Meet OSM Instructor Anne Barber-Shams, LMT

We’d like to introduce you to OSM CE instructor Anne Barber-Shams.
By Ray Siderius, OSM Director
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Art and Healing

Anne Barber-Sham’s early education led to BA in art at UC Santa Barbara; her first career was as a painter. After moving to Oregon she continued art studies at Marylhurst and, as she focused more on contributing to family income, practicing massage came to mind. At Marylhurst a mentor reassured her that art and massage were a natural fit. The mentor said, “The healer and the artist are the same person.”

Life-Long Learning

Having entered the massage profession when Oregon educational requirements were minimal Anne, from the beginning, fed her desire to learn with a steady stream of continuing education. At an Oregon/Washington AMTA convention she met and was introduced to the Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) work of Paul St. John. She was drawn to Paul St. John’s teaching because of his holistic concepts and because the method appeared to be a way to therapeutically benefit clients. That led to extensive training and a subsequent role of teaching. For several years she taught Paul St. John NMTseminars throughout the western United States…she tells of being the lead instructor for weekend trainings of as many as 60 students.

At that same AMTA convention she was introduced to the Onsen method (unique form of sports massage) developed by Oregon LMT, Rich Phaigh. These days in her Silverton and Portland practice she says her work stems from the NMT experience and an integrated mix of Rich Phaigh’s technique, which she learned from Portland LMT Bob White, and the many other prominent teachers with whom she has studied. She incorporates muscle energy techniques (Onsen), stretching and movement therapy into her work.

She recently participated in a “Deep Massage” class taught at OSM by David Lauterstein. Lauterstein, Founder and Director of the Lauterstein/Conway Massage school in Austin, Texas, has developed a form of massage which systematically integrates energy and structural work. Anne, a life-long learner, says she is also integrating some of this approach in her work.

Anne says her aim for clients is “to increase musculo-skeletal balance for lifelong physical and energetic health.”

Teaching at Oregon School of Massage

At OSM Anne teaches “Tension Headache Treatments” and “Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Treatment.” She has been particularly drawn to massage for those conditions because of the frequency with which they have shown up in her 25 years of practice and the insights she has developed in working with them. She will be teaching the “Tension Headache Treatments” class in Salem on April 27-29.

More Art

Art remains an essential part of Anne’s life; she is currently working on a 11-piece exhibit which will be begin in September at the Palestine Center in Washington DC. This body of work, in support of Middle East peace, portrays a period of Spanish history where the Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures peacefully and constructively intermingled.

Contact Information for Anne

You can learn more about Anne’s practice at her website: http://annebarbershams.com/Neuromuscular_Massage_Clinic/Welcome.html
To contact Anne email her at: anne81@frontier.com