I know that your email boxes are getting slammed right now from New Year well wishes to coupons, sales and other well wishers and in that I guess I’m no different. However, I do have to state that like so many others it is true, we wouldn’t have a business it weren’t for all of you who read this. So for that I thank you. Thank you for being our clients and helping us help you in reaching your health care goals. It truly is a privilege to do massage and bodywork and to help you reach your goals.
Cheers to new goals, ushering out bad habits, and working towards health and prosperity. Thank you for allowing That’s the Rub to be part of your journey. We look forward to supporting you through 2019 and beyond.
This year we’re launching partner massage classes (starting on January 27! Sign up here) so you can do massage on each other at home. We’re going to do shorter classes for those who want to get started right away (only a four hour workshop!), with limited time or budgets, and we will add longer classes in the near future for those who want more detailed information for anatomy and specialized massage strokes for those have more time to donate to learning the art of massage. We hope you will join us in understanding your body better through relaxation techniques that you can provide for each other. Please contact our front desk (812-333-3393) or websitefor more details and to sign up!
We also have THAT:space available for anyone in the community who needs a downtown space for larger gatherings (up to 40 people). Please contact Kara at kara@thatstherub.com for more details and dates available.
We are also launching continuing education classes (CEUs) for already certified massage therapists. March 25th & 26th we will be hosting Bloomington’s own Julie Gudaitis (returning from many years on the West Coast) in Morales Method for 16 CEU’s. If you’re interested in attending check out our Facebook page THAT: space and look for Morales Method for more details. More classes will be added to THAT:spacesoon, so please like, subscribe, and keep checking back.
As we near the beginning of the next semester at Ivy Tech we will have more students giving massage as part of That’s the Rub Bootcamp (a massage student intensive elective), so please put your name on the waiting list at our front desk (still 812-333-3393) and keep your eyes peeled for details on when student massage will be available (at a BIG discount to you!). These messages go fast, and they are essential for helping a student increase their therapeutic and palpation skills.
We at That’s the Rub look forward to an exciting year of community giving, education and collaboration. May your year be full of good cheer, prosperity and love!
The Pain that Wouldn’t Go Away Wasn’t What I Thought
I decided to share this experience in the event that anyone
else may be having these physical issues that seem “untraceable”, but happen to
coincide with something so basic that you might overlook it as an issue. Over
the ear headphones can be an issue for some people in regards to causing
physical pain, an in an overuse type injury. I found that the squeezing of them
on my Temporal muscles around my ears and the reverb of the music through my
head put too much stress on the Temporal muscle itself, causing jaw pain, neck
tension and no relief in sight.
As you may or may not know, I am an avid exerciser. I’ve
been in the gym going on 25 years now, consistently. I’ve used headphones for
my music long before blue tooth was a thing and I detested the earbuds because
I felt that they hurt the inside of my ear. However, after several pairs of
over the ear headphones trying to get something less “squeezy” on my head, I
found no matter how gentle they seemed it still caused Temporal tension, jaw
pain and neck tension. Stretching it out didn’t work, so I had to start looking
at the solution. When I realized that it kept coming back and stronger after a
workout than any other time of day, I went a day without music in my ears and
it felt a little better. I then used a pair of ear buds and noticed that the
tension wasn’t there. It’s been three weeks since I’ve used my over the head
earphones and this is what my conclusion is: They caused my Temporal muscles
severe trauma, which instigated my jaw pain and neck tension that I could never
seem to get rid of no matter how much I stretched. I struggled with this for
months until I figured it out and once I did, the tension was eased immediately
and after three weeks, in spite of a car accident , the tension, pain and
clicking (in my jaw) are gone. And I do mean gone.
So what does this mean for you? It means that if you are
having a tension, pain or issue that doesn’t seem to be changed no matter what
you do, dietary changes, stretching, strengthening, sleeping or massage, you
MUST look at what you’re doing in your every day life that could possibly be
contributing to it. It’s the only option and we owe it to our tissues to figure
it out. Once we give our tissues what they want, we get what we want, a once
again harmonious interaction with our body that brings about pain free and
ample movement.
I hope this helps you figure out your tension issues. Until
next time…
Taking My Own Medicine: My Experiences with CBD Massage
I’ve had the pleasure of getting the CBD massage on separate occasions from two different That’s the Rub therapists, once to try out how it feels (duh!) and the other CBD massage after my recent car accident. It was interesting how they were the same…only different.
First of all, I want to welcome you back and apologize for taking so much time off of writing the blog. I thought I had enough articles in the bag before the semester started, I was wrong and then my car accident happened and derailed me. I’m recovering very well, slowly for me because patience isn’t my strong suit (if you can’t see Jim’s eye-roll from where you are, trust me, he’s eye-rolling), but probably quickly by anyone else’s standards.
When we decided to partner with GW KIND (makers of mighty fine kombuchas and CBD products) to produce our CBD massage cream, I knew it would be wonderful for increasing relaxation and the healing of trauma, chronic or sudden, but I had no idea I would be one of the first clients to use it. But when a pick-up truck suddenly turned in front of me, totalling the car I was test driving, I ended up being my own test subject for the first batch of this amazing cream and massage protocol.
So anyway, back to CBD massage. It’s like getting massaged with whipped butter. The CBD just melts nicely into your skin, soothing and conditioning it, while creating this deep relaxation that goes well with any massage. I say any massage because I received the CBD massage again after my accident, not only did it deeply relax me, but between the massage and the CBD all of my aches went away too. Luckily for me, I only suffered some temporary muscle soreness and tiredness as my body recovers, most of which seems to get better every day. After the massage there is almost always CBD massage cream left over and you get to take it home with you because it’s in single-use cups, so I continue to apply the remains daily to the rest of my bruises and I believe they are healing faster than they would otherwise.
If you or anyone you know is suffering from some kind of trauma, whether it is a car accident, work accident, or play accident you should consider a CBD massage (or upgrade for any of our massages). It’s done amazing things for my recovery and may it do so for you too.
Until next time… That’s the Rub,
Lisa
PS – Not only did I total a car I was test driving, I went out the next day and leased the exact same model (Toyota Camry XLE) from Brian at Royal South Toyota. I have no doubt that the amazing safety features built into this car saved both my, and my daughter’s, lives! While I don’t recommend head-on collisions as part of your test drive experience, I will say it sealed the deal on whether to lease this model when Ryn and I walked away.
We used to start every day by hanging a new “Rub” on the door: a quote by a famous person to inspire thought, allow us to embrace gratitude, or to just have a good laugh on the way in and out our door. It was kind of our way at The Rub to send you on your way thinking, but also more relaxed and grounded with yourself, since you, of course, had also had a massage. Over time we’ve gotten away from this practice, either due to changing of front-desk management or perhaps as we got busier due to our wonderful clients sending out the good word that we exist. Either way, I feel that it’s necessary to get back to our Rub of the Day, but maybe to take the pressure off a little bit, to change it to the Rub of the Month, but be choosier and more thoughtful about what those rubs are and we as a team reflect on them as much as anyone else does when they come and go. You see, we at The Rub, have always tried to cultivate a relaxed atmosphere that was inclusive of everyone while maintaining professional relationships and cultivating education opportunities for knowing more about how our bodies work and how we can help ourselves and others through pain, dysfunction, and disease.
Recently, we expanded our space to include a classroom, we call it THAT:space (which is currently represented online at it’s Facebook page). We decided it was time to offer massage classes to anyone who would like to learn how to feel better in their own skin, take back control of their own body, help themselves and others ease pain and discomfort of friends and family, or maybe find a hobby or possibly a new profession (as you know, we also helped found the new Ivy Tech Bloomington massage program). THAT:space is a private classroom within That’s the Rub, dedicated to learning objectives of all kinds. Since opening our massage program at Ivy Tech, it’s become very clear to me that teaching is one of my fundamental joys in life and I wanted to expand my teaching range to anyone who wanted to learn massage, not just to those that wanted to be in the profession. Our goal at That’s the Rub is to open THAT:space to the public for massage classes within the next few months. We will also be offering classes to certified and licensed massage therapists to fulfill their CEU requirements, expand their professional skills, and help them in their businesses. THAT:space is also available to rent for private events, small plays (stay tuned for an announcement VERY soon about our first one!), and group meetings, etc., by the hour. Contact Kara THAT:space manager at Kara@ThatsTheRub.com for more information. In conclusion, I will leave you with one of my favorite rubs from “back in the day”:
“Do in your heart what you know to be right for you will be criticized anyway.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
May you always have the courage to do what your heart knows to be right. That’s the Rub, Lisa
So, what I mean by the title of this article is: there are no do-overs. When we’re young, we feel like we’re going to live forever. Our bodies feel spry, we can get hurt (or not) and recover quickly, we can eat anything (!!!) and it doesn’t seem to affect us. Then we turn 40, and our body starts to tell us the many ways in which we’ve abused it over the years and begins to take its revenge. We can no longer eat the way we once did without it biting back. We exercise, but it takes two days longer to recover. We’re forced to face all of the ways we’ve abused our bodies in the past and expected them to just keep going. Even when we’ve acknowledged all of the abuses we’ve put our bodies through, the misdeeds of poor nutrition, lack of recovery time between exercise bouts, injuries and the like, we just expect it to keep going — No maintenance required.
Why do we just expect our bodies to keep going? Our body needs to be cared for, nurtured, strengthened, stretched, and fed properly. We wouldn’t expect a car to just keep going with no gas, oil changes, or regular maintenance, eventually, the car says “I’m not going anywhere.” Therefore, you must take care of it or get another car. Meanwhile, we complain about what a piece of crap it is, not taking responsibility for the fact that if we’d been doing proper maintenance we wouldn’t be facing the issues with our car. Well, our bodies are the same, they need regular, consistent maintenance, but unlike a car, you can’t turn it in for a younger version. So, it’s better to take care of it, you’ve heard the saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s time to take responsibility for your body maintenance and give it the attention that it deserves.
Bodies behave best when properly taken care of: stretching daily to get all the stress out of the body and its tissues after using it in our activities of the day, strengthening it so that all levers and pullies are doing their jobs equally in respect to their size and their mechanics and using proper nutrition to fuel our activities and our bodies in a nurturing way so that it gets what it needs to continue functioning at the optimum levels. When we don’t do these things, the body breaks down. We call it getting old, but the fact is that’s the excuse we use when we don’t want to take responsibility that we’ve not treated our body all that well and it’s letting us know it. The good news is, it’s never too late to change old habits. As long as you’re breathing and your heart is still beating you can take steps to improve your body’s performance.
We tell ourselves that change is too hard, to give us an excuse not to change. We tell ourselves that we can’t change, which is untrue, but if you believe that you can’t you are correct because you have to want to change. Change isn’t that hard if you really want to do it. The catalyst shouldn’t have to be “if I don’t do this I will die.” How about change for the sake of knowing it’s better for you? Take your power back. Change because you know it will help your body feel better, you will feel stronger, happier, and you will feel healthier knowing that you empowered yourself with change. We tell ourselves it’s hard because it gives us an excuse when we fail. Oh, it was too hard so I gave up. What if we gave ourselves other words? For instance, this change is a small one, so it’s going to be easy. Implement the change, embrace it, and then move on to the next change and so on. Baby steps…but keep stepping! There is no limit to this way of thinking about change and it brings the change and the word into the positive realm, instead of placing it into the too hard to be accomplished.
The mind is a powerful tool. Use your mind to your advantage by living in the positive now and leaving the negative I can’t or its too hard behind. By living in the positive now, the changes you wish to bestow on the one thing there are no do-overs on, YOUR BODY, you will empower yourself to be your best advocate for any positive change you would like to make. Massage, facials, acupuncture, yoga, more natural body products, we carry all of those things and more at That’s the Rub. Be the change!
Each visit you make the therapist you prefer, the therapist may (and likely will) use different massage types and applied styles to change up the massage. However, after multiple treatments sometimes things stop working or you’re no longer getting the results you’re looking for or you’re just not sure you like this type or style of massage any longer. You can ask to go back to another massage style you know you liked or worked for you or you can ask to see another therapist. It’s nice to compare different styles after all they are just as different as the individuals themselves.
So why mighty you want to try another therapist you ask? Well, because sometimes when the personalities don’t fit between the therapist and the client, it might feel awkward to get a massage with this person no matter how skilled they are. You don’t know exactly what’s wrong; everything “feels” as it should, but it just feels off. That might be a sign to try another therapist. Another reason to see another therapist, if you’ve been working with the same LMT for years and now you’re in a maintenance phase, meaning you’re no longer working on those bigger goals that you originally started coming, it might be nice to try something new every once in a while because your body adapts. Additionally, a different therapist’s perspective on what’s going on with your body might bring fresh awareness and deeper growth for your goals. Lastly, another reason to try another therapist is you aren’t getting the results that you once were from the therapist you’ve seen for a long time. That’s okay; it doesn’t mean that they are no longer doing their job, rather it just means that your body has adapted, which it is designed to do, and a fresh take on massage applications just might be what it needs to let go on a deeper level.
Here at The Rub we customize all treatments based on several criteria: your goals – both short and long term what you want to get from your massage, the type of treatment your scheduling – this is discussed in deeper detail with your LMT during the intake process so that we know that the appointment you scheduled is the right one for your goals, and finally the therapist’s personality. If for any reason you are looking for a change, The Rub offers different massage therapists to fit those needs, and we all refer to each other when we feel that we’ve done all we can or believe another modality or therapist may be a good fit for you. Think of it as helping your regular therapist help you achieve your goals. After all that’s what we’re here for, and we feel good when our clients are happy with their results. Welcome to The Rub!
