiral, and then nothing, it will still be there, but under the sand.

After the Spiral jetty, we drove back towards the tiny town of Corrinne, Utah, where we went and visited the ATK test launch site! Just follow the signs for "Rocket Display", and you can see the incredibly scary propulsion vehicles that this massive defense conglomerate makes! They also make the boosters for the Shuttle for NASA.

For more information on just how scary ATK is, visit their website here! And, if you'd like to go feel the ground tremble, visit Corrinne, Utah on August 25, when they will be test firing the new Shuttle Booster!

We decided to drive out to Ogden and see what Outside Magazines Top 10 Town was like, and then made our way up to Snowbowl, a truly beautiful mountain tucked in the Wasatch. Driving up the canyon, we passed all kinds of little houses, they reminded me of Sierra Madre, CA, tiny little artsy hippie houses all along the river. The drive flattened out at this huge reservoir, where the houses became decidedly more McMansion, suburban sprawl all over the lush valley, and then we wended our way up to Snowbasin, which was recently redone for the Salt Lake winter Olympics.

The lodges were beautiful! The high speed quads were incredible! The main lift was about 10 feet off the deck of the children's ski school building. We checked out the maps, and Snowbasin has some amazing lift served mountain biking, which we are going to have to go and explore. In order to get that done, looks like I'm gonna have to learn how to RIDE MY BIKE for heaven's sake!! Rachel Bauer, can I trade you massage for "how not to be a total pussy on your mountain bike" lessons?

The next day, we wandered around Historic Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake in the rain, it was a beautiful day, and great to get out and have some exercise. I'd never seen the fountains and buildings, and I have to say, I am fascinated by the Mormon culture, the incredible industry of this group of people is truly astonishing.

That afternoon, we drove off through Park City (and neglected to stop and visit with the worlds most wonderful bootfitter, Mr. Brent Amsbury, who may never forgive me... and, ironically enough, my feet decided to punish me severely for that neglect the VERY next time I put ski boots on... see, that's what I get...)

We drove through Dinosaur National Monument, where Mike and Laura had camped the night before (here is one of the amazing photos of that area that Mike took), and we stopped in Vernal to check out a legendary bike shop.

Heading on towards Aspen, we cracked open a first edition first printing of Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle, and kept ourselves amused by Sir Edgar Rice Burrough's adventure stories imagined in 1928. We headed into an enormous thunder cell, and, a bit worried about Mike and Laura (who were snuggled on high ground in a good tent somewhere out there), and hydroplaned our way into town.

The next day, I went for a hike up Aspen Mountain with Kurt, and it struck me again just how much MORE this place is than I always think it is. Its steeper, further, longer, and higher than I remember every time I come. The hike up Aspen Mountain is a couple of miles, should be relatively easy, but once again, the altitude kicks my butt, and the in-shapetitude of my hiking partner sets my own recreational fitness level off in spectacular style!

The hike was beautiful, we managed to do it in between rain bouts, found a pile of hula hoops at the top, and while gazing out at the majesty of the maroon bells, hula'd our way to happiness. Little known talent of Mr. Fehrenbach: he has a mean way with the hula! Why isn't THAT on his resume?? I thought about my friend Leah, this beautiful, blissful girl I go to Health Works with, and re dedicated myself to trading her rock climbing lessons for hula lessons. She is "that girl": you know the one, the one that can dance at a festival with about three hula hoops going all at once? Yup.

That morning, I had had my first interview for a massage job at The Aspen Club and Spa, I was very nervous for some reason, but excited. I wasn't sure where I was going to work when I move at the end of August, and the pressure of getting a job, and getting the right job, and getting a job that pays enough... getting a job in town was important to me, because I don't want to have to ride the bus or drive a car.

This year is an opportunity to live my life on foot and reduce my carbon impact on the planet, and I really wanted to do everything I could to get in town and stay there. I have been fortunate enough to get hired on Aspen Mountain for the winter (WOOO HOOO!), and now... drum roll, please, I've managed to get hired at The Aspen Club AND at the St. Regis Remede spa as a massage therapist.

I am now officially gainfully employed with THREE awesome dream jobs in town in Aspen all walking distance from each other.

Full Stop.

After my interviews, I was lucky enough to hook up with Weems for breakfast (Which he unexpectedly had to buy because I was unexpectedly more broke than I thought... this must change. Too bad it costs money to take a class on managing money.)

Weems and I had a blissful morning in the sunshine talking family and skiing and life, and then we took his loverly dog Merlin for a walk about town. Talking through the decision to move to Aspen ahead of the kids with Weems was amazing, he has such gentle insight, and it felt good to hear that he thinks its a strong decision (showing leverage in the reality corner!). I felt calmer with the decision after that, and even better after getting back and talking through it more with Tom and the boys. Looks like we are all on the same page, and all looking forward to this as a positive change that we are taking at the right pace.

All that's left is to find an apartment I can afford that's as close to the Gondola as possible, finish school, take the national exam, and make the move!

Schedule your massage on-line! No more phone tag! Get the appointment you want!

YAY! I signed up for Schedulicity, an online scheduling software! Now you can schedule a massage with me any time, no waiting for confirmation or return phone calls!

Go to http://www.schedulicity.com and type in Bozeman, MT for city and state, and then Solace for Business.

You can also click HERE.

Click on Solace Healing Massage, and make your appointment! You can schedule appointments for when I am in Aspen May 25-31 as well.

Thanks for visiting!

Looks like I'm going to Snowbird!

Alright, I think its on! I'll be leaving Wednesday early afternoon for Snowbird for the Academy! YEAH!

I'm bringing my table, $60/hr, as Weems said "One of the top 5 massages I've gotten!" and from the mouth of Missy Cashman "The best massage ever! SO DOPE!"

Feel free to email me at katehowe at mac dot com to book ahead of time! I'll do 3 hours per evening!

SEE YA IN SNOWBIRD!

My New Space! Come get a massage!

Well, Solace Healing Massage finally has a home! I am in Tonic Salon (formerly Soucie) in a beautiful brand-new building right on Main st. next to the renovated Ellen Theater, and only two doors down from The Leaf and Bean cafe!

Hours:
Sunday through Thursday: 5:30 - 9:00pm
Friday: 1:30 - 9:00pm
Saturday: 9am - 9pm

Massage by appointment, only.

$40 for 1 hour, please allow an extra half-hour for your first appointment.

In-Home Massage available for existing clients, $80/hr.

Tonic Salon is at 7 W. Main St., unit C, in the back.

Book directly through Kate at 406-599-5070

My only advertising is by referral, so if you enjoy your time, please tell a friend! Thanks!

I got my ass handed to me in Yoga yesterday... Welcome to the Team, Tiffany!

I finally made it to Yoga. I've been meaning and meaning to go, for about four years, now. When we lived in Pasadena, pre-kids, I had a pretty good practice, about three times a week. There seemed always to be a reason not to go, which is silly, because I know it does so much for my body, mind, and spirit. I always feel better after Yoga.

So, on Saturday Morning, I headed down to Down to Earth Yoga at the Emmerson Cultural Center in Bozeman, and of course, I had done everything I could to miss class, I slept badly the night before, I had a hangover from the fabulous Equinox party Friday, I dilly-dallied on my computer, I know you aren't supposed to enter class late...

At the last minute I sucked up my courage, parked my car and snuck into class. Tiffany Mylott was teaching, she's also a massage therapy student at Health Works Institute, and the class was AWESOME.

Do you know that feeling when you haven't been skiing in years and years, and then you go out and ski ALL DAY because its so much fun, and then you get back to wherever you are staying and you are CRIPPLED and want to DIE?

Tiffany did that to me in an hour and a half. It was awesome. I am so freakin' sore I can't believe it. Of course, Tiffany didn't really do that to me, I did that to me. SO - if you are in Bozeman, take a can of food with you and go to her class, it rocks, it's only $7 with a can of food for the food drive, and if you haven't done Yoga in a while, well, PACE YOURSELF! Tiffany also does private classes, email me at katehowe at mac dot com if you are interested, and I'll pass it along.

Its a beautiful, deep, compassionate practice taught by a woman who knows what she's doing. In fact, it was so great, I asked Tiff if she would join my team as my Yoga instructor to make my core and legs stronger and to help me get my balance back, and she has agreed! So welcome to the team, Tiffany, thanks for joining!!

Welcome to the Team, Tamara!

YAY! Finally finally there is a person who can make my back stop hurting! WOO HOO! This woman totally "gets" treatment based work, but she's so damn good at what she does that it feels like a "relaxation" massage. Intense, but never painful, I'm SUPER psyched to say thanks to Tamara for joining my team!

For more on Tamara (who YOU can find at European Massage Co in Bozeman), read on!

Tamara graduated from an intensive 1100 hour Massage Therapy Program in Mitchell, South Dakota in Jan. 1996. She had a private practice in SD following her schooling prior to moving to Montana in 2000. She worked in conjunction with a chiropractor and started massage services at a local hospital, Tamara also began teaching at the massage school.

Moving to Montana in 2000, Tamara wanted to expand her therapeutic approach and worked with some local resorts to include Spa Services for a year. Missing the treatment based work, she joined a practice that focused on treatment based massage for clients involved in automobile or work related accidents and injuries.

Tamara has also been involved for the past 4 years teaching a variety of classes at Health Works Institute, a massage therapy school in Bozeman. She has taught Anatomy, Body Mechanics, Chair Massage, NMT, Clinical Anatomy and Supervises the Student Clinic.

Tamara has taken numerous continued education seminars to expand her breadth of knowledge including, Craniosacral, Reiki I, Healing Touch, MFR, several Advanced NMT classes, LaStone, Reflexology, Trager, and Introductory Energetic Healing, (Adv. Classes start in 2006.)

Tamara s pursuit of education does not end there. She is finishing up her undergraduate degree in Pre-Med. at MSU. With her wealth of experience (10 years) and knowledge Tamara is an asset to the European Massage Team.

Solace Healing Massage

I'm happy to announce that Solace Healing Massage is official! Here is what one recipient of massage this week said: "I don't want to jinx it, but this is honestly the best massage I've ever had!" Wow, thanks!

I'm so excited to be starting in this line of work, its a wonderful compliment to coaching, and I'm enjoying it so much! This is how I plan to pay for training from now on! So if you are an athlete who needs the aches of training smoothed out, email me!

Only $60/hr until Halloween!

Did you do the Ridge Run? Are you sore?

Bring me your race number through Friday, Aug 15, and get a one hour massage for just $40! I come to you!

In which we begin work as a Massage Therapist

I've been doing body and energy work for a long time for my coaching clients and friends. Finally, its going to happen in a more concentrated way.

I have enrolled in the Health Works Institute in Bozeman to obtain my National Accreditation for Massage Therapy. While I am enrolled in school, I can work up to 30 hours a week, making some money doing something that I really love.

When I lived in Pasadena, I ran a company called Prellaser, the relaxing bath. This bath butler service traveled to your home and made your bathroom a place of Solace, respite and beauty. I hand blended specific aromatherapy oils, warmed the tub, and had your bath ready for you.

With my new business, Solace, I will be offering a range of healing massage, from deep tissue work for athletes, to relaxing home-environment massage, similar to the Prellaser experience.

I am excited for this opportunity to bring healing therapy into your home, and also very excited at the opportunity to have an income which will help me achieve my training goals.

Stay tuned, I expect to begin massage work next week, feel free to email me in the meantime with requests, questions, or to pre-book!

One hour massage currently, $60 at your home. Earn a $10 credit towards your next massage for every person you refer to me who books! Refer 6 booking clients, and get a free one hour massage!

John Barnes on Myofascial work

Studies have shown that during periods of trauma, people sustain indelible imprints that have high levels of emotional content. The body can hold information below the conscious level as a protective mechanism, so these memories tend to become dissociated. Memories are state and position dependent and can therefore be retrieved when the person is in a particular state or position. The information is not available in the normal, conscious state, and the body’s protective mechanisms keep us away from the positions that our mind/body awareness construes as painful or traumatic.

It has been consistently demonstrated that when a myofascial release technique takes the tissue to a significant position, or when myofascial unwinding allows a body part to assume a significant position three-dimensionally in space, the tissue not only changes and improves, but also raises memories, associated emotional states and belief systems to the conscious level. This awareness allows the individual to grasp the previously hidden information that may be creating or maintaining symptoms or behavior that deter improvement. With the information now at a conscious level, the individual is in a position to learn what holding or bracing patterns have impeded progress. This release of the tissue, emotions and hidden information creates and environment for change that is both conscious and effective.

The therapist, using the myofascial unwinding process, acts as a facilitator, following the body’s inherent motions. When a significant position is attained, the craniosacral rhythm will shut down to a still point. During the still point, a reversible amnesia surfaces, replaying all of the emotional states that occurred during a past traumatic event. This dissociation, or reversible amnesia, is a “double-conscious” state. In other words, what is learned or remembered at the time of trauma is dependent on the psycho-physiologic state of the individual at the time of the experience. The block between the conscious and subconscious minds is the source of many poor or temporary therapy results.

Myofascial release and myofascial unwinding bring the tissue or body part into a position that allows the individual to be aware of his or her divided consciousness. Reactivating the conditions and the resulting physiologic responses during which trauma was acquired through this flashback phenomenon allow for the patient’s conscious awareness. The patient then has the option to change.

Myofascial release and myofascial unwinding techniques relieve excessive pressure on pain-sensitive structures that produce pain and limit full, fluid motion. These techniques also reeducate the central nervous system for new movement possibilities.