Well, it's been nearly a month since I've posted anything. Since then, I've taken a continuing education course in infant massage, offered free chair massage at a MetroMoms event, completed two knitting commissions, and attended a natural building workshop. Whew!

The infant massage course was lots of fun. We learned about studies proving that children thrive when held and touched as infants, and practiced the technique on dolls. One of the students had her husband bring her toddler nephew, who had been receiving massage since he was a baby. He was so cute! He would sit still for a little while, then jump up to go pounce on his uncle, or to play with one of the dolls. Then, when he was ready, he would lay back down for a little more work.

The MetroMoms event was allot of fun, too. It was a "move and be healthy" type of thing, held at a Wiggles Play Center. Not only did the kids get to play on the playsets, but the moms participated in a hula-hoop contest, while the dads had to feed and change a "baby" - one handed! It was so funny to see grown men get so competitive over baby bottles filled with water and diapers that just would not come off of the doll. It was all in good fun, though.

If you are interested in my knitting, you can check it out at themerryknitter.blogspot.com. I've knit a Christmas sticking and three pairs of baby booties this lately. I'll start on a sweater this month.

The natural building workshop was so much fun. We built the walls of a small cabin out of cob, a traditional building material in the UK made up of sand, clay, soil, and straw. You add water and viola, you have...well, thick mud with straw in it. But, when it is stacked and squished into the shape of a wall, it dries rock had and can last for hundreds of years. You know those white houses with the thatched roofs in England? Those are cob. You can check out the slide show of some of the pics and video I took during the workshop below.

A Beautiful Day

Well, it's been a lovaly Mother's Day. My mother and I went to a Standing Women event at a local park. If you don't know, Standing Women is a movement where women (and men) get toegether to stand to bring attention to the issue of creating a safe future for the world's children.

Including me, there were five women at the park, only one of which had participated last year. She came and read the Standing Women's reason for standing and an amazing speech called "Mother's Day Proclamation." written in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe, it calls for women to come together. Here's an exerpt, but you can go to http://www.peace.ca/mothersdayproclamation.htm for the full reading:

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Wow, huh? It was so relavent to today that it just blew me away.

And then, after all that serious talk of war and peace, and children and mothers, we noticed this on the pavement below our feet. You can just barely see it, but someone had scribbled the words "Your mom's HOT!!" I have to say, it gave me a fit of giggles.

Fun at HOPE House

Last night I attended a nifty function at the new wellness center, HOPE House in McKinney. Michelle, the owner, invited a bunch of local energy and alternative practitioners for a meet 'n greet sort of thing. My mother and I arrived after the introductions, though, because we got lost and ended up out in the country. (Which was actually a beautiful drive.)

But we did get there in time to mingle, and I met allot of new people and ran into some new acquaintances. Gosh, people are doing so much in north Collin County. Acupuncturists, theta healers, reiki masters, massage therapist from Plano, Allen and Mckinney were all there, milling about and having a good time. I got a pocket full of business cards, and a flyer or two, too. ;)

For more info on the HOPE house and Michelle's counseling service, visit her website at http://michellebarr.com/Working_With_Michelle.html

Finally. Whew.

It's finals next week! Ack! For those of you who don't know, I'm pursuing a bachelor's in English. Why? Um, not quite sure, to be honest. But, anyway, I've got finals coming up next week, so please don't expect to see anymore posts until at least Wednesday, the 7th. Then I'm free as a bird till June 9th. A whole month of no classes! Ok, I would not be so excited about this is if I was taking major classes. Right now I'm taking government and history. Kind of interesting, but not my absolute love. So, ya, I'm happy about finals. Or, I will be once they are over. Wish me luck. Please. Thanks! :)

Get your rest

I've been thinking about what to write in today's self care blog. I've had several things run through my head. Relieving shoulder tension and low back stretches were the two at the top of the list. But, to be honest I'm really tired. Literally. I had trouble getting to sleep last night and I feel whupped.

So, I thought I'd write about that. Getting your rest is a very important part of taking care of yourself. There are lots of chemical & physical reasons why a full night's sleep is important, but as my brain is a bit fuzzy, I can't remember the details. (Ironic, isn't it?)

Basically less sleep = more stress. When we don't sleep we can be cranky, forgetful, and less able to think clearly. And stressed. And prolonged stress dows nasty things to the body. Every thing from weight gain to compromised immune system has been linked to stress.

So, so your body a favor and take time to get your rest. It'll thank you for it.

Self Care: Stretching the Neck

If I had a nickle for every time I've heard, "I've got allot of tension in my neck and shoulders," I'd...well, I'd have allot of nickles, that's for sure. We store so much stress in our neck and upper shoulders, especially if we are heavy computer users (or work with our hands, or carry a child around allot, or...the list goes on and on.) It's really important to keep the neck muscles flexible. It not only feels good to stretch them, but it can help prevent or relieve neck pain and headaches caused by muscle tension.

Allot of times, you see people stretching their neck by rotating their head around in a circle, but this is not always the safest option. It can aggravate neck injuries, and as it's really easy to stretch too far with this method you could even create a new one.

When I stretch my neck, I like to imagine that my head is smack dab in the middle of a compass. North is right in front of me, east is my right shoulder, south behind me, and west my left shoulder. I usually sit in a chair with a low back, close my eyes and take a nice deep breath. As I exhale, I slowly let my chin drop towards my chest (towards north.) As my head lowers, I'm aware of the stretch in the back of my neck and I am conscious not to stretch to far. If I feel pain, I let up a bit. I take another breath and return my head to center with the exhalation. I then follow this process for the east point on the compass, bringing my right ear towards my right shoulder. I can feel the stretch on the left side of my neck and upper shoulder and I'm conscious not to let my right shoulder "help" by lifting up to touch my ear. I then take another breath and return to center. I repeat that for both the south and west points. If I'm feeling really tight, I'll incorporate the in between points (north & south east and north & south west) into the routine. To finish off, I'll slowly turn my head to look over each shoulder, making sure that my shoulders stay still, not coming forward to try to meet my chin half way.

So, they next time you find yourself imitating a scared turtle (head tucked down and shoulder up around your ears) you may find taking a few moments to stretch those neck muscles can help a bunch. Please listen to your inner guidance when stretching the neck, though. No over stretching, and don't push it if you feel any pain. When done correctly, a neck stretch is a great way to reduce allot of that stress tension we generate on such a regular basis. Hope it helps!

This information is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. Please consult your doctor if you have any questions about starting any exercise or stretching routine.

Self Care: It all starts with the breath

The breath is the most important stepping stone on the path to wellness. Learn to harness the power of the breath and you're on your way to creating a new you.


This may sound like an exaggeration, but just the simple act of taking a deep breath has an immediate effect on the body. A deep breath from the belly stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic is the opposite of sympathetic, or "flight or fight" reaction. Instead of getting the body ready to handle an emergency, it's the body's "all clear" signal. The heart rate slows down and digestion is stimulated, giving it the nick name "rest and digest."

"Ok," I hear you ask, "what does this mean to me?" Well, it means that you can consciously tell your body to relax, that every thing's going to be alright. You want to try it? Great! (Um, if you answered no, ignore that last bit...but keep reading, maybe you'll change you mind.)

The best way to take a deep breath is with your belly, or more precisely, your diaphragm. Place a hand on your belly and slowly inhale, pushing the hand out and away. Now relax and exhale slowly, feeling the tension drain out of your muscles and noticing how your hand moves back to the starting point. Once you've gotten the hang of it, you can drop the hand and take a few belly breaths when ever you feel the need to be calm. Remember to inhale and exhale slowly. We're trying to relax here, not huff and puff and...well, you get the picture, I'm sure.

So, try the belly breathing next time you feel tense. Just a few breaths should do the trick. And remember what they say, "Practice makes perfect." The more you concentrate on letting the tension just drain away, the easier it will become. The breath becomes the signal to let the body know that it's ok to relax now. Nifty, huh?

Here's another take on belly breathing from an organization that promotes it as a way to quell feelings of anxiety and panic. http://www.paniccure.com/Approaches/Meditation/Belly_Breathing.htm

This information is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or illness. I am in no way associated with paniccure.com. (The little cartoon on their Belly Breathing page is really cute, though. ;)

Ix-nay on the Ailing List-May

wow, it's really hard to write in pig latin. What I was trying to communicate is that I've dropped the idea of a mailing list. Instead, I'm going to do a daily blog about self care. Yes, I mean daily. Unless I'm somewhere where there's no internet access, like camping or something. So let's get started: urm, in the next post.

Oh! I almost forgot...whacha think of the new look? I stumbled across this nature-y template and really liked it. :)

Website working!

I worked with a client today that found me through my website! yea!

I also signed up for search marketing a few days ago, a pay per click advertising service. My ads are getting viewed a good bit, but it's only generated one click. So, we'll see how that goes.

Well, it's late and I'm a bit tired, so I'm gonna make this a short entry. G'night.

Webring & newsletter

Well, the webring is helping my hit count! Yea! This weekend I'm going to take some time and visit some of the other sites on the ring. Spreading the love, that sort of thing. ;)

I haven't had anyone sign up for the newsletter yet, though, so in light of that (and the fact that finals are approaching at an alarming rate) I'm going to postpone that until next month. I've got some ideas about doing a series of stretches for before and after all those fun outdoor activities going on right now. Now if I could just find someone who would model the stretch for me, I could include pictures...or even start a youtube channel. Hmmmm....

Spirit Women taking off

The women's spiritual activism group (a millionth circle group) my mother started is growing slowly, but surely. We've had more people show up at each meeting, and this month's meeting was a good one. We had fun with the roles of both sound and silence in a spiritual practice, and came up with some great ideas about how we can make a difference in the community as a group. I'm getting really excited about it and am planning to participate in it more and more. One of the members mentioned the Standing Women movement. It's women (and men) who stand in silence for five minutes to help bring awareness to the goals of creating a safe world for our children. It's happening May 11th, at 1pm local time all over the globe. Because of conflicting schedules we didn't decide to meet as a group, but there are women standing in the Dallas area. You can check it out at standingwomen.org. I'm going to be in a continuing education class that day, so I'm going to e-mail the school and let them know about it. Maybe the class would like to participate!

If you are interested in attending a Spirit Women circle, please let me know. We had to move the meeting day and place for May. We are meeting at a member's office and she asked me not to post it online. I think we'll be back at the Spiritual Fitness Center in June, but I'll definitely post any changes here and on out website: spiritwomen.bravehost.com.

It's not a diamond...

...but it is a ring! Ok, so it's a webring, not a piece of jewelry. (I really want to make some sort of pun about "my precious" here, but I just can't quite think of something that would make sense. darn.)

anyway, I submitted my website to an alternative health webring today. It's still in the pending stage, but I've got the code on the home page for all to see. Keep your fingers crossed. :)

Where's Merry?

ok, so maybe that title would work better if my name started with a W. But, it's the best I could come up with at the moment. ;)

I've got a couple of events coming up in May. On the 3rd, I'll be giving parafin dips and hand massages at a "healthy spa day" type thing hosted by New Directions Chiropractic. I'm not quite sure where it is being held (I should know these things if I'm gonna be there, huh?) but I'll post them here as soon as I find out. Or you can e-mail Dr. Neidrich for all the gory, er um, fun details through her website NewDirectionsChiropractic.com.

Also, on the 19th, I'll be doing free, yes I said FREE chair massage at a Dallas MetroMoms event, "Getting Strong! Hop, Skip, and Jump to Family Fun!" It's at the Wiggly Play center in Frisco. If you're interested, you'll need to register through MetroMoms at this website: http://www.metroplexbaby.com/MetroMoms/2008/20080518_GettingStrong.htm According to the site, one lucky family will win an orbit baby stroller.

So, anyway, hope to see you there. (oh, btw, be on the look out for my new newsletter, Take A Moment, coming out on the 15th of every month. I'll post it here, but you can sign up for the HTML e-mail version on the left hand side of the blog, or at the contacts page of my website.)

Free advertising, again!

I've been a busy girl today, let me tell ya. Not only have I drove my car into the body shop for an estimate (someone tapped my bumper and chipped the paint) but I have set up an e-mail newsletter and done a spot of free advertising.

I looked into what it would take to set up a mailing list through my yahoo service, but they don't offer a free one, just a paid service. I'm sure it's lovely, but to get things started I thought I'd try a free one. So, I trotted on over to my favorite "free web stuff" site, bravenet. I've been using them on and off on personal sites for years, and have never had anything to complain about. And what do I find? Lo and behold, they have a free mailing list! (did I spell "lo" right?) Anyway, ya, so they have an ad-supported e-mail newsletter service. You just copy and paste a little html into you site and viola, you've got something that looks remarkable like the box on the left hand column of this blog.

So, my site design tool was a very restrictive template-based service. But, yahoo also offers Site Builder, a point and click type thingy that allows you to insert your own html. Well, it took me a few hours, but I got the website transferred over, with a brand spankin' new look. (It's really pretty, a sunset theme.) I plopped the mailing list joinup in the contact page. Hopefully, I'll get some subscribers. (fingers crossed)

I also ran an ad on craigslist. So far, free advertising hasn't sent any clients my way, but who knows? Maybe craigslist will be the lucky one. I'm still waiting to have the metro mom ad approved. I had to fax in a signed consent form for that one, so I'm assuming that it may take a little time. That's ok, I can be patient. I think. (Maybe I should break out the knitting.)

Oh, if you want to see the craigslist ad, it will be there through May 2nd (I think.) The link is: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ths/622177261.html

Self care and self promotion

I am currently house (and cat) sitting for a good friend while she is away at a month-long training conference. She's a yoga instructor at a local studio of the chain Dahn Yoga. I've discovered that when you house sit for a yoga instructor, there are tons of yoga books laying around all over the place. If you sit down in the evening to watch a little tv, they call to you from the bookshelf, "Oh, Merry...why sit there like a bump on a log when you could be stretching? Come on, you know you wanna..."

Ok, so maybe my friend's books really aren't physically talking, but they do have a bit of a siren song of their own. So, last week I broke down and started thumbing through them. She's mostly got Dahn publications, and they have some simple, easily understood instructions for stretching, qi gong, and their tai ci-like martial art, Dahn Mu Do. At least, my mind easily understands them. My body, on the other hand, keeps reminding me that since self care ceased to be a priority for me a while ago, if we are going to move and bend like we used to we're going to have to build up to it. Like allot of other people, self care just slipped to the background as life got busier and busier. But, just after about four days of taking about an hour in the morning and a half hour at night for stretching and strength training, I can see a difference in the way I move and even stand.

So, my next thought after "Hmm, I didn't realize my quads were so tight, " was, "I wonder how I can apply this to my business?" (This seems to be an increasingly common thought these days.) The answer that has bubbled to the top is, "Write a monthly newsletter about self care!" Not only will it be a self promotion, but it will keep my on target in my own journey of self care. Ya can't beat that with a stick.

So, over the next few days I'm going to be looking into how to incorporate a mailing list into my website. The design tool I'm using is pretty restrictive, so i may have to consider some other options. Wish me luck!

The technological revolution

Ok, I'm back in the 21st century again. I bought a cell phone yesterday. Yes, I hear you cry in shock, "You mean you didn't have one already?!" Well, I used to have one, but when I came to Dallas in the wake of Katrina, the cell phone bill was one of the first sacrifices to the "reducing unnecessary spending" cause. So, now I'm back in business and I've got a number I can use in advertisements. I was a little weary of sending my home phone out into the world, but I can now hand out the cell phone number with abandon. Holistic Networker, here I come!

I've also taken advantage of the website's ability to take paypal. I'm now selling gift certificates online! right now, I've just got the hour table session up for grabs, but if that takes off I'll add other services.

Family business. Sort of.

Today I did a bit of networking. A bit. A little bit. Like meeting two new people worth of networking. My mother, who is an energy worker and all around spiritual person, has started a women's spiritual activism circle. Today was the second monthly meeting and I went. I knew all but two of the people there, but it got me thinking. I didn't even think about networking when I made out my list of ways to advertise. Duh!

Also, I looked into advertising in the Holistic Networker, a free alternative health magazine. It's free to place a listing in their online directory, but it's just an alphabetized listing with no way to search by location. Unless my name was Allison or Abby, I don't know what good it will do. I took a look at their print advertising, and it's less than $100 for a directory listing there. And those are location-specific, so I would be advertising in a publication that is distributed in the Dallas area. So, something to think about.

I also updated the meta tags on my website the other day. I didn't realize that I could change the ones that were automatically generated by the site builder tool thingy. Man, they were awful. So, ya, now they actually have the words "massage therapy" in them. And guess what? There was a jump in my hits! Yea for descriptive meta tags!

Getting the ball rolling...

...or, rather, "Researching what kind of ball I want to roll."

The business plan. Every entrepreneur should have one. I don't. So, today I decided it's high time to remedy this problem. I went rooting around in my old massage school books, looking for the one for that came with the business class. Do I have it? Nope. (But, I did find the one with the SOAP notes templates...SOAP notes are the charts used to keep track of clients' progress.) I remember from class that a business plan starts with an outline, though. So, instead of typing one out, I decided to put mine on index cards.

Index card one: The Goal.
Here's where I define what I want, and how long I want it to take to achieve it. Right now, I'm taking appointments two days a week, and working another part time job three days. I would like to reverse that. Also, I banged out some numbers on how many clients I need to achieve my monetary goal. Because I share expenses at my apartment and because I'm enrolled in college, I gave myself a modest goal. In four months, I want two to three clients a day, three days a week. That's assuming that these clients are all hour table sessions.

Index card two: How to Achieve the Goal (or: Getting My Name Out There)
Here I came up with some advertising ideas. Some I'm already doing: website, blogging. But, there's so much more I can do. There's internal advertising. I'll be setting out brochures and displaying a poster about massage in the chiropractor's office where I work. I'm also going to ask her about including a "Massage Fact" (or something along those lines) in her monthly mail out. For external advertising, I'm going to do some research on the different holistic medicine journals in the Dallas area. I'll also look into doing chair massage at the various spring festivals and health fairs in the Allen and Plano area. And last, but not least, when I've got my website perfected I'll look into sponsored Google and Yahoo listings.

So, it's not much, but at least it'll serve as a guide post for the next few months.

CEU's and Service Menus

Well, it's been a couple of days since my last blog. And, yes, life has taken over. I haven't gotten nearly as much done on the website as I'd like, and I still haven't set up a formal list for the daily distance reiki meditations. I could go on and on with excuses, but I won't bore you. Besides, its all in divine order, right?

I have talked with the chiropractor about pricing for services for other than standard hour on the table, and she's flexible about me setting my own prices. There's another therapist working out of her office and i didn't want to undercut her, but I don't think that will be a problem. Our styles are so different that it's almost as if we offer two different services all together.

Speaking of different styles, it's getting to be that time again...CEU time. (cue dramatic music!) I've got to renew my state license ad my insurance by June. Also, the NCBTMC (the national licensing that Mississippi required instead of a state test) is due to be renewed this year. I'm not sure what the continuing education requirements are, and I'm not even sure if I want to renew it. The certificate looks good on the wall, and heaven knows I worked my tushie off for it, but what does it really do for me? It's something to think about, anyway.

Well, I'm off to update my service menu on the site, then it's off to work. Ta.

Reiki Service

Before I moved to Texas I belonged to a weekly meditation group. We'd get together and speak briefly about issues that we (or people who had placed requests) wanted some help with, then sit in silent meditation and send healing energy to these issues. Not only did we share our worries, but our good things, too. It was a lovely group with a lovely purpose.

I have yet to establish a meditation practice here in the Lone Star State, and I think it's high time. I've decided to make it a time to send reiki to those who have asked me to. Traditionally, there are three levels of training in reiki. When a person receives the second, they can send reiki energy to someone at a distance. It's helpful to have a focus, so I'll write a list of names on a paper and every day I'll sit in silent meditation, sending reiki to those on the list. I thought about confining this to just friends and family, but something made me reconsider. I am going to open this up to anyone.

So, as you are reading this, if you feel like you would like to receive some distance reiki, I would be happy to add your first name to the list. I'll keep your name on the list for a week, or you can request a specific time period...or even specific days, if you wish. I'm even happy to send reiki to pets. You can leave a comment here, or for a confidential e-mail you can contact me through my website, HolisticReikiAndMassage.com. Important notice: It is always my intention to honor and respect the wishes of the person receiving reiki. On that note, please request reiki only for yourself or for someone you actually know. If you are requesting for someone else, get their permission first. It's not kosher to send distance energy to someone who is unaware.

If you have questions about reiki, distance healing, or about the process, please ask me. I would be happy to answer to the best of my ability. Namaste.

A day of rest?

So, no work on the business this Sunday. But, please don't think I've been sitting around on my duff all day. (So, what exactly is a duff, anyway? Or rather, how did it come to be called "duff"?) I made a fabulous, if I do say so myself, breakfast this morning. French toast a la Merry. I'll give you the rundown. No exact measurements, sorry:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Preheat oven on a very low setting - I used 175F.

Melt a table spoon or so of butter and add some olive oil in a skillet.
Shred some deli-thin turkey cold cuts into the pan and let fry while mixing egg batter.

In a shallow pan or dish (I used a pyrex pie plate) crack three eggs (for two people).
Add about two or three tablespoons of milk.
Sprinkle in a couple of pinches of grated parmesan. Not the powdery stuff, the kind that looks like you grated it with the little holes on a box grater.
Add a bit of pepper.
Scramble it all together.

Remove the turkey from the pan and hold it in a bowl for future use.

Dip sour dough bread slices into the egg mixture, turning to coat both sides. Slap those babies in the skillet and fry until golden brown. When you turn them over, place a bit of shredded turkey on them.

When they are done cooking, place them on an oven safe plate and sprinkle with feta cheese. Pop them in the oven for just a bit, to warm the feta.

Serve with mint tea. Yummy!
~~~~~~~~~~
After that I cleaned out the storage unit on the back porch, organizing as I went. Then I made chicken soup from scratch. I even made the broth from some chicken pieces hanging out in the bottom of the fridge. I have to admit, it wasn't my best soup ever, but maybe it will taste better for lunch tomorrow. Time for the flavors to mingle, that sort of thing.

So, ya, no business taken care of. But, I've got my camping gear organized and I've got lunch for tomorrow already made. Whew.

Website upkeep

Today I did some rough polishing on my website. I added a Services menu, but I am only able to list the price for an hour massage at the moment. I know it's a bit unprofessional to have "under construction" stuff, but I really wanted to get a list of what I do out there. So, I'll fill in the rest when I have discussed pricing with the chiropractor. Also, I added Hot Stone Massage to my repertoire. I'm certified, but I never had a set of my own. The casino where I used to work had a great set, so I never bothered. The chiropractor's got one so I'm good to go again. I'm all excited; I love to do a hot stone massage. The heat does all the hard work for you. It opens up the muscles so fast and you don't have to apply deep pressure to release them. Besides my hands get the benifit of the heat, too. Mmm, lov-er-ly.

Oh, I also figured out how to change the page titles. For example, now instead of "About Us" the tab for that page says "Background". It was really bugging me, since there is no "us", just me. I don't know if I'll have time to install a paypal button for gift certificate purchaces tomorrow or not. The apartment complex where I live is having an inspection. They'll be checking to make sure our porches are clean, to cut down on pests. (Rat problem last year. There was a drought and they were out looking for water and food. Out, as in crawling down the wall right outside my living room window.) So, time to get that camping equipment off the back porch and into the storage room. And I gotta wash the dog. And clean the house. And...um...well, that's it, really. Oh! And study for government class. Ya, that's all. A nice relaxing Sunday, huh?

Free Advertising!

I heard back from the person who manages Moonlady today. She e-mailed me saying that since this was my first ad, and it was formatted correctly that she'll give it to me free! Cha-ching! (omg, did I just type "cha-ching"?)

Who knew I would be so excited over five bucks? But, hey every little bit helps. It's really more of the spirit of the gesture than the money, anyway. Other than that, I really haven't done much business-wise today. I'm planning to add a services menu to my web site and add a paypal button for gift certificates. But, I need to check with the chiropractor I'm working with about pricing for services other than a standard hour. I haven't been there long enough for someone to request a half hour or a two hour session. Today, though was about studying for history class and some kick-back time with a knitting needle or two in my hands.

Oh, shoot, I meant to call the Spiritual Fitness Center. I'm hoping to get the chair out for some fresh air at their psychic fair this March. (How many word with the letters "air" can I use in one sentence?") Well, the fair isn't for a few weeks yet. If they have room for a chair massage booth, it would be a great way to get my name out there. But, the Center is in a completely different city from where I take appointments. Hmm...maybe I can find a place for chair closer to the office.

The journey begins...

...with a single post.

I've taken the plunge and started a daily blog. Something to record my journey of building a reiki and massage way of life here in Plano, TX. I'll try to keep the focus on energy and body work, and what I'm doing with my business, but I'm sure other bits and pieces of my life will end up here, like my knitting obsession or my pursuit of an English degree. So, on with the show...

Today I'm dipping my toes in the advertising world. Not at a multi-million dollar level or anything. In fact, all of five bucks will be spent. I am placing an ad on Moonlady, a yahoo group that sends out info on ecological and spiritual events around the Dallas area. I'm hoping for a few eyeballs on my webpage once it runs.

I also got my first chiropractic adjustment in quite some time today. I'm working out of her office, and she agreed to trade services. Yea! I'll be working on her family mostly and she'll adjust me. I got surprising news from her. Apparently the range of motion in my neck is equivalent to someone in their seventies...and I haven't even (quite) hit thirty yet! Ah, well, I guess four years of highschool marching band is catching up with me. Time to be a little more vigilant about daily stretching. I'm seeing her again next Thursday. Hopefully I'll have gotten my scalenes (neck muscles) to relax a bit by then...I think I'll go heat up a moist towel in the microwave.