Introductory Special

Three for price of two
time on sale at a discount
rain leads to rainbows


The studio is ready, the table is set up and everything is in place. Now all I need are people to book time, come in, have a cup of tea and get awesome massage.
To encourage you to tell your friends, I am running an introductory special. When you and a friend each book a 90 minute massage, both of you pay the 60 minute rate. That's a total of Three Hours of Massage for two people, for only $65 each. And, as always, I take Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. Pay cash, and get a $5 discount on each and every massage.
This offer applies also to outcall massage*. Have me come to your house with my table, for a massage for you and for a loved one, get two ninety minute massages, and pay the 60 minute rate.
The offer expires on March 21.


And!
I am starting a referral program. When you come to see me, take some of my special business cards. Sign and put your name on the back. Tell your friends to bring them with, when they come to see me. For every six cards with your name on them I get, you get a free 60 minute massage gift  card. Use it for yourself, or give it to a friend.

Thank you for coming by. Check me out on on Yelp, and see my website for more information. And as always, please call or email me with any questions you may have.
Stay Hydrated.
-Daiv

*$25 travel fee applies to all outcall massages.

Return

Journey in circles
seasons turn and then return
end at beginning

I have a studio, I am open for business.
Not, as it worked out, in Queen Anne. Rather, I found an opportunity to work somewhat closer to home, in Capitol Hill.
Specifically, I am going to be working at 419 E. Thomas St., above Analog Coffee.
This is an exciting opportunity for me, and I am looking forward to putting all my plans into action. More to the point, I am looking forward to the opportunity to start helping people, and spending more than a passing 15 minutes or a quick half hour with any given person. To having more control over my music, and the noise in my environment. To not having to interrupt my massage to give directions to the nearest bathroom, or where to pick up baggage, or where to find the next flight.
Which is not to say I will be quitting the day job any time soon. It has been good to me, and I have no intention of leaving. I just want a chance to do more, do stuff I simply am not able to do at the airport.
So.
I am open for appointments, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Tuesdays and Weekends coming soon, still working out the details of the space. Give me a call or drop me an email if you have any questions.

Location (redux)

where does the wind go
when is fire over water
I have found a place

More or less. Details to be sorted. But it appears that I will be sharing a studio space in Lower Queen Anne. Much work needs to be done, there (painting and moving in and such), but the opening date of December 1 has been proposed. I am going to be a part of Kulshan Practitioner Organization Alliance. The shared room, in the same building as Kulshan College, will also serve as the college library. The theme of the room is fire over water, which works well with my efforts to combine disparate disciplines into a unique practice.
As always, there are compromises involved in geting the space. I probably pay less rent, and pay nothing on days and times when I am not actually using the space. This means, I save and pass that along to my clients. On the other hand, I may not be able to be open as much as I want to, and the impact that has on my schedule is going to be very real.
At first, of course, the lack of time to be open is not as much a problem. There are stories, of massage therapists who opened a studio, hung out a shingle, and promptly had more clients than time. I do not expect that to be the case, here. Which is why I am keeping the day job, at least for the moment.
On the other hand, in the long run, changing location is not good for business. So, really, I want to find a place I can stay, and stay there for as long as they will have me.
For now, I am participating in getting it ready. When all is done, I will make the official announcement. Until then, keep watching this space.

Progress

river in the sun
flows across the desert sands
reach for the ocean

I've not posted in a couple weeks, because there's been little to say. In a nutshell, little has changed.
The biggest part of the change is that I am now a part of the Kulshan College Practitioner Alliance. Which means, at some point, I will have a place to practice.
However, the space we are planning to share for our use is unfinished, so time and energy needs to be applied to making it presentable. As such, I have no idea when exactly I will be able to open there. In any case, though, it is a nice space down in Lower Queen Anne, close to bus lines and it has access to parking.
Details to follow.
And in the meantime, I will continue to work on working, looking for the way forward.

Hold

destination unknown
no clearance given to land
lather rinse repeat

Nothing new to add. Still looking for a studio, still not finding one. There is something out there, I just need to keep moving forward until I get there.
I wish there was something more to say about this, and when next I post, I will not be whining about this issue again. Today, though, I am indulging in the frustration.
What is, is not what should be. So it goes.

No Studio on 15th

wind across water
clouds bring rain on bright clear days
time for change of plans

Got an email, today. The studio I was intending to rent has been rented to someone else. So, no studio for me. Time to resume the search.

Music

Music of the spheres
gentle rhythms carry sleep
discordant desires

One of the aspects of my Day Job that I am least fond of is the music.
It is not just that the music is bad (and it is) or even that I do not like it (I don't). I can accept and appreciate different musical tastes, and working as I do in an environment where there are a lot of people from different places, musical tastes are going to vary widely.
All that said, it is still massage. And music to accompany massage is not the same as music to accompany coffee or shopping for a book. Massage is supposed to be relaxing and healing. Hawiian style cover bands singing Beatle songs, is not conducive to the environment I want to create in my massage.
I will not play that music.
Of course, there is also the Celtic Harp / Indian Flute new age healing and meditation music, which is pervasive at Salons and Spas. Many of the CDs are actually marketed to and designed for massage therapists, advertising that they will create a safe and relaxing environment where healing can take place.
I will not play that music.
First and foremost, music should be what my client wants to hear while getting a massage. AC/DC? Flogging Molly? Johnny Cash? Bring your own CD.
If you leave it up to me? Moby, Bobby McFerrin, and Vitamin String Quartet.
If you bring a Josh Grobin CD,  I will even play that. There will, however, be an extra fee for it.

Studio

a place of my own

where the table can be set

ready to receive

Finally.

By appointment, I saw a space today, up on 15th ave, near Group Health. It's perfect. The rent is right, the hours are good, and the space is abundant. I will have plenty of room to set up my table and move around as I work.

For a start, I will not be using the room full time. And it is going to take some weeks while the previous tenant is moving out, and I move in. But I know where I am going to be. There is parking right across the street, and a number of bus lines pass right by the building. It really is a great location.

And, not trivially, the rent is less than I expected to pay by about a third.

When I have a firm move in date, I will put the address on the website, as well as here.

Have Table, Will Travel

Taking appointments

I will come and massage you

in the autumn night

I charge $65 for a sixty minute massage, $95 for a 90 minute massage, plus a flat $25 travel fee for outcall. I take Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover.
Some massage places do massage by the hour, which means 50 minutes, or less, of actual time on the table. I have no time for that. Your time is too valuable to shortchange it, and so when you schedule an hour massage with me, you get an hour massage from me. If you schedule for an hour and a half, then I will spend ninety minutes with you on my table, doing everything I can to address your concerns with my massage.

So email me or call me (at (206) 651 4214)) for an appointment.

Oh, and I give a $5 discount for cash rather than credit card.

Website

digital shingle

declares business open

the web is my door

I have a website. A permanent place of the internet, to help me get the word out. Right now, of course, it mostly says "Coming Soon". Hours, rates, locations. Contact information. But it is up, and declaring me ready to come to your house to do massage. Soon, it will also have the location and hours for my studio. There is, however, the trivial matter of not having a studio, just yet.
The website fills me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I appreciate that I have enough technical knowledge and experience to be able to make it happen with a minimum of fuss and bother.
On the other hand, it reminds me how very glad I am not to have to do this for a living anymore. Having been a technical writer for a time, designing and implementing online help manuals and other such documentation was a good career for a time. It was not as stable or as long term viable as I could have hoped.
So, now I do massage, and I get to apply my online web design skills and experience to telling the world about it.

So, check out my website and keep an eye on this blog for the latest updates, specials offers and maybe even the occasional discount.

Fusion

Eastern intuition

and western anatomy

fusion energy

The very first massage class I ever took was "Bones and Muscles". The basic structures, the fundamental anatomy, that all massage practitioners need to know. Name and placements of the bones, names and placements and connections of all the muscles. Fun stuff.
More importantly, though, the functions of all the muscles. When I am typing, what muscles am I using? Where are they, how are they moving? And if I do this all day long, sitting in a chair, my head held just so... what is going on in my body? Does it matter how I hold my head, how I cross my legs, whether my feet are flat on the ground or toes tucked behind the legs of my chair?
There were a lot of questions, and a lot of information.
In a nutshell, though, the answer is Yes.

Yes, it matters where I hold my feet while my hands pound away at these keys. Everything a body does, at movement and at rest, affects the muscles. Even resting, some muscles are extended and some are contracted. Knowing how all the muscles interact gives me a basis for knowing how to treat them.
Much later, I started on energetic methodologies. Eastern style techniques, focussed on the flow of Ki, breath, life energy through the body. Finding places where the flow was inhibited, and using techniques to removed the blockages. And this involved listening. Not just with my ears, but with my hands; holding, and finding the subtle rhythms of the body.
Knowing the anatomy, I understood better what to listen for. Knowing how to listen, I could beter address how the body needed to be able to move.

Each feeds the other. Together, they fuse into a more complete process, finding ways for the body to better heal itself.