So many times someone starts talking about stress and it gets so complicated. Stress is really simple “old math” (no to be mistaken with what they teach now as “new math”). Now here is the obligatory description of stress. “The body over riding desire to choke the stuff out of some idiot that is making your life miserable” But how does simple math come into that saying?

It is a simple rule of math that so long as you keep adding to your number it will get larger. As it is in the complicated world of math so it is with stress. As long as you keep adding to your stress you’re going to get more stress. But here is where it gets a little complicated. People think that when you stop adding to the stress that it automatically begins to go down. NOT TRUE.

Enter (key dramatic music) the pressure cooker. That is where you have already stopped the increase of stress but now you have put a tight lid on the boiling pot of your stress. True, you’re not getting any “more” stress. But that lid is putting a whole new quality to the stress you have. Lord help the silly person who happens to be nearby when this lid blows.

Here is where the subtraction comes in. 1. Subtract the heat. The heat is your expectations of forcing an outcome (ie: the illusion of control). Do your best and let it go. You actually have as much control over it as you do the nuclear roulette being played out in the Middle East. 2. Take away some stress with a breath. No matter how busy you are. Sitting back in your chair for 5 seconds and taking a deep breath “breaks the cycle of addition” (pun intended). 3. Subtract stress by adding a massage. Most of us (me included) get so ramped up in what we are doing that we forget that calming ourselves down is a part of that cycle. We forget what it is like to be relaxed, and just “not doing anything” IS NOT relaxing (verb, not adjective). Getting a massage reminds us that “normal” is not 2 degree’s from stroking out! Regular massage can bring down the stored stress level in our bodies and help you to remember to “feel” alive again.

So, stand up straight, take a deep breath, another glass of water and get a massage. So you can add relaxation to your life.

When is a LMT NOT an LMT? When they are a prostitute of course! While I am personally rather opinionated about things (I know that will surprise you) I do not bring that to the table nor anywhere near my clients and patients. However, a recent “episode” of The View and the ridiculously ignorant, sensationalistic and blatantly stereotypical comments made by the hosts and guests has just sent my blood pressure through the roof!! I find it necessary to clear the air!

I, and every LMT I know work very hard to bring help to our clients. Anyone with any education in massage therapy has been taught that sex is not within our scope of practice and highly unprofessional. We hold ourselves to a noble example and do not cross “that” line. There are from time to time cases that pop up in the media of masseuses that cross that line. They are the exception and not the rule! You can find them on Craigslist, and even in your local yellow pages under massage. Responsible LMT’s do what they can to influence media not to associate the two together. But want of a quick buck and professional  laziness make our job more difficult. It is the irresponsible media and the recent showing of “The View” where they were discussing “EX- Vice President Al Gore’s” alleged attempts on a self described “masseuse” which led them into a vitriolic thinly rational defense of their own insecurities about massage therapy, therapists and being touched.

While I am not about to venture a guess as to innocence or guilt of either party. I would like to point out a couple things. First, touch is touch! It is the intent of that touch that makes the difference. Intent is personal. So if YOUR intent is to be sexual that will come out in your touch or in the way you perceive the touch. Inflicting your personal fantasies on a massage session is an indecent accusation on a professional. I personally take GREAT offense at this! Do women have that same fantasy about a gynecologist, or men their proctologist? Maybe, (though I doubt it) but they would be the exception. NOT the rule!

Second, length of a massage again has nothing to do with sex. THe  not so thinly veiled accusation was that anything over an hour is indecent. While 1 hour is the standard measure of time for a massage it is not unusual for therapists to work 2, 3 and 4 hours on a client to resolve an issue. Measuring honest therapy which is the rule with the exception of ignoble lust due to a measure of time is a sensationalist tactic of titillation. As a professional I can tell you that working with soft tissue goes at the speed with which the tissue opens up and not on your consideration of minutes and hours. If a client is only in town for a few hours or days and needs concentrated work then you do the best you can with the time allotted. Which goes the same for someone doing short term chair massage at an airport.  

Third, supposedly she was paid $540 for 3 hours. I don’t know what her hotel contract states for payment. While I don’t charge anywhere near that rate I am not going to assume guilt by value either. Nor would I accuse someone of something so unprofessional and reprehensible by the value of what they get paid.

Massage Therapy is a medical profession here in Florida, as it is in many other states with Licensing (Portland included). We LMT’s (Licensed Massage Therapists) do our best to provide professional services to our patients and clients in a comfortable and safe environment. Ignorant assumptions and insecurity based back room humor disguised as fact from the irresponsible media does harm to us all.

Relax and Heal With Gary Gammon LMT, LLCC

What does soft tissue do? No really aren’t muscles tendons, ligaments and fascia just there to help us move.  Well yes and no.

 Certainly the most obvious function of the human bodies musculature is movement. Without the musculature we would not/could not sit, stand, walk, twist, type, read, breath, swallow, run, jump or leap Wiggle, jiggle, dance, hop, eat, swallow, frown, smile or laugh. Hammer, screw, cut, drive, lift, carry, shovel, drill, drink, wave, swim,…

 That movement of muscles provides a critical pumping function for the fluid of the body i.e. blood, and lymph. While the heart and lungs are the primary pumps for the blood and lymph, they are certainly not the only ones. That would be like saying that the guy who dips out the water in a bucket line is doing the whole job. He fills a critical job but without the movement of the water by the rest of the line, the fire will probably win.

 Another aspect of the muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia is station keeping. Kind of like the way a spiders web holds together. The individual strands of the web while strong, count on a dynamic tension of pull from different directions to hold together, and respond to stress, threats, damage or food. This translates to holding bones, organs, tissue, etc in place, moving, separating and holding together at the same time. Not only that but it holds up against gravity, and adapts to abuse, use and disease. Pretty impressive huh?