Happy World Thinking Day!!

As noted in a post last week, I am celebrating World Thinking Day. Since that post, I have had the good fortune of seeing some very hard hitting folk that do an awful lot of ongoing thinking regarding the conditions in the big picture. We, especially in California, who are in the crosshairs of the Massage Right, are a microsm of that big picture.

On Valentines Day, I heard Bill Moyers speak as part of the Oakland Speakers Series. After painting a bleak picture as to what has happened in this country because of theGOP (Gods Own Party) gaining such political power, amongst many other things, Moyers offered up some suggestions as to what can be done to reverse the trends, simple things like getting involved in getting clean money acts passed which would stop allowing corporate structures from contributing so much money to infuence politicians. Some of what he addressed can be found here.

Then, on the 19th, I went to Grace Cathedral, in SF to hear about the rise of the religous left via a panel which included Michael Lerner founder of Tikkun. The discussion can be heard online. The discussion focused on Rabbi Lerner's new book, 'The Left Hand of God'. The book link takes you to an excerpt from the book.

So, here is what I was thinking after being motivated by the two events. On the politics list, I had an exchange with Beverly May, Amta-CA L&L co-chair and Amta National governmental relations board member. I suggested the Amta was the Massage Right. We do need a Massage
Left.

I posted a homework assignment as part of the announcement I would be celebrating World Thinking Day. The homework assignment, "is to start thinking, today, as to why you are NOT participating in the political process that will impact the way WE will be able to do our work, what WE will need to do to stay in compliance and put us in harms way by way of placing our power into the hands of those far removed from our homes that will only make it harder and more expensive for us to survive. CA-SB412 is doing just that." The rest of the assignment is here. I did a little follow-up to the homework assignment here. There has been no activity at the California Appropriations committee yet but I feel confident there is a lot of behind the doors negotiations going on. The homework assignment is not late yet.

Here is another assignment. (1) Go to the Grace Forum and listen to some of the discussion. The discussion is a big picture discussion of what could easily be a discussion befitting our microcosm of massage religion and politics. (2) Come back with some ideas as to how we can put down our egos, sometimes elitist mentalities and our unwillingness to be joiners and rally to defeat the well-organized massage right headed up by our friends at the Amta.

There is still the California Federation of Massage yahoo group where folk can gather. I paid the fees to keep it alive and will be doing something with it very soon. Before I do I am wishin' and hopin' that someone will come around and take it over. I would hate to have yet another play thing. C'mon you left leaning Progressives, let's go to work and create a massage left.

There has been a great point/counter point thread at the bodywork politics list that is worth reading beginning here. Especially powerful, imho, is the post by freedom fighter Dorothy Stone-Inouye addressing our great division. (Thanks Dorothy)

The Flammia Method? Sure... Why not?

CA-SB412 is in the works. As it stands now, massage will be defined as any form of structured touch. Now, even more than ever, I do not like it. Massage and massage therapy as taught in the schools is only one form of structured touch. There are many different paths to learning touch.

Just recently I did a luncheon presentation in the Berkeley City Club a beautiful Julia Morgan building on Durant Street in Berkeley. The audience was the Berkeley City Commons Club, a group that meets weekly for a luncheon and speech and has quite a range of speakers. I was flattered to be invited and by 'Googling' Berkeley City Commons Club you will understand why for the quality of speakers they have had both past and present. The title of my talk was 'The Power of Touch'.

I opened my presentation by telling how massage was not licensed in California and offered reasons as to why that should continue to be the case. I also made the club members aware of the California Health Freedom Coalition and their success in getting SB577 passed removing the fear of being arrested for practicing medicine without a license by those offering healing systems outside the allopathic model if they met certain conditions. I then offered up some self help techniques including breathing exercises, some acupressure points and other self help suggestions as well as preaching about the benefits of massage and touch. The presentation was the first time I took responsibility for my own "style" referring to my work as The Flammia Touch.

I was asked to speak for 30 or so minutes and to be prepared to answer questions to fill the rest of a one hour time frame. As the saying goes, the rest is history. I had a wonderful time doing the presentation and from the questions it was obvious the audience was listening enjoyed it and wanted to hear more. I will share some of the questions and my off the cuff, extemparaneous answers after I listen to the tape of my presentation that I am promised. The presentation was recorded by a (from what I am told) good engineer.

I got a wonderful thank you letter from the president of the club. In the letter, he refers to the Flammia Method. hmmmm..I did like that. The Flammia Touch is my own and what I could teach would be called the Flammia Method. There is a structure to my touch/work and there is certainly a method to my madness.

SO! Part of what this post is about is my asking those who have received my work to tell me what it is that may have been unique in my work that they have not been able to find elsewhere. For one, I have never had one practitioner ever tell me to say "duh" and explain why it is a good thing to do and from the initial reactions of those who have worked with me, neither have they.

I have my mission, "Setting the world straight, one person at a time." How I perceive myself is as a service (as opposed to helping and healing) with the simple goals of helping folk to stand taller and breath easier by educating them in how to get themselves out of contraction in order to do so. In keeping with avoiding healing, I look at myself as "a very heavy ounce of prevention" slowing or sometimes getting lucky in preventing folk from falling more into the conditions that brought them to my door.

It's late and I will have to stop for now and come back to this to clarify what I need from you to lend clarity to The Flammia Touch and The Flammia Method.

Let THEM know your thoughts on SB412!

This post is a work in progress...

I ended my previous post with, "there will be more help forthcoming to help you be able to complete this assignment including links to those who support SB412 so you will be able to formulate a balanced opinion. Your forwarding this task to as many folk especially those who are not associated with the larger organizations will be greatly appreciated."

Here we go...Unfortunately, the Amta-CA site has totally rewritten their report on what is happening, so, to get the Amta position and or report you will have to write the folk referred to at the site. I suggest you check out the site and follow their instructions for giving input for the bill, WRITING IN OPPOSITION, not in favor as they ask.

You may be able to get an understanding as to why they did such a thing by reading this post at a massage politics discussion list. The original report created more questions and challenges than the Amta cared to respond too.

Another site you may glean some insights from is here. Granted, the site is old but is a great compilation of prolicensing propaganda. My favorite part of the site is here. IMHO most of the facts are questionable with some of the myths actually being facts.

There is still time to put your .02 cents in regarding SB412 and there are plenty of things to write about. I resubmitted my letter to the Assembly Appropriations Committee by way of this site to be sure my letter went through the correct channels and sent a copy to my Assemblyperson Loni Hancock. Do send a copy of your letter to your Assemblyperson. If unsure as to who your Assemblyperson is, go here.

Prayers for St Valentine, a virtual rose for all and a World Thinking Day homework assignment!

St Valentine was beaten and beheaded in Rome in 269 and buried on the Flaminian Way.
Today he is in my prayers.

I am not going to make a big deal out of Valentines Day. According to the nightly news, there will be 2,000,000,000 roses exchanging hands as gifts in the US alone. The vast majority of those roses will be coming from Columbia. The extent of my rose giving is a virtual rose to all receiving this mailing. Enjoy! Watch out for the thorns.

I will be joining the WAGGGS in celebrating World Thinking Day on February 22. I became aware of WTD last year because of a discussion with the love of my life about the differences in the pecking order and ways of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Come to find out (1) Girl Scouts climb the ranks by way of age as opposed to accomplishment and (2) Girl Scouts make a promise, "On my honor I will try to do my best" as opposed to the Boy Scout oath requiring the statement, "On my honor I will do my best." For now, I will spare you my opinion as to how I believe the two different oaths have an impact on our lives.

The World Thinking Day homework assignment is for California girls and boy s only. Your homework assignment is to start thinking, today, as to why you are NOT participating in the political process that will impact the way WE will be able to do our work, what WE will need to do to stay in compliance and put us in harms way by way of placing our power into the hands of those far removed from our homes that will only make it harder and more expensive for us to survive. CA-SB412 is doing just that.

A hate of politics is not an acceptable answer. I hate politics and since being tear gassed and maced in Harvard Square in Cambride, and tear gassed in Washington DC, during protests against the Viet Nam War, outside of voting and an occassional debate have steered clear of politics.

The state should be involved in the licensing of a profession if harm to the public is an issue. SB412 does not address that issue. My position regarding SB412 is here. Even more important is the point/counter point issues following my statement. Those are the only real issues WE as practitioners or consumers need to be concerned with.

Here, you will find some letters written by folk in opposition to SB412. Here you will find my own writings to the good Senator as well as links to other writers. Keith Grant has an incredible amount of information. Especially important to address immediately is the Chiropractic language one may read about here.

After you have read the materials above, write a letter to Senator.Figueroa@sen.ca.gov and to all Appropriations Committee Members: assemblymember.walters@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.nakanishi@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.DeLaTorre@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.chu@asm.ca.gov, Assemblywoman.Runner@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.emmerson@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Oropeza@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Bass@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.haynes@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.ridley-thomas@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.berg@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Karnette@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.yee@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Saldana@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.leno@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.ron.calderon@assembly.ca.gov Get on your own assembly persons radar by sending a copy of your letter to them. To find out who that is, go here.

There will be more help forthcoming to help you be able to complete this assignment including links to those who support SB412 so you will be able to formulate a balanced opinion. Your forwarding this task to as many folk especially those who are not associated with the larger organizations will be greatly appreciated.

Robert

Licensing: Two Sides of the Political Coin

Introduction: To me, state licensing is an unnecessary bill of goods being sold by our friends at the American Massage Therapy Association (Amta).

In 1997, the Georgia Massage & Somatic Therapies Association(GaMSTA) defeated an Amta-GA effort to impose licensing in Georgia using a flyer that used a point/counterpoint format that is a template able to be used in any state dealing with Amta aggression. The template is a series of counterpoints with supporting statements with reasoning as to why the Amta reasons for licensing are just not strong enough reasons. Amta, as far as I know, has not done any more than state their position that licensing is needed to advance the profession of massage therapy.

The Amta left the rest of the profession behind a long time ago when they elected to stop discussing their position and begin using membership monies to lobby government to impose their agenda on all those desiring to provide touch for income.

My truth is the major beneficiaries of licensing are industry ie (mostly) the schools. Short programs teaching massage are replaced with minimum requirements of 500 hours of training to do massage for income. (As noted at the Flammia Touch, if what is being proposed in SB412 was law in 1986, I would not have entered this trade.)


Amta: Support Licensing of the Profession of Massage Therapy

The practice of Massage Therapy should be regulated by the State of Georgia because:

The public should be able to be assured that they are receiving professional Massage Therapy services from an ethical, qualified practitioner.

GaMSTA : A regulatory board establishes guidelines for scope of practice and educational requirements. It does not set ethical standards. Professional organizations provide a code of ethics for their members to embrace.

Amta: Currently, with no professional regulation in Georgia, anyone can call themselves a "Massage Therapist" and advertise publicly as a Massage Therapist.

GaMSTA: True. However, as the grandfather clause in Senate Bill 300 is written, prostitutes can be licensed as massage therapists, meaning prostitutes could continue to advertise. Further, it is debatable whether a regulatory board could protect the term "massage therapist."

Amta: Potential physical and emotional harm can result from massage therapy performed by untrained or unethical practitioners; there are many documented cases of such harm occurring.

GaMSTA: First, as for documented cases of physical and emotional harm, the Senate sub-committee who reviewed SB300 reports, "In response to a staff inquiry on behalf of the Council, The Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs researched their files for the past nine and one-half years for complaints against massage practitioners. However, they found no record of any such complaints. Similarly, contacts with Better Business Bureau of offices around the state resulted in finding no documented complaints against massage practitioners during the year ending July 9, 1997."

Second, the Georgia Chapter of the AMTA is diligently working to prove massage therapy is harmful to the public in order to get state licensing. The potential harm to our profession in the eyes of the public is tremendous. We have worked painstakingly to educate people about the benign nature of massage and somatic therapies. Are we prepared to throw that away for recognition by the state? Additionally, providing damaging information to the physical therapists and chiropractors, who already believe we encroach on their respective territories, can only hurt our profession in the end.

Third, insurance liability rates have remained basically the same over the past five years. If massage and somatic practitioners were causing harm, the insurance companies would be the first to adjust the rates charged for liability insurance. State licensure does not prevent inappropriate behavior and physical or emotional ham from occurring, as evidenced by the medical, nursing and psychological, etc. professions which have experienced criminal behavior from their licensed practitioners. (Criminal behavior is already covered by state criminal laws and would be beyond the jurisdiction of a regulatory board.)

Amta: More and more allied healthcare professions are utilizing Massage Therapy as an extremely effective complement to the services they provide. However, they cannot easily ensure that they are referring their patients to qualified Massage Therapies.

GaMSTA: Any reputable healthcare professional would require more than a state license for a referral. Further, SB300 does not distinguish among the wide range of modalities that exist in the massage and somatic profession.

Amta: All of the States surrounding the State of Georgia have instituted State Regulation of Massage Therapy - Alabama, Tennessee, South Caroline, North Carolina and Florida. In addition, twenty (20) other States regulate the Massage Therapy profession.

GaMSTA: Many states have licensing bills which have adversely affected massage and somatic practitioners. The defined scope of practice affects practitioners who do not consider themselves "massage therapists" yet they are treated as such under the licensing bill. This has driven many practitioners underground to avoid treatment as "massage therapists" and to escape the cost of additional education in techniques they do not use.

Amta: Of the over 1,000 Massage Therapists who currently practice in Georgia, many go voluntarily to neighboring States, such as Florida and Alabama, to receive a professional Massage Therapy license - with Georgia dollars going to these other States!

GaMSTA: The criteria for creating a regulatory board is to "prevent harm to the public" not to create a money machine for the state.

Amta: The cost of State licensing of Massage Therapists should be underwritten by reasonable licensing fees collected from this large number of practitioners.

GaMSTA: What may be reasonable to the state may be devastating to a practitioner. Add to the state licensing fee (Tennessees's is $325) a mandatory business license fee, professional dues, CEU costs and possible exam costs. How many practitioners will this force out of business?
Amta: A nationally administered test - The National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork - has been developed and given to over 25,000 practitioners since its inception in 1992. This test is used as a competency test in many states, such as Florida and Washington. Thus, the State of Georgia would not have to spend money to develop a competency examination for professional Massage Therapists.

GaMSTA: The National Certification Exam is highly discriminatory because it
does not fairly test individuals whose training has been in modalities other than Swedish massage. It is not a true measure of a practitioner's proficiency in skilled touch.

Amta: The time has come to institute licensing of the profession of massage therapy for the benefit of all citizens of Georgia!

(At the time this point/counter point flyer was created, there was enough opposition that the Amta failed in their mission. In 2005, GA fell to the Amta onslaught.)

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT STATE LICENSING

Sponsors of SB300 reasoned that state licensing will provide credibility for our profession. Credibility comes from individuals becoming involved in professional associations and through individual educational standards, codes of ethics and the quality of work performed. A regulatory board establishes scope of practice and educational requirements, not credibility.

It has been implied insurance reimbursement will come if massage is licensed. Insurance reimbursement is a separate issue regulated by the insurance commission and is in no way connected with Senate Bill 300 - nor would it be with any future bill.

It has been implied that Chiropractors will be able to refer to "licensed" massage therapists. Chiropractic recently won back the right to refer, which was done specifically for MRI's and blood work. Their bill states referrals must be made to "licensed healthcare practitioners" which has caused confusion even in the Chiropractic profession. The GCA attorney has indicated it was not the intent of the bill to prevent Chiropractors from referring to massage therapists and has also indicated that steps will be taken to remedy the language in the rule. Unless stated specifically in a bill that massage and somatic practitioners are "licensed healthcare practitioners" a referral is not guaranteed. The term "healthcare practitioner" is not used in SB300 and would be difficult to incorporate into any bill for legal/medical reasons.

Other states are requiring state licensing, therefore, it is inevitable. Many states now wish they did not have licensing because of unexpected restrictions and interpretations. Senate Bill 300 is an example of poorly thought-out legislation that can create just this kind of environment.

If we do not regulate ourselves, someone else will do it for us. There is no historical basis for this concern. Even if this point had merit, it would not provide justification for rushing into bad legislation.

CONSEQUENCES OF STATE LICENSING

Our scope of practice would be narrowed substantially (influenced by the Physical Therapists & Chiropractors.)

(SB412 could be much more harmful than good if something like this (important link) escapes the watchful eye of stakeholders or as added at the last minute.)


Our profession could be monopolized through a regulatory board to which we would have limited access, whose agenda may be questionable and who has unlimited power. (How do you get on the board? Should school directors/owners be allowed on it? What is the limit of their power?)

The current definition will group somatic and touch practitioners with massage therapists. (You will have to attend a massage school certified by the regulatory board in order to practice.)

There will be additional fees and additional hoops to jump through in order to continue practicing. (The requirements are beneficial to AMTA members.) If you haven't taken the National Exam and attended a board certified massage school, you will have to do so. SB300 made no allowances for those individuals who have mentored or apprenticed.Continuing Education requirements are left up to the regulatory board.

State licensing will not eliminate the need for a business license within county or city municipalities.

The legislature has indicated a single board for massage therapists will not be approved. This means "massage therapists" will be put under the jurisdiction of another regulatory board (most likely the Chiropractic board) whose interests are not our own.

SB300 does not establish parameters for board response during an appeals process. The board could delay for as long as it chooses while effectively terminating the practitioner's business until a hearing takes place.