Living Earth Crafts® Announces Industry First Manufacturer Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification

Completed certification leads way for first FSC certified spa tables available for growing environmentally conscientious, world renowned resorts and spas

Vista, California – July 29, 2008 – Living Earth Crafts, an industry leader in creating spa treatment tables from earth friendly materials and processes, announced its recent Manufacture of FSC-certified portable and stationary massage table certification (FSC Certification Registration Number: SCS-COC-001574) by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council A.C (FSC). Certification means wood used in Living Earth Crafts’ designated FSC portable and stationary massage tables has been harvested from forests that meet stringent environmental, social and economic standards. “We are honored to secure FSC certification for our production facility as well as for our designated line of portable and stationary massage tables,” said Jim Chenevey, CEO and President of Living Earth Crafts. “It is part of our ongoing commitment to offer environmentally sound and earth friendly products.” Before a product may carry an FSC or SCS label, all stages of the production, distribution and sale of the product must be independently evaluated. Wood must be tracked from the certified forest to the finished product. Through SCS’s Chain-of-Custody Certification Division, it certifies wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, who handle wood coming from forests certified according to FSC standards. For FSC Chain-of-Custody certification, SCS also provides group and multi-site certification. To become certified, these entities must meet six principles of chain-of-custody, such as maintaining adequate inventory control systems that allow for separation and identification of certified product. SCS requires the tracking of certified products throughout the production process to ensure the validity of the certified claim. “Purchasers of FSC certified portable and stationary massage tables can be assured that they are buying a product that has been harvested from FSC-certified forests with the intent to preserve that resource for years to come,” continued Jim Chenevey. “The certification and appropriate table markings gives consumers the added reassurance they’ve done their part to be earth friendly in their selection and ultimate product purchase – something that most tables on the market today don’t currently offer.” Page 2 Living Earth Crafts Receives FSC Certification FSC certification is Living Earth Crafts’s most recent environmental accomplishment is an addition to their existing list of ongoing green practices and processes that include but are not limited to: * Supporting Sustainable Harvest, Trees for the Future and America Forests to plant a tree for every spa and massage table sold. * Water based lacquers and glues. * Eco-friendly, yet luxurious Natursoft™ upholstery (100% PU with biodegradable rayon backing). * CFC-free Strata™ memory cushioning system. * CNC optimized wood cuts to minimize scrap, and intensive recycling down to the sawdust. * Energy efficient factory lighting and climate control. * Inner office recycling and recycled stationery among many other programs SCS-scientfic-certification-systems About Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) SCS is an independent third-party certifier of environmental, sustainability, food quality and food purity claims. Over two decades, SCS has developed internationally recognized standards and certification programs aimed at spurring the highest level of environmental improvements, social accountability and product performance. Its programs span a wide cross-section of the economy, recognizing accomplishments in the fields of green building, product manufacturing, forestry, retail, agricultural production, fisheries, energy, and food processing and handling. For more information about SCS, visit www.scscertified.com or call 510-452-8000. FSC-Forest-Stewardship-Council

About The Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization that promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. www.fsc.org

About Living Earth Crafts
Living Earth Crafts is headquartered in Vista, California with operations on three continents. Living Earth Crafts and its affiliates are one of the largest treatment and portable massage table manufacturers in the world. Founded in 1973, Living Earth Crafts maintains an unwavering commitment to making exceptional quality products and to eco-friendly sustainability.

Working as a massage therapist can be very rewarding work, in several ways.

First of all those reactions that you elicit from your clients will make you feel great.  There aren’t many jobs that can give you so much satisfaction.  I really enjoy ot when I see clients who came into my practice all stressed out and after they have gotten their massage they have a smile on their face, they’ve calmed down, they feel so great, they breathe deeper and all of a sudden they have that little sparkling in their eyes back again.

Another advantage of working as a massage therapist is that you have lots of freedom and independence if you want to.  You do not have a boss who is looking over your shoulder and telling you how to do things.

And it’s a really easy to get started.  Just go out there and offer your massage to several people.  Put up some ads in the newspaper.  Though don’t spend a lot of money when you’re just starting out, the classifieds section is totally fine.  Some newspapers will be more effective in generating clients than others and you want to make sure that you track which once were effective and which ones don’t.

If you’re not sure whether this is the right profession for you or not, you can just give it a try without making a big commitment.  Instead of going to massage schools first and becoming a licensed massage therapist, you can just start out offering relaxing massages.  These massages have no therapeutic intend, they just feel good and have the person relax.

The only thing that you want to be sure about is that you follow your states licensing laws.  It is very regulated how you can advertise your business, what kinds of claims you can may when you offer massages — so be sure that you know what you’re allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do.

Then just get some hands on experience.  Practice first with friends and family.  If you see a friend who is tired of stressed out than just offer him a quick backrub.  Of course you should not charge for this.  This is really just about getting started.  Getting experience.

Once you have done that for a couple of weeks and at least every day giving someone a massage and you still think that this is something that you would enjoy doing then proceed to the next step.

Tell your friends and family about your plans and offer them a real massage, like a one hour massage.  This again is totally free and just to get experience and some feedback from a person that you actually massage.

Once you have done that a couple of times and the feedback is positive start advertising your business.  Put some classified ads in the newspaper.  And see if people react.  And go to local businesses and ask them if they are interested in putting these on the counter so that clients can take them if interested.  Many businesses will help you gladly.  And then one day you first phone call arrives.  And it’s a client.

One thing that I do want to mention to you is that you should make it clear statement in your advertisement that you are not offering any kind of erotic service.  If you fail to do that, you might get some requests for happy endings and extras.  However if you make a clear statement in your advertisements that you do not offer these services then you are really on the safe side from my experience.  Since I implemented this simple technique I stopped getting these kinds of requests.

At one point you will have to think about registering a business.  This is of course something that you should inform yourself about before getting started.  You do not want to break any laws.  Where I am living it is actually possible to start a business and not register it for about two months and only if you in this time generate revenue do you have to register the business.  See if something like this is possible where you are living and if so make use of this.

Another thing that you will definitely need is a massage table.  A massage table will probably be the biggest upfront investment in your massage career.  You should not get a flimsy massage table that makes squeaking noises if you apply pressure or even has the shaky feeling to it.

But when you’re just getting started you should not overspend neither before you know that this is really something you want to do for many years to come.  Just spent about 200 or $300.  There are many things to watch out for when buying a massage table and I do recommend that you make an informed decision.  I have created a massage table buyers guide for you, so that you don’t make the same mistakes that cost many people hundreds of dollars.  You can read it for free online.

And I hope that this article helps you to get started and take action.  Working as a professional masseur or masseuse really can be a great job and if it’s something you would like to do there is no reason why you shouldn’t.  So let’s get started.

You have probably heard of blogging by now. It’s an easy way for everybody to put their website on the internet and write about anything that matters to them.

But why should you as a massage therapist have a blog?

You see, it’s really about building a reputation and becoming an acknowledged expert.

You want to get your name out there to as many people as possible.

And blogging is a great way to do this. You can get a free blog at www.blogger.com and publish your blog right away. It’s as easy as writing an email.

What is important is that you write about things that are of importance to a massage therapist and the field of massage. So, you write about your massages, you write about experiences you have when massaging people and you write about  courses and seminars that you visited or massage books that you read.

But do not only write about massage – sometimes also you want to add a bit of personal things in your blog. This way you can connect to your readership. People want to know that you are knowledgeable in your field, but they also want to know that you are a human being to whom they can connect.

It’s a great way of getting in touch with new customers and other professionals in your field. Maybe other business owners will contact you and propose to do some kinds of joint ventures with you later on. These are all possibilities that wouldn’t have been open to you had you not started blogging.

Don’t expect too much from it neither though – when you start out blogging very few people will actually read what you write. But over time, if you provide value content then a readership will find you, people will start commenting on your blog and other blog writers will start writing about your posts.

This is also something I encourage – visit other blogs and engage in conversations there. Read their posts and leave a comment on their blog. This way you can start to get your name out there.

Now you really know enough about the benefits of blogging and have the strategies it takes to become successful doing it. It’s up to you to take action and use it to your own advantage and to the advantage of the people to whom you’ll provide a massage.

Here we’re going to look at how you can figure out what the right kind of massage table is for you – specially in regarding to it’s dimensions.

Usually a standard-sized massage table will be just fine for you.

Most massage tables are 73″ long (185 cm).

However, if you massage tall people then you might consider getting a longer massage table – the longest that I have seen so far is an 85″ massage table (that’s 215 cm).

Keep in mind though that oftentimes you can add a “head” extension to the table or even a “footrest” extension – so the standard 73″ long massage table should really work for most cases – I never run into trouble with it.
The headrest is called a cradle.  A cradle can be adjustable, which can be a good idea because when you don’t use it you can just hold it down.  If however you want to use the massage table in your practice and you know that it will stay there and you don’t mind that it takes extra space you might just as well go for a fixed cradle. Even a fixed had cradle can be removed, you can just pull it out.

If you want a personal massage table for yourself, and you are short, you might consider getting a 65″ one (161 cm).
However, I think you’re better of getting a standard sized one – simply because other people will also be able to enjoy it, and if a massage table is too long, it doesn’t really make a difference for you.

In my opinion more important than the length of a massage table is the width of the massage table.

Usually a massage table is between 25 inches to 32 inches. My recommendation is go for 28 to 30 inches, maybe 32.

Depending upon the kind of massage that you want to practice you might need more space.

The best thing to do is just try it out if possible. You might want to consider going to a story and trying it out – but buying in the store is not always the best option, as they are usually more expensive than internet-shops.

Massage tables are crucial accessories for every massage therapist. Massage tables are usually also very expensive, some even costing thousands of dollars. Cheap massage tables are also available – however, make sure to quality-check your cheap massage tables before buying them. Otherwise, your “cheap” massage table might turn out to be very expensive.

A massage table that makes funny sounds or shakes easily does not support your massage client to relax and feel safe and comfortable. If you work in one place, you should get a heavy, robust massage table.

When you do outcalls you want a portable massage table – and portable massage tables should be lightweight, but still robust. These two things don’t go easy together, and that’s where high-prices kick in, because the manufacturing process and the materials needed are just more expensive.

Before you buy a massage table, be sure also to have a close look at the warranty. It should have AT LEAST one year warranty – and check also what kind of warranty that is.