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Published on 10/23/1995 All articles from this issue

Healing hands: getting the massage in Los Altos

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Therapy gets more clients, respect following city ordinance

Hardy Jones, a Los Altos orthopedic surgeon, works hard in a high stress job. Once a month, for relaxation, he has a massage.

"I look forward to it. I see it on my calendar and think, 'Hey-this is a good week.' "

Jane Bryan-Jones, a Los Altos psychotherapist, believes massage is like "hands-on medicine."

She introduced her husband, Hardy, to massage years ago.

"It's something we do for our health," she said. She and Hardy began including their children, now 20 and 18, in monthly massages when they were young teenagers.

Bryan-Jones also recommends massage to her clients as "a healing way to feel more connected. Good massage therapists, through their hands, offer a healing touch."

Elizabeth King, a Los Altos massage therapist, said, "We're here to help educate people to learn about their bodies and to help them heal their bodies."

Massage isn't just to relieve muscle tension, King said. "It helps with emotional stress, too."

Peggy Rogers agrees. Director of client services at the Cancer Support and Education Center in Menlo Park, Rogers said the center offers massage as part of their program for cancer patients.

Sometimes people with cancer are "not being nurturing to themselves because they see their body as the enemy," she said. "With an hour of massage, they start to relax, to breathe, to let go of the tension. Then their emotional life is more available for healing."

Several massage therapists volunteer their time for patients at the Center.

Until recently, massage in Los Altos has prompted winks and nudges and seemed, for some, a code word for prostitution.

In July 1994 the City passed a massage ordinance. To practice massage therapy in Los Altos, a masseuse must have a massage permit, issued by the police, and a business license from the city.

Noreen Sorg, community service officer with the Los Altos Police Department, said, the police permit means the person has been finger-printed, had a background check which showed no criminal activity in certain categories, and met educational requirements.

There is no state licensing board in California governing massage therapists, Sorg said, so each city needs its own ordinance.

Los Altos massage therapist James Goss is pleased with the ordinance. After it went through, "our business has boomed," he said.

"There was prostitution in town. We wanted people to know they could come and get a therapeutic body massage. And we feel the ordinance has allowed that to happen."

Goss considers himself a health care provider, and he strongly supports the massage ordinance, he said.

"There are certain hoops we've jumped through, and we want people to know that."

He offers suggestions for finding a reputable massage therapist.

"Stay away from ads that offer a 'full-release' massage or the 'purr-fect' massage," he warned. Another red flag, he said, is if you're asked if you want anything extra.

King said if an ad says anything about escorts, "Forget it." The best way to find a good massage therapist, she said, is by word of mouth.

That's how Los Altans Janet and Sam Harding found their massage therapist. Their friends Hardy and Jane Bryan-Jones gave them a gift certificate for massage for Christmas.

They were hooked and for the past three years have had monthly massages.

Son Dan, a 17-year-old senior at St. Francis High School, has a monthly massage, too. He plays year-round volleyball and has a court at his house. Massage therapy helped him with a knee injury.

"My friends think it's funny, and they kid me," he said. "But when I tell them how good it feels, they're jealous. Totally."