‘Feel Good’ Series At Library To Promote Wellness

By Nancy K. Crevier

“I love the library. I remember going on a tour upstairs as a fifth grader, everybody whispering and trying to be quiet. It’s a special place in town and the people who work there are wonderful. They have great programs. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be involved?” So asks Marge Coughlin, a licensed massage therapist who will present a discussion and demonstration on the benefits of massage therapy as part of the Enhancing Wellness series set for six consecutive Tuesday evenings, 7 to 9 pm, September 12 to October 17, at the C.H. Booth Library on Main Street.

The Tuesday night series will offer a chance to examine various methods to alleviate daily stress and discover new channels to peace. It is the result of a collaboration of Ms Coughlin, Booth librarian and adult program director Kim Weber, and Marty LaMarche, a cancer survivor and consumer reviewer in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

Their belief that small changes made in a person’s life over time have a positive impact on health planted the seed for putting together the health series. Guest speakers for the six-week series are all qualified professionals who will present healthy lifestyle choices in a manner that can be easily understood and incorporated into day-to-day life. “I know first hand,” said Ms LaMarche, “that it’s easy to be overwhelmed and confused by the huge amount of information out there.”

Ms Coughlin, a 43-year resident of Newtown, is a member of the American Massage Therapy Association. She graduated from The Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy in Westport in 2004 and works part-time as a massage therapist in the Danbury Hospital oncology unit. She is also a therapist at the Greater Danbury Pain Center and volunteers with Danbury Regional Hospice, providing massage to patients and their caregivers. “You have to create your own healthy living and massage therapy is one of the things you can do,” said Ms Coughlin. “Massage is very hands on. You can bring in energy work, sports massage, hot stone therapy; it’s all very different.”

Working with the very ill, as well as healthy customers, has given Ms Coughlin a good overview of the power of massage. “I had one oncology patient I’ll never forget,” she recalled. “I always play music with the massage, and I’m very particular about that music. I turned it on, it was kind of a new-age sort of music, and after a few minutes he said to me, ‘I feel like I’m in heaven.’ If that can happen in just ten minutes, think what regular massage can do.”

Ms Coughlin, who also practices reflexology, palliative massage, and craniosacral therapy, will present on September 12. At that session, she will offer free chair massage to participants to enhance the understanding of the various types of massage she plans to discuss. At the October 3 foot massage workshop, Ms Coughlin will demonstrate and help participants practice soothing the 7,200 nerve endings in each other’s feet.

“A regular massage gets you to a peaceful place,” she said.

Lisa Austin-Smith of Bethel will offer an overview of the ancient Japanese art of Jin Shin Jyutsu® on September 12 in conjunction with Ms Coughlin’s workshop. Rediscovered at the turn of the 20th Century and brought to the United States in the 1950s by Mary Burmeister, a Japanese American Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, Ms Austin-Smith was so profoundly affected by a Jin Shin Jyutsu workshop she took in 1999 that she knew she had found her passion. She has been a Nationally Certified Practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu since 2004.

Jin Shin Jyutsu, Ms Austin-Smith stressed, is not a form of massage. It is a hands-on form of touch healing. By listening to pulses in the wrist for disharmony in the body, a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner can place their hands on specific areas of the body to open up blockages in the energy flow of the body.

“What I love about it is that it has a huge self-help component,” said Ms Austin-Smith. “People need to take responsibility for themselves before they encounter a health crisis, and Jin Shin Jyutsu is one way to do so. It seems so simple, people think it can’t possibly be effective.” Yet she has seen firsthand instances of the healing power of the practice. “People with health problems who have experienced Jin Shin Jyutsu can do things they could not before,” she said.

Ms Austin-Smith will show simple methods of touch that can be used at home to harmonize the body during the September 12 presentation, as well as offer home health care tips based on the practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu. “It’s a wonderful art because you can use it every day of your life,” she said. Like exercising and eating right, she said, Jin Shin Jyutsu can be a part of a health maintenance program.

 Other offerings of the Enhancing Wellness series include yoga workshops on September 19 by Lynda Weber, owner of Yoga Dimensions in Newtown, and Kathleen Way Barton, co-director of Graceful Planet in Sandy Hook, and programs focusing on centering and creativity, with presentations by Jo-Ann Frank, MD, on labyrinths and art teacher Arlene Spoonfeather offering guidance to connecting the heart, hand, brush and paper on September 26. On October 3, the series will explore ways of relieving stress with a spa experience at home with Peggy Gilmore of the Complementary Medicine Department at Danbury Hospital, and foot massage by Ms Coughlin. On October 10, Dr Josh Berry, ND, will discuss the effective results of botanical medicine. Certified holistic health counselor Dina Tsungu will help participants sort out the nutritional information assault and learn healthier habits for eating on October 17.

Refreshments will be served at every program. Register for the free programs by calling the library at 426-4533.