Why I’m Doing Pregnancy Massage

The following was written by Chrysanne Scharer, LMT, as part of a class assignment in Leslie Stager’s “Pregnancy Massage Essentials class, held at Oregon School of Massage  in May.

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Hi Leslie,
I was glad that you asked the question, “How do we see prenatal massage fitting in with our practice?” Now that I have taken the Essentials class I see how different it can be from what I do now, deep tissue/sports massage. Even though it has been much lighter touch than I am used to I can feel how effective it can be. I received massage during my pregnancy and not only did I feel the physical benefits of massage but I know that I felt an immense amount of support from my massage therapist.

I know from experience that there are a lot of Nay-Sayers when you tell people you have decided to have a natural birth. My massage therapist was one of the few women who supported my decisions and made sure I knew this birth would only be experienced by me and no one else in the whole universe would have the same. I know how important it was for me to have someone to affirm my beliefs in how the birthing process should go when that tiny flicker of doubt would sit in my stomach. I want to do the same for other women who are going through this beautiful, but sometimes scary transition in their life. I realize there will be many women that don’t have the same views as me but I want to be a support for them and encourage them along their journey.

Right now my practice is 95% deep tissue/sports massage. I enjoy this type of work but I was starting to feel that I was getting into a grind and sometimes not connecting with my clients like I would hope to. That is one of the reasons I decided to finally take this class. I love massage and do not want to get bored with it. I feel like adding more tools to my tool belt will open me up to a wider variety of clientele.

Right now I do have the goal of completing the certification. I want to get a well rounded view of all the ways I can help women in this phase of life. Where exactly it will take me, right now I do not know. I used hypnobirthing for my daughter’s birth and blew my Doctor and nurse away with how I was able to manage the pain. So part of me feels that there is a need to teach this technique. I think that down the road combining this with prenatal massage could be an amazing thing for women.
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Chrysanne, in practice since 2007 was initially licensed in Hawaii. She now practices in Salem and Woodburn, Oregon (license #14329). If you are looking for pregnancy massage she can be reached at:
Salem   Phone: 503-364-0640 Website: massagetherapysalemoregon.com
Woodburn   Phone: 503-981-4591 Website: northwoodhealthcenter.com

For more information about OSM’s Pregnancy Massage training, click here.