Las Vegas Massage vs Statesboro Massage

Before moving to Statesboro, I had a great love for massage therapy, or so I thought. At the time we lived in Las Vegas and had for nearly 20 years. Performing massage was a joy. What could be better than going to work performing 3 to 4 hours of massage 4 days a week and going home? Working in resort spas on the strip can be a very lucrative business. After work there was no thought of the job. Time away from the strip was personal time usually spent with the family. It was actually possible to earn a decent living working part time, honestly. But then we moved to Georgian low country.

It doesn’t take long to notice that this is not a massage therapy Mecca and that working part time will not be as prosperous in The ‘Boro. If you look around, and know what you are looking for, you can find a good number of massage therapists, but there are no hotel casinos that feed a booming spa market. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t realize how many of us there are here and they drive all the way to Savannah for massage. So, starting over after 20 years as a massage therapist has been an adventure filled with many lessons. The biggest one being the revelation that I didn’t really love what I had been doing for the last two decades.​​

That may sound strange, because massaging people in Las Vegas was great. It is just that here, in our small town, massage is so much more. It is more friendly, personable, and real. Working in that environment out west was very high volume, fast moving, and exciting. We had days when we would work on as many as 8 different people from all around the world. We worked on high rollers, celebrities, and people on a once-in-a-life-time vacation. Some people were there for conferences and would pop into the spa after a long day of meetings. Some were there to celebrate their 40th birthday. Each person had a completely different reason for getting a massage at the spa..

 

My favorite clients were people who were celebrating a personal event such as a birthday (usually 21, 30, or 50), a wedding, or even a family reunion. There is just something special about being a part of one of those milestones that warms the soul. Most of these people would only see us once in a lifetime and the massage, no matter how wonderful it was, would fade into the blurry memory of a whirlwind Las Vegas trip that was also filled with flashing lights, Broadway quality shows, shopping, and of course time on the casino floor or in the sportsbook for March Madness or the Super Bowl.

All of that was fine, mostly… There was always a hunger for more though. For me there has always been a drive to improve the quality of life for clients. That was the initial reason for getting into this line of work. Sure, people would come to the spa with pains that were able to be “resolved” in a single massage, as far as we could tell at least. We couldn’t really know though, because we never saw most of them again. We never actually knew if we “saved” the vacation, business trip, bachelorette weekend, or whatever the occasion was. There was still a need for more, and that is where Statesboro comes in.

 

My wife and I moved to Statesboro, Georgia with two of our children and our dog a little more than a year ago. It was clear from the beginning that starting up a small massage practice was going to be the plan. This was all part of our new adventure. There was a great deal of support from everywhere. All of the friends in Vegas were sure that this would be the perfect thing to fill what was I was missing in massage therapy and related bodywork (bodywork just refers to a broader group of styles of therapy that LMT’s are allowed to perform that don’t necessarily include massage) on the strip. Family also gave assurances that this was a great thing and everything in life had prepared us for this moment, and our supporters have only grown in number since getting to know this wonderful town.

How does anyone start a massage practice in a small town full of strangers? What was the preparation for this moment? How does anyone even feel at home in a new town? We had to figure that out first of all. I dug deep into the memory banks and recalled a time long ago when a friend asked, “Don, is there any place you don’t feel at home?” She asked this after noticing that everywhere we went, I did my best to treat people like, well… people who are appreciated. “Thank you” and “I hope you have a great day” were just a part of bringing a smile to the faces of people we would meet. Surely everyone likes to be greeted with a smile. After some reflection it was clear that this was consistent in how I was brought up in my sleepy Virginia town, it was the way I was trained in my first real job at McDonalds, and it didn’t change in the Forbes 5 star training I received at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. It has just always been right. Just be your genuine self, friends advised. Everyone warms up when they see a smile. Here in The ‘Boro there is no shortage of smiling faces. Y’all made the transition into a small practice much easier. So as we smile together, you continually help get things going and have given guidance and support. Thanks for helping us feel at home here. It has been a great beginning.

Devine Hands Therapeutic Bodywork is a full time job. This is a lot different from just showing up 4 days a week for about 6 hours at a time. Almost every hour of every day has moments focused on this massage practice. It may be laundering the linens, responding to a text, or writing a blog post, but it is now a way of life not just a part-time job. There is also no anonymity here because everyone knows everyone else, and we see each other all the time. It is clear when a massage has been effective, because I hear about it while grabbing a bite at Sugar Magnolia’s, or running to the BiLo to pick up groceries. Here people are not usually on vacation, they schedule the massage around work, picking up the kids and the rest of everyday life. I see you everywhere; at First Fridays, the Farmer’s market, Chamber of Commerce events, PTO meetings, in the neighborhood, and everywhere else. When we see each other, we smile and I love hearing how you are doing, because we are not strangers. We are invested in each other’s lives. I think about you often, and even if you have not yet climbed onto the massage table, if there is some information or exercise that can help you, I will pass it along. I couldn’t do that in Las Vegas.

Massages were like sand castles that were quickly washed away by the hurricane force winds of the Las Vegas experience. That is no longer the case. I get to work with you as many times and as often as you would like. I get to truly be a part of your healing journey. I hate when you are in pain, but I love working with you to find resolutions to that pain.

Driving home from a busy day working on the strip, I used to play a game that consisted of trying to remember something about each person I had worked on that day. It is upsetting that I often would fail. That left an emptiness inside of me, and meant that there was no real connection. Now, as I drive home, I am thinking of you and your family, how you are doing, what can be done to help you more, and where I will see you next. I can reach out to you and share information that may help improve your health situation or ease your pain. I know your story and you know me.  That was the part that was missing from massage for me. I love what I do now ! 

Thank you!

Do you wonder if you have to be totaly naked read my thoughts here.

Is deep tissue right for you? click on this link. 

 

Don Devine, LMT MT012315

DevineHandsMassageTherapy.com

Don@DevineHandsMassageTherapy.com

912-541-0589

 

What Is With the Blue, Gold, and Black Hand?

 

For many years I wondered what kind of logo I would have if ever I owned a company. I’d look around town and see lots of logos that I have recognized my whole life. Logos that don’t even need to include the company name anymore because everybody knows what you get when you see those symbols.

In 2000 when I was fresh out of massage school I started my first business, and it occurred to me that I needed to get all kinds of stuff like shirts, pens, business cards, etc. with a logo on them so that people would know me and my business just by seeing my symbol. My massage school had a great logo that incorporated a classic Greek column along with its name. I knew that I wanted a logo that had something timeless like that. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a symbol that could effectively represent my work. A few years ago, while looking at ancient cave drawings online, I found a petroglyph of a hand and there it was… almost. It was somewhat like the “Devine Hand” but it was the right hand, it didn’t have the colors, and the swirl in the palm went the wrong way, but I had found my inspiration. I just had to do a little work on it because all those characteristics exemplify who I am determined to be as a therapist. If you stick with me I will explain each element of the “Devine Hand.”

 

The Hand

 The obvious reason the logo is a hand is because we normally use our hands to apply the art of massage. As mentioned above, the petroglyph that was the source of my inspiration was the right hand. In traditional Chinese medicine the right half of the body is considered to have masculine energy, which has aggression among its characteristics, and aggression has no place in a massage environment. The left side of the body is the feminine side and has nurturing among its characteristics. That is how every aspect of a massage should be, so the left hand is a better representative of my work. If you look at the Yin/Yang symbol you will notice that it has a little dot of masculinity in the feminine side and the masculine side has a little dot of femininity in it. That is because nothing has purely masculine or feminine qualities, there must be a balance. For this reason I have this left hand tattooed on my right arm. I also find it important to wear this expression of balance since I am a male therapist. This left hand is a symbol of the nurturing side of my soul, the place where my work originates. The color of the hand itself is black like the hand in the cave picture that inspired the “Devine Hand.”

 

The Swirl

Swirls represent different things in different cultures. This swirl is the energy flow of my massage. It is always very important to make sure that energy is flowing in the right direction. If you consider the direction of massage strokes you will find that Swedish strokes tend to move toward the heart. The reason for this is to promote the flow of blood and lymph. This increases circulation which affects the removal of metabolic waste and the distribution of nutrition to the body. If you ever watch water going down the drain you will see that it moves in a counterclockwise direction (in the northern hemisphere) pulling the energy into the drain. The swirl of the “Devine Hand” has energy flowing out from it, therefore; it goes in a clockwise direction.

Peaceful nurturing energy flows from my hands, not to overpower, to invite healing. This way I can provide healing energy for you, without pulling energy from you. You are there to receive a healing treatment, not to have your energy sucked away. Also, this is the direction of the flow of time itself. We must move forward, not backward in time. It is okay to look back at where we have been, but it is imperative that we move forward in time toward the healthy people we are becoming.

 

The Color Blue

Blue is my favorite color, and it is also the color associated with water. Water is absolutely amazing! It can clean our bodies, conduct electricity and carve canyons. Most things dissolve in water and it is your body’s main ingredient. When I lived by the New River in southwest Virginia, one of my favorite things to do was sit on its banks and watch the water flow. The sound of its power washed all of my troubles away. I watched as the water contoured and reshaped the land that attempted to contain its flow. Sometimes, on cold winter days, the icy water would slow down as it would freeze along the banks, and the river appeared to be resting. When things warmed up in the spring and after a strong storm, the river would awaken with a power that loosened dirt and washed away debris, revitalizing the river valley and bringing new life. Early in my career, as I studied different modalities of bodywork, I learned to let my hands move like water. When you receive your session, I hope you notice that whether my hands are calm and slow moving, like the black waters of the Ogeechee River, or powerfully eroding discomfort from your body like the Colorado River patiently carving its way through Arizona, they have a flow that is influenced by refreshing blue water.

The Color Gold

Okay, maybe you call this yellow. To me this represents our life-giving sun. The sun is the greatest generator of energy in our solar system. When I was a massage student, I found myself drained of energy while practicing acupressure. My teacher guided me to ground myself and become a conduit instead of “giving” my energy away. In this spirit, I view the golden comforting light energy of the sun coming into the top of my head and moving out through my hands in order to provide you with the warm, life-sustaining, golden energy of the sun. That is why this color is within the clockwise swirl that sends energy to your body.

Final Thoughts

The “Devine Hand” isn’t just a picture of a hand that I can put on shirts, hats, gift certificates and other fun stuff. It is a representation of the work I do. My hands are influenced by the nurturing energy within my soul as they transfer the warm, comforting light of the sun pouring out of my hands like water to stimulate healing and the regeneration of your health.

Special Thanks To

Jennifer Allen who captured these concepts perfectly in the final design of this symbol, and

https://www.winkypproductions.com/

 Angie Leaf who tattooed it on my right arm, where it remains as a constant reminder of my purpose as a facilitator of healing.

http://www.fallenleaftattoos.com/ 

Thank you for allowing me to be a healing part of your life’s journey.