by Julia Cajigal, NCTMB

February 17, 2010 was here again: AMTA’s seventh Legislative Day at the General Assembly.

This is the third year I have volunteered to do chair massage at this grand event and our time there grows more popular every year. We had eight massage therapists coming from Charlottesville and even further out to volunteer their valuable time along with the local volunteers. It is nice to meet people from other areas that share the same passion for our wonderful profession.

Massage therapists are more willing to come out to educate the public on the benefits of massage and more of the Legislative office workers, aids and legislators, are even more willing to take time out of their day, unchain themselves from their desks to come and be worked on.

Some were “repeaters”, having received a session in previous years. Some get massages regularly, and some had their first massage experience in our chairs. No matter the experience level, everyone was very grateful to us for soothing their sore, tired muscles and minds in the middle of the hectic day.

I have to mention that Lucia Kaestner and Aisha Durham were the ones that held the whole day together. They graciously greeted people and made sure forms were filled out and questions answered. Chairs were lined up against the walls for people to sit in as they waited to be called. 82 people received a massage, and more were turning up as we packed away the massage chairs. Lucia and Aisha did a beautiful job of keeping everything running quickly and smoothly. Perhaps it did not hurt that Aisha’s baby daughter Zoe was also there—who could say no to the cute Zoe!

Our hearts were warmed and filled with pride at being able to coax people away from their very important work for a few minutes to take care of themselves by getting a massage. A great time was had by all! Thank you Aisha and the Richmond Unit for hosting and organizing this event and I look forward to doing it again next year!