Michigan Massage Licensing

Michigan Licensing Bill Signed by Governor Granholm

Friday, January 9, 2009

Today, House Bill 5651, providing for the state licensing of massage therapists, was signed into law by Governor Granholm. The law is effective immediately.

The law will benefit the massage therapy community in three primary ways:

• Minimum training requirements and scope of practice are defined.
• An avenue for consumer complaint is established.
• Local regulations will be pre-empted, meaning all massage therapists will license with the state and no longer have to become licensed in their city or in multiple cities.

An eleven member Michigan Board of Massage Therapy, consisting of seven massage therapists and four public members, will be created to implement the law.

Click here to read the law.

------------------------------------

Jan 2013 UPDATE: EXCITING NEWS!  The applications are ready! Here is a link to the application, in .pdf format, complete with application, instructions, and information on requirements for grandfathering: Massage Therapist Application Packet

------------------------------------

Nov 2012 UPDATE: The Michigan Board of Massage Therapy was scheduled to meet four times in 2012. They cancelled three sessions and met once. Check for updates here.

------------------------------------

Nov 2011 UPDATE: The Michigan Board of Massage Therapy was scheduled to meet six times in 2011. They cancelled five sessions and met once. See what's new here.

My Massage Website

Finally! My massage website is up and running. There is so much I'd like to do there still, such as adding informative articles on health and massage. One wee step at a time, me lassies. ;) Come visit me at goldenflowermassage.com, and tell me what you think!

Election 2008

When I slipped my ballot into the machine this morning, I turned to face the voters waiting in line, smiled, and raised my hands in the air, victory-style. Some smiled. Some did not. I thanked the two election officials who stood near the ballot box/machine. They smiled, indeed. Brightly. And I walked out with a bounce in my step. By God, I do love living in this country. What I would love more than anything right now, today, is to find others who feel as happy, grateful, and enthusiastic as do I for having had the opportunity to vote. That's where I am today, right now. I am happy. I feel like celebrating.

Anyone care to join me?

Phasing Out?

I am taking a break from this blog while I build my massage website. I don't know when I'll start posting here again, but I will certainly keep this blog online for probably quite some time, thanks to the hundreds of hits that some of my older massage-related posts continue to receive from all over the world. People have questions; that their questions have led them to this humble blog sometimes astounds me.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

...even when they're 24 years old.

You know those email forwards you get from well-meaning friends (or mothers), the "Get to Know You" type that ask random questions, such as, What's your favorite sandwich? Well. A dear friend sent one of those to me, bless her heart. ::winks to TW:: I replied and then sent it to my daughters.

This is my eldest daughter's answer to one of the questions:

Q: What did you want to be when you were little?

A: A twin. But then I figured out that since I didn't already have one, I wasn't going to get one. So I grew up a little and wanted to be a mermaid instead.

Massage Job Update

It's official: I got the job! I'll be working at a chiropractor's office in Royal Oak beginning September 22. I will begin by taking new clients only one day per week, and my hours will increase slowly over a period of perhaps 2-3 months. The office itself is going through a transition of its own, so it seems fitting that they'd move me into the position slowly.

I'll post more details later.

Hurray!

Dance!

The best 4 1/2 minutes I've ever spent online:


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Thank you (((Rina))) for sending this to me.

The song is Praan, by Garry Schyman
Lyrics adapted from the poem "Stream of Life" by Rabindranath Tagore.
The poem appears in Tagore's book, Gitanjali (public domain).

Stream of Life

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day

runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth

in numberless blades of grass

and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth

and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.

And my pride is from the life-throb of ages

dancing in my blood this moment.

Hellas Photos, 2

Touch

Don Cheadle as Graham Walters
Crash (2004)

Hellas Photos, 1

Just a few of my favorites from among my girls' 1000+ photos. I'll add more later.
















And finally....

Lynnie, this one is for you...






Eh! Why you honk on my goats?

Lefkada, Pt. 2

Lefkada is a rather large island among Greece's thousand islands, and I had no idea which part of island the girls would visit. When I posted the photos of Lefkada in my previous post, I simply chose two of my favorites from among the many Lefkada photos that I viewed.

I just now learned that my daughters & their cousin visited Porto Katsiki on Lefkada, which happens to be the topmost of the two photos I posted previously. Porto Katsiki was voted (I don't know by whom) the 6th best beach in the world.

Lefkada, Pt. 1

Today, the girls are on the island Lefkada, on the western shores of Greece. A little further north, and they could practically throw a stone onto Italy's boot heel. ;)

When they send me text messages telling me where they are, I follow them on Google Maps. These are photos of Lefkada that I nabbed off the web. I'll replace them with my girls' photos after they return.

Artemis & Inkster

I was exploring maps of Artemis, Greece, where two of my daughters and my niece are currently visiting. Until I panned out in Google maps, I had no idea Artemis was so close to the airport in Athens. Seems Artemis is approximately 3 miles from the northeastern corner of the airport.

Inkster, where I grew up and where my parents still live, is about 5-6 miles from the northeast corner of Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Artemis & Inkster -- their people, languages, cultures, climate, landscape -- may have little in common, but take a look at these satellite photos from Google maps. Artemis & Inkster are the red "A" pointers on each map, with Artemis on the left and Inkster on the right:


Click on the photo for a larger view.

Interesting.

En Route to Greece!

No, not me. My two eldest and their cousin. Just the three of them, zooming somewhere over the Atlantic as I type. ::sigh:: Lucky girls. Happy girls. ;) They will be staying with my cousin & his family just half a mile from this...


This is Artemis on the left, and that's the Aegean Sea on the right. O. M. G.

Below is a photo showing possible (or probable) destinations. The bottom arrow points to my cousin's home in Artemis. The center arrow points to my mother's hometown of Volos, and the top arrow points to Florina, my father's hometown, which is too small to appear on this map, so I placed it there.



Click on any of the photos for a larger view.


Update, 10:37pm (Detroit time): Passing Ireland, soon to fly over France, then Italy, then a smooth Athens landing at about 2:00am (Detroit), 09:00 (Athens). Again and with a smile, I sigh.

Καλό σας ταξίδι, χρυσοί μου!