I’ve not blogged for ages but, rest assured Kneader fans, I have been beavering away in the background for the usual KML cause! I’d like to share a little bit of my year’s journey with you in this post.
In November 2014, I qualified in On-Site Massage and spent two months writing my own chair massage routines for the Kneader, because I had always knew that the Kneader was a great onsite massage tool but I needed to be an On-site therapist to prove it. The resulting Kneader On-Site Massage (KOM) uses two Kneaders in the routine and blends traditional Swedish massage moves with on-site massage Accupressure points for a really relaxing and lovely chair routine. The Kneaders work a treat – no need for elbows or forearms or even hands – and they’re great for doing the loveliest of massage moves, the Effleurage (stroking) move, which hands just can’t do over clothes. I knew I had something special, so I decided to introduce my new baby to the public in a controlled and safe environment where it could quietly grow and prosper.
I started a Friday Kneader On-Site Massage clinic in a local gym at the end of January 2015 and have built up a practice with loyal and happy clients. It’s been great getting back to my therapist roots – I had been sitting behind the KML desk for too long and massaging clients regularly has really confirmed how much I missed it. In March 2015, Kneader fan Carl Newbury of Massage World Magazine suggested that I hold a focus group to see if therapists would be interested in Kneader On-site as a therapy to train in and use in their own practices and they all said ‘Yes’! So, after resting on my laurels and working in my garden for several months, I embarked on writing up the Kneader On-Site Massage massage course.
It has been one of the most challenging things I have done so far and was a journey filled with many side roads and obstacles.
Not only did I have to produce a course manual up to industry standard, but I had to first qualify as a teacher, which I did in June of 2015. Then I put the routines to paper and added in pictures, illustrations and never-ending cross-references. Once the routine was there, I had to pad the course out with chapters on professionalism, health and safety, anatomy & physiology and a rundown on trigger/accupressure points, all of which took so much longer than I had ever anticipated. Finally, it was ready by mid-January and I submitted it with the Complimentary Therapists Association for approval.
The ensuing month has been a blur of ducks lining up in a row: I found a teaching venue, got insurer approval and massaged at the London Olympia Health Show at the end of January, which was the first time Kneader On-Site was put on show to the masses. The response was overwhelmingly positive and it connected me with lots of professionals interested in the Kneader On-Site routine and its impending course.
I received the CThA approved certificate today (mid-February) and I already have two confirmed course bookings. Now comes the part where I spend even more money on teaching materials, massage chairs and booking platform pages for the website, but there is a momentum that was not there during the dark nights of the last six months when I struggled through writing the course page by page and sentence by sentence.
One of my favourite quotes is from Frank Sinatra (although it has been attributed to many others): “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. I’m ready to get lucky.
