Today is April 1, 2019 and I am unofficially launching my website. I am a procrastinator (unless I have a real world deadline). I started working on this Website back in November. I have added bits and pieces, here and there. I have a vision for where this is going, I just have to put pen to paper (or is it fingers to keys, these days?). So let's start with a simple introduction.
I am Tree Marino, a Licensed Massage Therapist, Reiki Practitioner and Full Spectrum Doula. Wait! Is that who I am? Or what I do? Is there a distinction? Sure there is.
I am: a single mother, daughter, friend, introvert, bookworm, advocate for real social justice, and so much more.
My journey into this Birth Cycle Practice started 6 years ago. I was a paralegal/office manager/doer of all the things that needed to be done for a small insurance defense firm. I worked crazy long hours, had high anxiety, was exhausted, and felt lost. I had no purpose in the world outside of my role as a Mom. One day my Boss decided that she was going to pay someone less to do my job. So I was let go. I filed for unemployment, I looked for work. No one would hire me because I was overqualified and they couldn't come close to what I had been getting paid. They worried that even if they hired me, I would get restless or keep looking.
I had wanted to attend Massage School for some time. I just felt drawn to it. The opportunity to do something that was NOT stressful, that wasn't designed for a Type A personality, that had the potential to do good for others. I had looked into the night program at Onondaga School of Therapeutic Massage (OSTM), but with my work hours and the program hours I would never see my kids. So I opted to put this dream on the back burner. To let it simmer until my youngest graduated from High School and then, if I still felt drawn to it, I would go.
When I was let go in March 2014 it was like the Universe was sending me a sign. A sign that it was time to change paths. To do something that made me happy. So I went to massage school. I did the Accelerated 6 Month Day Program. I was nervous. I had been out of school for a while. 6 months later walking across the stage, with my new lifelong friends from the 6 month program, I felt peace and contentment.
I started my career in one of those big box massage companies that claims to be the "Height" of the massage world. I learned a lot. I learned what I didn't want to do in my own private practice. I don't like clock hour appointments, where you are charged for an hour of massage but you really only get 45-55 minutes of massage time. I don't like back to back scheduling, first appointment at 10am, next appointment at 11am, etc. It makes ME feel rushed so I can only imagine how the client feels. I don't like pushy monthly membership tactics. I don't like upselling Aromatherapy, Foot Scrubs or Hot Stone Treatments.
I received my License in October 2015 after working 9 months on a Limited Permit at a Massage Factory. This was the MOST Freeing and terrifying feeling of my life. I started my practice renting per diem space from another established massage therapist. In school we had a one week segment on Pregnancy Massage, Special Populations and Side Lying Massage. The other students were afraid of massaging pregnant people, but in that MOMENT I knew that I was going to be a Pregnancy Massage Therapist. I had asked my Swedish Instructor what other resources she recommended. She pointed me to the experts in the industry Stillerman, Osborne and Stager (whose manuals on pregnancy massage I have) AND to the 2 Pregnancy Focused professionals in Rochester, New York. I reached out to BOTH of them, and they were both welcoming and open. Both gave me good advice (good advice that like Alice in Wonderland I knew was good advice, but I just wasn't ready to take).
Here I am going into my 5th year as a Birth Cycle Focused Practitioner. How did I get from Pregnancy to Birth Cycle? Why did I add Reiki? When did I add Doula services? Stay tuned, these questions and more will be answered in future blog posts.
Please note: This Blog and this Website is a work in progress, ever changing and evolving. If you notice a typo or something that it grammatically incorrect, please feel free to use the contact me option to send me a note. Thank you.
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