I my practice as a Caregiver, Massage Therapist and Personal Trainer, I work with clients from all walks of life and in all different stages of health and mental capabilities. Often, even though I am called to work with a person in one modality, say Care Giving, I find that blending in the others helps as well.

A family may call on me to help with their aging parent. It could be they just need someone to take them to Doctor’s appointments and shopping. In that process of getting to know the person, I find if I massage them once a week as well, we go to the doctor less.Massage does two things in this instance. Touch, something we can all understand and we all need, and pain relief. Old joints get sore, and pain causes stress. Massage lessens pain in many people and it also relieves stress.

Let me give you an example. A woman I work with was moved here by her family. In the process, she was removed from everything she had ever known, brought clear across the country and plunked down in a beautiful addition, build just for her on an estate out in the country.

She was lonely, out of her element and her family, though loving and caring, has demanding careers that keep them at work all day and into the evening, so they were unable to give her the companionship she craved. Over the weeks and months I have worked with her, I took her out into the community. I now give her a regular massage and we exercise together. I brought her to church and now she goes on her own and has made some new friends. She feels better, is less stressed and is beginning to enjoy her life here.

If I were simply a care giver who drove her to and from the doctors, she would still be under stress, and I am positive her health would have gone down as her stress levels and sadness increased. The mind-body connection is strong. I know that first hand because of my chosen profession. I have seen what exercise, art, music and social interaction can do for a person’s health.