Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 3, March 2003

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'Massage Missionary' spreads message of good health

By MATTHEW PREUSCH

When Amy Kramer Hawks graduated from massage school three years ago, she knew she needed a business name that would reflect her faith in alternative healing.

Eventually, almost accidentally, a friend gave her the label she still uses today: Massage Missionary.

"It was originally intended to be a slogan for a t-shirt," said Hawks. "I liked it because you learned so much in massage school, I really felt was going out into the world with important information that could really change people's lives."

The essence of Hawks' gospel is self-awareness. She encourages her patients to be their own health care providers by paying attention to signals their bodies send them about their physical condition.

And she also recommends the occasional lymph massage.

Hawks is one of about 25 massage therapists in Washington who specialize in Manual Lymph Drainage the drawing off of excess lymphatic fluid through gentle massage.

Lymph, according to Hawks, is a milky white fluid that "bathes the cells" in our body, gathering toxins and pathogens to be filtered in the body's many lymph nodes.

"Your body sort of has a filter system so it can make sure it gets to whatever is attacking you before it gets into your blood system," said Hawks.

An expert who knows how to manipulate the flow of lymph can affect dramatic change in a broad spectrum of maladies, from burns to simple stress, she said.

Hawks manipulates lymph as part of her massage therapy practice in the Northgate area, where she works out of offices of Whole Health Chiropractic. In 2000 she graduated from the Brian Utting School of Massage in downtown Seattle.

Hawks is one of an estimated 220,000 massage therapists in the United States, according to the American Massage Therapists Association, part of a growing, $21 billion alternative medicine industry. The association estimates that people spend between $4 billion and $6 billion annually massage therapy.

Most of Hawks' patients come to her on the advice of their regular physicians after a traumatic injury, such as a car or work accident. Others come to her simply for the health benefits of regular massage; some have been with her since she opened her doors in the Northgate area.

But Hawks said she is not particular about who she helps.

"I really try to give people what they need," she said. "I try to tailor massages to what's appropriate for that person that day."

Before joining Whole Health, Hawks worked out of her home for a year. Like other massage professionals in Washington Hawks benefits from the state government's encouragement of alternative medicine. Complementary and alternative medicine providers have been recognized by health plans here since 1996, according to the massage association. That means those interested in healing techniques like massage or acupuncture can have the procedures covered by their health plans.

"Washington state is really on the forefront of accepting and funding alternative care," Hawks said.

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Massage Missionary is located at 10212 5th Ave NE. Info: 524-1330.