By Susan Elise Campbell
With her new practice, Outta Sight Massotherapy LLC founder Brianna Gregory, LMT, is educating the community that massage is not just for relaxation or sports injuries.
“Massotherapy is a new term that I’m putting in the face of the public,” said Gregory. “I like how people ask about the name and we start the conversation.”
According to Gregory, massage therapists can have very different goals and a range of skill sets.
“Some like a small space for relaxation and to be very Zen,” she said. “Others do sports massage at sporting events, which is very high energy.”
Medical massage can focus on recovery, TMJ, back aches, and more, she said. All massage is about muscular therapy and bodywork, and Gregory said she is equally comfortable with Western and Eastern influences in her treatments.
Gregory said she always wanted to work for herself and took business courses toward her associates degree. She is the owner and business manager of Outta Sight Massotherapy. John Krieg, LMT, is an independent practitioner on staff.
But her first career was as a graphic designer. That path ended in 2020 with a diagnosis of macular degeneration. Working in front of a computer every day was no longer going to be feasible, she said.
“I was always visually impaired and had surgery at age two,” said Gregory. “Poor eye health all my life and glaucoma led to macular degeneration.”
Massage therapy was a career she “could do over the long term,” she said. The Association for The Blind offered career assistance and she said massage therapy was always her number one choice. The COVID pandemic shut down schools, so Gregory took some time to do her research and was able to begin a full-time course load during fall semester.
She enrolled at the Center of Natural Wellness and rented a room in Albany near the campus for the nine-month LMT program. She graduated two years ago and earned her state LMT designation. But she did not stop her training there.
She also became board-certified by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, the “highest credential [that] demonstrates dedication and advanced ability,” according to the organization’s website.
Gregory said she learned that “our posture in training is not to look down at the client, so massage is very easy for a blind person to do. I’m visually impaired with a fine-tuned sense of touch. ”
Since she was “always motivated to run a business, Gregory sought help from national disability associations as well as SCORE to assist her with a business plan, she said.
“I found my mentors very knowledgeable and helpful,” said Gregory. “They give me a safety net to reach out to.”
Already, she has donated massages to PlayFest, sponsored by the Charles R. Wood Theater, and to a SUNY Adirondack silent business auction. Gregory said she will be doing more for the Wood Theater and for The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, as she has a “personal interest in art and culture.”
Looking two or three years ahead, Gregory will be incorporating the massotherapy business into a full wellness center with workshop space and a Zen garden. She purchased a property with two buildings and starts construction this spring.
“One building will have six to eight offices and we will bring in other wellness professionals such as an acupuncturist, a nutritionist, and a chiropractor,” she said. “The other community space is an open workshop that people can rent out for such things as yoga or candle making.”
Outta Sight Massaotherapy offers a full range of additional therapies and modalities. These include heat therapy, aroma therapy, hot stones, cupping, foot and hand reflexology, Shiatsu, and more.
The practice accepts insurance. Gregory said that employees are encouraged to check with their human resources department to determine if massage is covered under their company’s wellness incentive program.
To learn more, visit www.outtasightmasso-therapy.com.