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- Elementary Touch Education
- Feldenkrais and Hanna Somatics for Maintenance and Pain Management
- A new textbook about touch and children
- The “Death” of On-Site Massage
- France recognizes seated massage as an occupational title
- What it is like to attend a TouchPro training
- The History Channel Features the Massage Chair
- The Genetic Roots of Massage
- What we need to know about touch
- Why Do We Touch?
Category Archives: Chair Massage
The “Death” of On-Site Massage
[This piece was originally published in Massage Therapy Journal Spring issue, 1995. Only a few people will remember that “seated massage” originally burst onto the scene as “on-site massage” when the first massage chair came on the market in 1986. … Continue reading
Posted in History
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France recognizes seated massage as an occupational title
[Click to download a PDF of the press release version.] France recently became the first country in the world to recognize seated massage as an occupational category with a professional certification. On June 7, 2016, the National Professional Certification Commission … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Chair Massage
Tagged chair massage, David Palmer, France, regulation, TouchPro, Xavier Court
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The History Channel Features the Massage Chair
When I was first approached by The History Channel last July (2015) about filming a segment on the massage chair for a series on contemporary inventions and inventors, I didn’t get my hopes up. After all, how many of these … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, History
Tagged David Palmer, Living Earth Crafts, massage chairs
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From Chair to Table: How to Convert Your Chair Massage Clients
This article first appeared in the June 2015 of MASSAGE Magazine. Chair massage often turns out to be just the right introduction people need to experience the joys and benefits of all varieties of structured touch. While not all chair … Continue reading
Touch Education in the Workplace
(This article first appeared in the June 2015 issue of MASSAGE Magazine,) Over the past three decades American culture has become increasingly touch averse. While few question the importance of touch for the healthy development of newborns, infants and young … Continue reading
An Overview of Chair Massage Marketing
Here is a recent email from a massage student: I will be graduating in December and have to write a business plan. I need to decide how chair massage will fit into the plan but don’t have much direction from … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Marketing
Tagged David Palmer, marketing, retail chair massage, seated chair massage, workplace chair massage
4 Comments
Getting Started in Seated Massage
Contrary to what many massage schools would have you believe, chair massage is not simply “table massage lite.” Any successful chair massage entrepreneur will tell you that it is a specialty. So the first step is to become a specialist. … Continue reading
New Categories of Corporate Seated Massage Clients
At 31 years, there is little doubt The Walt Disney Company is the oldest continuing corporate supporter of seated massage in the world. Michael Neal began taking a stool around the Disney campus in 1982, providing employee-paid massage. When he … Continue reading
Seated Massage Success in the Workplace
This article originally appeared in the May 2014 issue of MASSAGE Magazine. Seated, or chair, massage is alive, well and flourishing in the workplace, primarily because of two overarching trends: evolving public perception of massage therapy and the impact of the … Continue reading
Massage Chair Inventor Profile
[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FFlwzIZusY&feature=share&list=PL1mtdjDVOoOpzYNFdLmgAxAaKTzwrOi2z” title=”David%20Palmer%20-%20Inventor” fs=”1″]Sometime around 2008, New York-based photographer David Friedman flew out to San Francisco to include me in an online series of portraits he was doing on inventors. During the photo shoot he also recorded a video interview … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, History, Videos
Tagged chair massage, David Palmer, ergo pro, inventor, stronglite, video
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Calculating Services for a Pre-Paid Event
This question recently came in from a long-time chair massage practitioner: Is there is a calculation for figuring out in advance how many people in a group (office, convention, health fair, etc.) will get a chair massage at a one-time … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Marketing
2 Comments
Interview with David Palmer
At the 2013 World Massage Conference (WMC) David debuted his first webinar entitled The Future of Professional Touch. After the presentation and discussion, they premiered a video interview that had been shot in April 2012. You can view it here. … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Politics, Videos
1 Comment
Chair Practitioner as Wellness Coach
This article originally appeared in the May 2013 issue of Massage Magazine. The focus of the issue was on the business of massage and I was asked to respond to the question: “How can I best position myself as a … Continue reading
Four Ways to Market Workplace Chair Massage
Outfitted with education, experience and selling points (see related article: 21st Century Workplace Seated Massage) for chair massage, how do you locate some likely business prospects? 1. Finding receptive companies can be as simple as reading the business section of … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Marketing
5 Comments
21st Century Workplace Seated Massage
This article originally appeared in MASSAGE Magazine‘s October 2012 issue. From the first days of professional seated massage in the mid 1980s, massage in the workplace has been a significant market segment. When my business was providing chair, or seated, … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Marketing
Tagged chair massage, seated massage, wellness, workplace massage
4 Comments
On the Side of Angels
There is a successful company in Australia, 3-Minute Angels, that started in 2002 providing 3-minute chair massages in pubs and clubs for free. Customers would pay whatever they thought the service was worth. Today the business has grown into a … Continue reading
How Culture Mediates Massage
Whenever customers sit in my massage chair, I know that their subjective experience of my touch will be the result of at least four factors: Their genetic profile (Are they male/female? Do they have biological disorders such as autism). Their … Continue reading
Positioning for a Chair Massage Without a Massage Chair
I love to introduce people to massage. I have massaged people in restaurants, on airplanes, at dinner parties and even outdoors in parks. When I go to visit my family on the East Coast, I consider it my pleasure to … Continue reading
Introducing Touch
Whenever I am in an unfamiliar room, full of people I don’t know, my shy parts come out. I feel isolated, vulnerable and fearful and immediately begin looking for the nearest exit. However, I also know that the best thing … Continue reading
The Great Frame-Up
While dozens of massage chairs have been developed since the first one debuted in 1986, today there are only four basic designs that have survived the intense competition of the marketplace. What distinguishes each design is the unique metal frame … Continue reading
The Fainting Phenomenon
This week I got an email from Katy who writes: “I was about 20 minutes into the chair massage when the massage therapist began to work in and around my right shoulder blade. I began to feel clammy and tried … Continue reading
Chair Massage: A foundation for fitness
While I am a big believer in making every moment a fitness moment (see Creating a Fitness Lifestyle), the reality is many people don’t have even the most basic motivation to move to a healthier lifestyle. That’s where chair massage … Continue reading
Hygiene Protocol for Chair Massage
While there are probably more infectious agents on the doorknob customers touch as they enter your massage space than are on your massage chair, the public nature of chair massage makes a solid hygiene protocol essential. It is a matter … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Videos
Tagged chair massage, David Palmer, hygiene, TouchPro, video
3 Comments
The Leg Problem in Chair Massage
Steve Knobles called today from North Seattle Community Acupuncture clinic. He recently started seating patients in a massage chair because it allowed easy access to their necks, backs and arms for needling and was often more comfortable than lying on a … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Videos
Tagged chair massage, David Palmer, ergo pro, leg problem, retail chair massage, stronglite
2 Comments