I started to work one-day-a-week at an assisted living facility and memory care near my home. It took me a little while to acclimate myself to the 75-100 year-old demographic. I realized more than ever that the power of touch makes people happy and brings us home to ourselves. People will remember how you make them feel.
Getting Acclimated
Asking the aides for help getting folks on and off the table for a massage since they could easily fall if they had advanced Parkinson’s or other disease was important to secure from anyone getting injured.
Finding out what their favorite music is and making playlists from the turn-of-the-century music that is dear to them.
Using clothed techniques to make it easier for a person to be treated and not have to go through the hassle of disrobing and redressing when their motor skills and pain level would aggravate the matter helped add variety and ease.
Having them sit up and hold the handles of their walker or the back of a chair so that I can give them a back rub, if they can’t turn over easily. It was all about making it comfortable, enjoyable and beneficial.
Applying liniment to their bruises allows them to heal faster. Somehow their nervous system doesn’t register pain as much. In some instances confusion and frustration is evident. I just like to come in and give a hand and go out leaving them feeling as if someone has cared for them. And so they are calmer, relaxed & peaceful.
Feeling Feedback
After our first session together, I quietly entered the room where a 91 yr-old was resting after lunch. I whispered, “Do you want a massage?” He replied by throwing off the covers, jumping up and yelling, “Yeah!” The aide in the room started to laugh. I was very surprised and happy about the response. Evidently, he remembered his experience of the previous week.
Another person likes to relate to past experiences by saying, “You have a good touch” and telling folks, “She gives a good massage”. Of course this person is no stranger to massage. They have previous experiences to compare. As Jane Fonda says, I feel I’m part of their “Third Act”. I’m part of this time in their lives where I can make a difference in a meaningful way. One person says, “You do me a world of good”.
Since I started this job, the saying above, by poet Maya Angelou makes so much more sense to me. In fact, it really hit home. I know that my work is appreciated even when sometimes folks don’t have the words to describe the feeling they have. Their enthusiasm speaks volumes!!
Jennifer Wasmer coaches Authentic Communication. She is a master communicator who believes that communication is an act of love and that it always starts with the communicator.
Self-Study
Jennifer invites her clients to begin their journey with her with self-study — including coaching, values alignment, meditation and yoga.
Intentional Listening
Having strengthened their foundation in enhanced self-awareness, Jennifer’s clients are then better able to connect with others through intentional listening and to cultivate powerful authentic communication skills to express their truth in ways that foster deeper relationships, more meaningful work, and greater peace in all domains.
Gratitude
Jennifer is also a deep believer in the alchemical nature of gratitude, which is always available to everyone and changes everything. She creates an environment for others to marinate in the goodness of gratitude through a video series called “Gratituders In Action”, which features people from around the world sharing their appreciation and thankfulness.
Connect
Her company is DaySpring Communications.
Testimonial:
It’s such a privilege to learn from an expert, and Jennifer is without question a leading authority on communication. Our team is better thanks to her work with us. – Rob Acton, Founder & CEO of Cause Strategy Partners
From DaySpring Communications Website:
One of the key lessons from the pandemic has been the importance of company culture to attract and retain talent. The Great Resignation and the modern hybrid work environment have thrown up new challenges for how to engage people so they feel connected to their work, each other, and a sense of purpose – all of which help produce optimal business outcomes.
Authentic Communication is a professional development program that strengthens organizational culture by advancing interpersonal communication skills. It cultivates fresh perspectives, invigorates teamwork, and unleashes capacity to meet ever-emerging challenges. These outcomes foster resilience, commitment, and success for individuals, teams, and businesses by focusing on the essential role our communication plays in nourishing (or depleting) strong, healthy human connections…..
Join Dana House, guest Sound Healer, for a blissful Sacred Sound Ceremony at Fusion Yoga & Wellness for the first time!
The healing power of sound has been around for thousands of years. Before we are born, sound is one of our first senses. In today’s fast-paced society, relaxation and meditation are more important than ever to maintain our health and wellbeing. The long-lasting tones of sound healing instruments help to produce “trance” brain waves and support vibratory conditions conducive to outer relaxation and inner meditation. They can promote healing through resonant frequencies and pure tones. Crystal bowls are made of quartz crystal as well as precious and semi precious stones, which can focus, store, amplify and transmit energy patterns.
For this special sound bath you’ll experience the sacred sounds of Dana’s collection of empowering Gongs and ethereal Crystal Bowls, chimes and more… all acting in harmonious vibration to accelerate energetic healing, spiritual awakening and immersion into blissful remembrances of unity with all creation.
Relax comfortably on your mat with supportive props as you allow the sounds to take you along sacred healing pathways for mind, body and soul. Most of this 90 minute experience will take place laying down, or seated if you prefer. Feel free to bring any extra pillows, blankets, and eye pillows for your comfort.
Dana House has been a healer and spiritual practitioner for many lifetimesdecades, beginning with piano at age 6, her first Tibetan bowl in 1983, crystal bowls in 2002, culminating in the ecstasy of the Gong baths in 2009. She has much experience with the harmonic sounds of healing instruments , including but not limited to dynamic Gongs, crystal and Tibetan singing bowls, tuning forks, tangas, rain sticks, etc. Dana gives immersive sound experiences, conducts sound healing workshops, and also utilizes sound in teaching meditation classes, as well as private massage, energy and sound sessions…to not only create more peace prosperity and joy in individual lives but to assist all of humanity to recognize its oneness and encourage greater compassion and cooperation worldwide.
Sleep is important. Our bodies are equipped with mechanisms that help us to find the balance between rest and activity. Here in a lecture, meditation video and supporting materials, Alvina Quatrano brings to life the energetic components that are useful to find that balance. Using gentle finger pressure acupressure will help you to balance your body clock to easily find the necessary sleep that may evade you. Relax. Enjoy!
This class is also available for CE’s from CE Broker in Florida.
PS: Soul Lightening Bookstore referred to is no longer open. Everything you need is in the Manual. Look for some new resources with Insight Acupressure 2024 website.
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Alvina 732-266-5276 alvinaq@AOHMassage.com
Alvina Quatrano, L.M.T. has been teaching with Insight Acupressure since 2002. Her current available classesare listed & linked.
Sleep is important. Our bodies are equipped with mechanisms that help us to find the balance between rest and activity. Here in a lecture, meditation video and supporting materials, Alvina Quatrano brings to life the energetic components that are useful to find that balance. Using gentle finger acupressure will help you to balance your body clock to easily find the necessary sleep that may evade you. Relax. Enjoy!!
This class is also available for CE’s from CE Broker in Florida.
Beth Shekinah Terrence, MS, is a Shaman and Transformational Facilitator. At age 11, she found a book on “Foot Reflexology” by Mildred Carter in her grandmother’s bookcase. Wedged between “The Joy of Cooking” by Julia Child and a volume of “The Talmud”, a sacred Jewish text, this random choice awakened her awareness to the concept that we are energetic as well as physical beings. And she began to embrace the idea that as humans we have an innate healing capacity that we can tap into through natural and holistic practices. At age 14, she was introduced to yoga and meditation, and her journey of exploring spiritual traditions and healing modalities from around the globe has been continuing ever since.
Healing & Practices
Beth Shekinah’s personal experience of healing from addiction, trauma, and Fibromyalgia opened to her to embracing a holistic approach to life and well-being. This ultimately led her onto the path as a holistic and wellness practitioner over 26 years ago. At the heart of her work is Shamanism, an ancient spiritual practice that offers a powerful gateway to healing, transformation, and soul-centering. Along with Shamanic Healing, Beth Shekinah utilizes an integrative holistic approach that incorporates holistic, spiritual, and restorative modalities including:
Shamanic Practices such as journeywork, ceremony & ritual, soul retrieval and energy extraction
Bach Flower Remedies
Feeding Your Demons® Process
Meditation & Mindfulness Practices
Energy & Body Therapies including Zero Balancing, Craniosacral Therapy, Reflexology, Reiki, and Bodybreath Healing™
PEER™ Emotional Energy Recovery
Holistic Self-Care and Lifestyle Restructuring
Addiction & Mental Health Recovery Coaching and Support
Sessions and programs are offered locally in the Maryland/DC/VA area and virtually via Zoom. Beth Shekinah offers tools and practices to facilitate transformational and healing processes that help to cultivate a deep sense of connection to support restoring wholeness, resilience, and well-being.
Be sure to check out her newest program, the 3-month Virtual Feeding Your Demons® Immersion Experience. And look for her annual love offering, May Is For Metta: 31 Days of Loving-Kindness Meditation, which happens virtually each May.
>>Take Alvina’s Values and The 5-Elements Personality Quiz Several Times a Year to see if it changes in season. Enjoy!!
decades, beginning with piano at age 6, her first Tibetan bowl in 1983, crystal bowls in 2002, culminating in the ecstasy of the Gong baths in 2009. She has much experience with the harmonic sounds of healing instruments , including but not limited to dynamic Gongs, crystal and Tibetan singing bowls, tuning forks, tangas, rain sticks, etc. Dana gives immersive sound experiences, conducts sound healing workshops, and also utilizes sound in teaching meditation classes, as well as private massage, energy and sound sessions…to not only create more peace prosperity and joy in individual lives but to assist all of humanity to recognize its oneness and encourage greater compassion and cooperation worldwide. 
