Caring Palms is announcing the Holiday Gift Certificate Sale.

Buy 1 gift certificate, save $5

Buy 2 gift certificates, save $15

Buy 3 gift certificates, save $25

Best Deal: Buy 4 gift certificates, get 1 gift certificate FREE!

Gift Certificates are available for massage or Reiki sessions, or massage or Reiki classes. Buy gift certificates for friends and loved ones, or just for yourself. If you have four friends that can benefit from massage or Reiki (and everyone can), you can buy four gift certificates for them, and get one free for yourself. If you are a regular client, you can buy four gift certificates for yourself and get five sessions (this is the best deal going).

The sale is going on now and runs through Friday, December 24th. Gift certificates are available in the studio and can be ordered by phone with a credit card at (904) 246-2206, or by mail with a check. (Sorry, this special is not available at the web site.) What better gift to give to those you care about? Give them the gift of love and healing.

• January 22 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• February 12 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• March 12 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• April 9 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• May 14 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• June 11 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• July 9 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• August 6 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• September 10 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• October 8 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm
• November 12 (Saturday) 11am - 5pm

The following is a list of currently scheduled classes.  This class is a two-day class worth 12 CE hours.  Each class (unless otherwise marked) currently has a status of 'Scheduled'.  This means that a date has been set, but no one has signed up for it yet.  Once a deposit has been received for a class, the status will be 'Confirmed'.  The current schedule is as follows:

• May 28th - May 29th  (Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm and Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm)   

• August 13th - August 14th  (Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm and Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm) 

Body Mechanics and Advanced Techniques for Massage Therapists is designed to reconnect the massage therapist with proper body mechanics and techniques showing how to work without hurting oneself and how to apply deep pressure with little effort.  The class being part lecture, part hands-on practice uses theory, stances, centering, and the proper use of body strength from martial arts and applies them to the art of massage therapy.  Students will learn how to focus their energies and use their body to do deep work with less effort and not get hurt.  This class will help anyone to work deeply with less effort no matter if one is 90 pounds or 250 pounds.  This class is for both the seasoned therapist and the new therapist.  It will show moves everyone is familiar with, but in a new light as well as moves many people may not have seen before (which have been taken from Lomi Lomi, Esalen, and other styles).  The idea is not to dictate how to practice, but to show better body mechanics which the therapist can adapt to what they do.  This is true whether they adapt all of it or just part of it.

I recently purchased new software to create my website with.  Because it is new, I am starting the learning process and finding out that some things are so much easier, and other things I can't figure out (like changing one word of text to a different color).  But because it is new and different, all the old files will need to be imported into it.

After I go through all the books, and feel I have a good enough grasp on how to do what I want to do, I will start changing the site over to the new (better) software. 

Most things will stay the same.  Some things will be a little different simply because there does not seem to be a simple way to do some of the things the site already does.  (A good example of this is the menu options.  Currently, they change to italics when the mouse goes over them.  That does not seem to be possible, but it can change to a different color.)

This will also give me a chance to reorganize some things internally just so they are better organized for my use.  Outwardly, there will be no changes, but it will be easier for me to find crucial things. 

The problem is that there are over 1,000 pages on the site, about 700 of which are the Reiki journal entries.  Then there are the sub-sites that most people do not know about.  They will also have to be updated, but that priority is much lower.

The new software will eventually allow me to do more things like streaming audio and video.  It will also allow me to get feedback right there on the site.

I expect it will be a month before I can actually get any changes out there.  It will be critical that it be working properly with all the classes that I will be creating due to Florida massage therapist license renewal being next year. 

So, if you run into any problems, please be patient, but also, please let me know in case I have missed something.  Thank you for your patience and continued support.

I was told a good one by a Methodist minister from Tennessee.  It has to do with a pendulum.

In life, we resemble a pendulum, swinging from side to side.  We go from one extreme to the other.  As the pendulum reaches one side, it slows as it climbs upward and spends some time there before it completely changes direction, going back the other way.  When it reaches the other side, it again slows down and spends some time before heading back.  At the point that the pendulum is balanced, at the center, is where it goes by with the greatest speed and spends the least time. 

We live our lives like a roller coaster with great highs and lows.  Just like a pendulum, we reach one end, and then things start changing and we head the other way.  We have times when things are bad, and eventually things will get better, then good.  And when we reach the peak of that, we start heading back the other way.  Things are not as good, or things are going wrong, or things are bad again.  But then it will turn around and get better.  It is the optimist that knows things will turn around and get better, and the pessimist that knows when times are good, that something will louse it up.  Each a swing of the pendulum.

But where we should be is at the center, balanced between good and bad, happy and sad.  Highs and lows.  We strive for balance, but how often do we stay in balance?  Once we find balance, it seems like something comes along to change that.  In fact the point of balance always seems short lived, the pendulum passing through there at the highest speed on the downward fall.  Where as we reach one end, and it seems like we are there for a long time, the pendulum going upwards until it stops and reverses direction. 

So maybe what we should be doing is working on slowing the pendulum and limiting its range so it spends more time at the point of balance. Just a thought.

A journey is an incredible thing, but I'm not talking about packing your bags and going abroad.  We have physical journeys, spiritual journeys, healing journeys.  Anything we do, any goal we set starts us on a journey.  The problem is that we sit around without goals, so we have no where to go.

All too many of us tend to see ourselves in a rut.  We go to work.  We go to school.  We go home, and then do the same thing again the next day.  But this is not what we want.  We want to be out of the rut, out of this pattern we are in.  We spin in circles with no direction to follow.  The problem is that we are not even sure which direction to pick.  So what do we do?  Well the first step is defining what we want, and it has to be reasonable.  It is real easy to sit there and say that your goal is to win the lottery and retire.  That is more of a fantasy than a goal, and yet there are steps to getting there too.  The difference is that there is a huge element of chance involved. 

Pick something real.  Pick something attainable.  Maybe you'd like to be doing a different type of work.  Pick the field you want to be in.  Maybe you'd like to lose weight, or be healthier.  Maybe it is a combination of things.  Maybe one thing will lead to another (as these things typically do). 

Once you have a goal, you know what you are working for.  This gives you a direction.  Once you have a direction, you can start moving.  But a long term goal is a carrot at the end of a long stick.  One needs to feel progress, so we look at what we want, and define how we will get there.  We create steps to take which gives us intermediate goals, goals that will eventually take us to our final goal. 

With these goals, we start taking steps.  Sometimes they are baby steps, but that is how we have to start.  The key is to get moving.  Once we are moving, things come easier.  A friend told me that he was at a crossroads, and did not know which way to go.  He felt his compass was just spinning.  I asked him what he wants.  This made him define a goal.  He wanted to sharpen certain skills and get in shape, basically to improve himself.  So once the overall goal was defined, I got him to define the intermediate goals. 

Well, getting in shape physically was the first thing on the list.  To do that, he needs to start working out.  Once he makes the steps to do that, he will start feeling better, and feel better about himself.  Once he starts working out, he will open himself to other options.  With the blood flowing, other possibilities will open themselves to him, and he will see different paths that will get him to his destination.  Once he feels better, he will start doing the exercises necessary to sharpen his skills, and eventually become what he wants.

The same is true for anyone.  Define your goal.  Define how you will get there.  Break it down into steps.  Set intermediate goals.  And the start moving by taking that first step.  A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.  Take that step.

At Caring Palms, we pledge to do the best work we can at every session.  We not only do this to continue to earn your business, but because we believe that you deserve the best care possible every time you are here.  This is true whether it is massage, or energy work, or classes.  This is our promise.  This is what we will continue to do.