A path to self love..

When you ask people how they practice self-love, common answers that arise
are exercising, eating well, and positive thinking. However, learning to be a Holistic Heath Practitioner and taking classes in massage therapy and energy work at Healing Hands have truly made a positive impact on the way I feel about myself intellectually, physically and emotionally. Giving massages and receiving work as a client have also contributed in bringing forth more self-awareness, self-growth, and self-love than I would have ever thought possible.

My massage therapy and energy work classes have enhanced my confidence and encouraged me to trust my abilities. I have taken a variety of classes in circulatory and sports massage, traditional oriental healing techniques, anatomy, deep tissue manipulation, and energy work. Energy work, such as Reiki and Energetic Bodywork, can be described as a healing modalities that use positive energy to promote healing in your clients bodies, hearts and spirits. I truly felt supported by my teachers who enable students to realize their potential as professional healers and provide them with an environment where they can feel secure in their learning and growth process. HHP students, Nicole Krause, shares that being around her fellow students "encourages me and continues to encourage me to seek knowledge and that leads me to greater self-esteem." This process of building up each others energies is needed to create good healers.

The Holistic Health Practitioners Program has also helped me in seeing the value of taking care of my body and nurturing it more. Research has shown that massage therapy benefits the body in several different ways and assists in maintain food health. My classes have taught me to have an understanding of the structure and function of the body and have given me the opportunity to fine-tune my craft with many hours of practical experience. Since it is important to take care of your own body in order to practice massage therapy, my classes often set time aside for physical activity such as yoga, stretching, tai chi or qigong. My teachers emphasize the importance of proper body mechanics and care about our health and longevity in the field. Many of my classmates agree that their own body awareness and body image have improved as a result.

My education at healing Hands has been extremely beneficial to me emotionally. Energy work has been shown to successfully help people overcome fear, deal with their grief, and release intense emotions. In my Energetic Bodywork class, I was challenged to confront my inaccurate beliefs about myself. One assignment was to create my "dream book" in which I made a collage of everything I wanted in life. Everything in the book has miraculously come to fruition.

Taking time to get massage shows that you have respect for your mind, body and soul. For a client, massage reduces mental stress, improves concentration, and encourages calm thinking and creativity. Physically, it reduces muscle tension, increases circulation, improves posture, and strengthens the immune system. Massage also benefits a persons emotional health. Receiving massage enables us to receive love and teaches us that others can nurture us despite any of our perceived imperfections. A client of mine who makes time in her busy schedule to get regular massages says that the bodywork improves her general well being and spirit ans is a peaceful escape to sync her mind and body. She adds that massages are available and can be tailored to anybody, from all walks of life, no matter what their own individual reasons for needing or wanting one.

As a practitioner, you learn how to give love through your work and that, in turn fuels the love I have for myself. Raina Colvin , a Healing Hands Instructor, shares " I am more accepting of myself. I have found that showing others respect and honor to myself helps them to see the value in themselves." One of the Healing Hands School's Founder and Director, states, "Your client is never just a pile of muscle and bones on your massage table; they bring to your table everything, truly everything, that has ever happened to them; the sum if their life is on your table, under your hands. In order to teach this kind of reverence, our faculty and staff must constantly engender respect and dignity in our deliberations with each other, with our students and with the healing community.

The physics of muscle stress are important to understand, but a true healer must also heal emotions. In order to hold that space for your client, you must channel love through your work. Such energy is used in all people who practise massage, from a tender wife working on her husbands neck for a few moments to a professional who helps athletes recover from a hard game. In order to channel that love in our work, we must have respect and love for our work, and more importantly, for our self.

Through all of my education at Healing Hands, I have learned so much more about self-love than I ever expected. Having the experiences of being a practitioner and being a client have taught me how to love and care for others. It has also taught me how to treat my own mind, body, and spirit with respect. HHP students Aimee Porter says "Being able to have goods self-esteem and acceptance of yourself is key to being a good massage therapist. We need to be able to love ourselves!"