A Note about the Offer of Massage: from Katrina Haines, LMT

I have been a licensed massage therapist in Oregon for more than thirty years. During that time, I have studied many different modalities, systems and techniques from Swedish, Polarity, Esalen, Reflexology, and Therapeutic Touch to Reiki.
What I have learned from more than three years of working at Redmond-Sisters Hospice is that if my heart and my hands are in the right place, if I have a genuine attunement with my patient and their needs, then I will intuitively know what to do to provide comfort and healing. It goes beyond all the techniques I have learned in the past. It's important, as well, that there is receptivity on the part of the patient to receive massage treatments.
As healers we are taught how to help restore balance and therefore healing to the body. In working with a patient, I seek to provide comfort and relaxation-not with the goal of healing that person so that they no longer need hospice care but to bring a certain acceptance and equanimity into their lives-the sense that there can still be "good days" as well as times of joy and peace.
I have met some of my favorite people toward the end of their lives and after they have come onto our service. It was their willingness to be open to receiving healthy touch that made our relationship possible, their passing, perhaps, gentler and my life more rich for having known them. Katrina Haines, LMT