CE INSTITUTE LLC BLOG

When a customer buys into a membership program, they should receive some type of initial gesture as recognition of their investment. This could be an immediate discount or some type of small take-home gift.

Any gift you provide a member should reflect the high quality of your establishment and also be branded with a bespoke label to promote your business. Aromatherapy oils, analgesics, candles, handheld massage tools, soaps, pens, mugs and notepads are all memorable, personalized gifts.

When you give a gift of a body-care product used in special treatments, such as an aromatherapy oil or lubricant, include a card that describes the treatment at your establishment and offers special member pricing, such as a small discount on the usual cost.  Or, leftover product can be deposited into a small container and gifted to the client as well.

For physical or occupational therapy, think about providing TheraBands for precise exercises, or any other inexpensive object that can be taken home and used by the client.  Small gestures that help a client remember their a sentimental guest experience are priceless investments to your business.

Adding retail to an establishment is a another great way to increase revenue, as long as you have a space that is climate-controlled and secure. Your service providers should offer retail products at the end of every session, and gift certificates should be available for purchase in each session room and in your dedicated retail area.

A new membership program can offer a store-wide retail discount for members only. This can be promoted as a way to save money on a regular basis, because the regular purchase of a high-end body-care product might result in ongoing savings to a customer who uses that product regularly—and so makes joining the membership program make financial sense.

Here is how that works: If a membership costs $50 per month and the member will save $5 per month on their favorite product when they buy it from you, then their membership is paid for in just 10 months—and they still receive any additional monthly member benefits you offer.

To learn more, please register for live business training at our school where you share in questions and answers with a live instructor at:  https://ceinstitute.com/

It is important to help a customer feel they are receiving something special in exchange for payment, especially in a membership program. This is where branding— through public recognition, private labels, signage, marketing and more—comes in.

One of the goals of a membership program is to help nonmembers and potential customers recognize or become curious about the benefits of membership so that they become members and grow your profit margin. Publicly recognizing members with exclusive benefits is one way to do this.

The name of your membership program should reflect your business brand. If your business name is Serenity Healing, for example, you might name your membership program Premium Serenity Club. The more you can identify and customize your membership to your personality, the harder it will be for your competitors to copy or profit from your business model. You will be seen as unique, and your customers will be able to get that special membership experience only from you.

Members could be acknowledged with their membership category at check-in. Examples of membership titles are Elite Member, Priority Customer, Special Guest, VIP, or Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Medallion or Emerald Class.

Provide each member with a laminated, credit-card-size membership card that features the name of your membership program, company logo, member’s name, membership class and membership number. If you have just two tiers of membership, one card can be silver and the other card gold and you can dismiss the idea of membership category names altogether.

Establish a members-only line with shorter wait times for check-in (members will show their scannable membership card at the desk), provide members with branded gifts, offer special members-only pricing and experiences—and make all of these offerings clear to members, nonmembers and potential customers.

Brand your membership name anywhere and everywhere to customize the special experience. When adding a chocolate candy to the treatment table prior to service, place it on a special doily or napkin with the membership name printed on it. Drinking glasses, protein bars, towels, robes, water bottles, and almost anything else you can think of can be custom-ordered with a label that brands the product with your business name, logo and membership program name, and thereby reflects a special membership status.

To learn more, please register for live business training at our school where you share in questions and answers with a live instructor at:  https://ceinstitute.com/

In this article published at Massage Magazine, CE Institute LLC Instructors Selena Belisle and Wendy Langen help others understand what a medical error is with some real-life examples of massage industry errors: 

Providing MLD services to a client can be different, depending on the client's needs.  Are you attempting to performing a full detoxification, reduce unilateral extremity lymphedema or did the client show up for a full body massage with a severely swollen knee sprain?

Because there are so many different situations that can be treated with MLD, we recommend breaking MLD treatments down into 3 different categories:

1. LOCAL MLD: Only work on the affected area of swelling. This appointment could be as short as 10-minutes or as long 30-minutes or more. Practitioners can work as long as agreed and as long as you do no harm.

2. HYBRID MLD: Provide regular services (i.e., full body massage), and then provide MLD to only the affected area of swelling while the rest of the body receives its normal course of treatment. In full body massage, if the therapist spends 10-minutes massaging one leg, then the therapist would spend 10-minutes on the opposite leg with MLD.  The goal is to keep the appointment session fluid and even between the swollen and normal areas of the bodywork.

3. FULL BODY MLD: Full Body Lymphatic Drainage (i.e., detox treatment). Full body sessions on average take 90-minutes, but like almost any other bodywork, practitioners can modify the session to make it shorter or longer time.

To learn more about manual lymphatic drainage applications, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

There is still some conflicting Information about the lymphatic system, and some unknowns as well.  We are still LEARNING more about the lymphatic system every year as science and research continues to advance.  For example, we still do not know why 75% of lymph is drained through the left side of the body to the cardiovascular system and 25% of lymph is drained through the right, as depicted in this infographic (pictured right).  There are many theories why there is such uneven distribution of lymph collection and redistribution to the cardiovascular system, but none of these theories have been scientifically proven to be factually correct.

New research studies are providing new information and updates about the lymphatic system every year.  In past MLD classes prior to 2015, it was regularly taught that there is no lymphatic tissue or intervention within the cranium or central nervous system.  We now know that theory was wrong. [i]   

One research study reported prior to 2015, that “The brain...has been thought to lack lymphatic vessels, as they’ve never been found….These vessels may have gone undiscovered until now due to their hidden location. The method the team used to prepare the meninges kept these layers intact. The researchers found similar structures in autopsy specimens of human meninges. Organization of the vessels in the human central nervous system will now need to be determined.” ^[ii]

Lymphatic vessels in the brains of mice were only recently discovered through use of new high-powered microscopes. Prior to 2015, we thought that the lymphatic system and central nervous system were two completely separate systems without intervention.

The cranial lymphatics (aka glymphatics) is a perfect example of a major discovery that was only made a few years ago.

Despite not having a total understanding of the lymphatic system, we have learned enough to know how to manipulate it to reduce swelling, with services such as manual lymphatic drainage.

To learn more about manual lymphatic drainage or the lymphatic system, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

[i] Louveau A;Smirnov I;Keyes TJ;Eccles JD;Rouhani SJ;Peske JD;Derecki NC;Castle D;Mandell JW;Lee KS;Harris TH;Kipnis J; “Structural and Functional Features of Central Nervous System Lymphatic Vessels.” Nature, 16 July 2015, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26030524/.

[ii] “Lymphatic Vessels Discovered in Central Nervous System.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 14 Dec. 2021, https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lymphatic-vessels-discovered-central-nervous-system.

Different licenses have different scopes of practice, usually depending on the state you are licensed and practicing in.  Always check with your licensed scope of practice prior to administering a new service to a client.

There are may different products and ingredients that could be added to regular massage or bodywork service to give it a special touch.

To create an earth angel experience, think about using some of these specialized products:

1. Clary sage essential oil has an earthy aroma to it. It also provides euphoric, warming, balancing and relaxing therapeutic effects.
2. Jasmine essential oil has a floral aroma which is also euphoric, warming and uplifting. 
3. Dead sea salts have lots of different minerals that can boost hydration and reduce inflammation. You can use dead sea salts to create a full body scrub, or simply just a back, hand or foot scrub.
4. Similar to dead sea salts, dead sea mud also has a lot of different minerals with therapeutic effects, plus can be detoxifying when applied as a spa body wrap.
5. Using hot stones is a wonderful way to add mother earth to the appointment, plus the warmth is extremely comforting to most when properly applied and used. NEVER apply hot stones directly to the skin without 2 barriers as depicted in the picture above.

Adding specialized ingredients to regular appointment services can change the context and frame of mind for the appointment, to celebrate a special occasion or simply experience something different to break up a monotonous routine.

Be sure to train in aromatherapy plus body scrub, wrap, hot stone and massage applications and contraindications prior to administering any type of service to a client.

For full directions on how to create this treatment, or to learn more, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

Different licenses have different scopes of practice, usually depending on the state you are licensed and practicing in.  Always check with your licensed scope of practice prior to administering a new service to a client.

The Safari Spa  service can have 2 to 4 separate steps.  Possible steps include:

1. a soak or shower
2. scrub
3. wrap
4. massage

Ingredients can vary based on the client, their individual needs and how many steps utilized in the safari spa appointment.  Here are some suggestions of what to use for ingredients to create a Safari Spa Experience:

• Ginger essential oil
• Any other essential oils you may find on safari
• Raw honey or spa grade powdered honey
• Unscented moor mud
• Shea butter
• Coconut butter
• Fine grit sand (spa grade)

The Safari Spa services would start with a scrub, which needs to be performed in a wet room or with a shower because the sand is non-water soluble. Do not perform more than one scrub per day and be sure to rinse your water drain with plenty of water to wash the sand away. Do not use sand as abrasive material in the scrub if there are already problems with your plumbing drainage.

Mix shea and/or coconut butter with a sparingly amount of sand, then apply directly by hand from the bowl for your exotic scrub. It is recommended to heat this body scrub concoction prior to applying on the body for comfort and warmth. The scrub will need to be washed away from the client either on a hydrotherapy table or in a shower or tub.

When performing the safari sand scrub, the 2nd step would be the hydrotherapy process to remove it.

To create an exotic safari body wrap. Mix moor mud, honey and a sparingly amount of ginger essential oil in a rubber mixing bowl and apply the wrap by hand or with a spa brush. The wrap can be removed with hot towels (be sure to be thorough), or a showers/bath/hydrotherapy table.

Last would be the safari massage, which would include shea butter and essential oil of your choice that would reflect a safari experience. This could include eucalyptus, ylang ylang and more.

Raw unprocessed shea butter is extremely rich, and could possibly stain clothing - so it would be recommended to tell the client to wear dark sweat type material given this fact. It feel incredibly smooth on the skin, but you wouldn't want to wear a white linen dress after having raw unprocessed shea butter applied to your skin.

Be sure to train in aromatherapy plus body scrub, wrap and massage applications and contraindications prior to administering any type of service to a client.

For full directions on how to create this treatment, or to learn more, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

Some clients will want a scrub or day at the spa, but have sensitive skin.  Using coffee grounds is an excellent method to provide a scrub to a sensitive skin client. However, if their skin is overly sensitive - then no scrub may be appropriate including this one.  This would be an individual client test that would need to be administered prior to body scrubbing. And as always, never scrub skin that is overly dehydrated, or broken, as well as all other contraindications.

The coffee grounds will become softer and softer over time, especially when kept in a hot towel cabi, so the scrub should not be made more than a few minutes prior to the appointment so that there is SOME texture to the scrub.

There are other names you could call a Warm Java Scrub including: 

1. Brewed Awakenings
2. Java Express
3. Coffee Sunrise
4. Cafe Cleanse

Different licenses have different scopes of practice, usually depending on the state you are licensed and practicing in.  Always check with your licensed scope of practice prior to administering a new service to a client.

To make a warm java scrub, simply mix coconut butter with unused/new coffee grounds.  Mix to the consistency where the concoction has a slightly scrubby/abrasive texture.  

Warm java scrubs should only be provided with a wet room or shower given the coffee grounds are not water soluble. Body massage with coconut butter can be administered after the scrub, and the scrub is washed off the client.

Be sure to seek professional training in aromatherapy plus spa wrap applications and contraindications prior to administering any type of service to a client..

Individual clients will have their own sensitivities beyond this information. Adding essential oils and individual ingredients of each wrap and scrub will have their own peculiar contraindications and precautions as well.

Above and beyond regular and obvious precautions and contraindications, here's a small list of other medical issues that would be of concern or contraindicated for a body wrap or scrub:

1. pregnancy
2. high blood pressure (specifically with wraps or steamed scrubs)
3. menopause (for wraps)
4. open wounds/broken skin
5. telangiectasia
6. sunburn
7. diabetics (specifically neuropathies)
8. areas of lost sensitivity or nerve damage
9. geriatrics (specifically with thinner skin considerations)
10. fever, infection, inflammations, swelling, etc.
11. non-heat tolerant (for wraps or steamed scrubs)
12. sensitive skin
13. immediately after waxing or shaving
14. extremely dehydrated skin (specifically with scrubs)
15. allergies to ingredients (check all ingredients with clients)
16. clients who will be exposed to sun the same day of treatment for phototoxic essential oils

There are greater precautions and contraindications for body scrubs and body wraps beyond this short list. Many will depend on the ingredients being used and the individual client.

Be sure to seek professional training in aromatherapy plus paraffin use  body scrub, wrap and massage applications and contraindications prior to administering any type of service to a client.

For full directions on how to create this treatment, or to learn more, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/