Hired by a great spa

This is a post about my reaction to working in a spa along with Astrological reasons why I am having certain reactions to doing so. Enjoy!

I recently got hired by a great spa in Charlottesville. This is exciting for a number of reasons and it brings up another reaction which I will mention below.

First of all, this spa takes exceptionally great care of its therapists – offering money to buy health insurance with, paying half of my social security (payroll taxes take a major toll on sole proprietors – no pun intended!), and she even offers compensation for continuing education classes and workshops! Not to mention giving her therapists a fantastic commission on each treatment we give.

So all in all, I’m pretty sure I was hired by the best spa in town regarding how well she treats her employees. Which for a recent massage graduate is a huge blessing!

I will be doing Craniosacral Therapy, Acupressure, and Reflexology there to start as I don’t have my massage license just yet. I am however scheduled to take the national exam July 3rd – wish me well!

This is incredibly exciting! Working at a spa may not have been my dream per se, but if I must work in a spa, I have chosen a great one!

Speaking of that dream, this is where interesting reactions arise. Disclosure of a personal nature coming, by the way…

I have been doing Craniosacral Therapy for 13 years, Polyvagal Therapy (trauma resolution) since 2010 and since 2013 I have been studying Pre- and Perinatal Therapy, aka Birth Process work. So in my ideal world, I would have a private practice where I work with children, babies and parents and adults who want to work on their own birth dynamics.

However, while I am a great practitioner, I am not a good business person. I don’t like marketing myself or my work (holdover from past lives as a Buddhist monastic). I don’t even like requesting my full rate – at least half of my clients in the past have been on a sliding scale or have stuck with a lower rate (Sun, South Node and many other planets in my 8th house – meaning I was the tribal medicine person and I was always taken care of by my village – I never had to ask for money for healing work – blasphemy if I’ve ever heard of it).

And this is why a tiny part of me cringes when I think about working in a spa. Not only am I concerned about doing more than 10 massages / week (even though I am only part time), I am also concerned that my greatest potential is not being met. Yes I want to practice financial self care – I don’t think I have ever spent a full year focusing on my bank account, paying off debt and truly saving every penny I possibly could. It is time to focus on me – something else I am not good at. (Chiron is conjunct my MidHeaven – I am very good at healing OTHERS, but less good at taking care of myself on some levels, the Wounded Healer in all of his true self-less glory)

Hopefully within the spa setting I will get the chance to read pulses – I am learning a lot by taking pulses, taking down notes, and asking acupuncturists when I have the chance about new things I am feeling. I read pulses as a part of Acupressure treatments. Hopefully I can offer a number of modalities at the spa and not be too limited to massage (even though that is the quintessential reason people go to spas…). I will set the intention and I’m pretty sure I will be pleasantly surprised.

Either way, I will give it at least six months. I can always attempt to cultivate thriving and healthy private practice down the road.

As it stands, I will have a couple mornings / week where I can see my own clients. I do have several from the past. Now if I can just be resolute in my rates going up once I get my license…

I am not planning on offering anything at the spa that requires talking. I am not being paid enough to do trauma resolution at the spa, no thanks. So that is a boundary I can honor at least.

Thanks for reading about my diverse excitement to starting to work at a spa! I start on Friday – exciting and …!

Have a great day,

~km

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