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Bringing a touch of relaxation to the workplace
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
Although once considered a means of self-indulgent pampering, massage today is generally recognized as a health benefit that can reduce tension and anxiety, improve blood circulation, calm the nervous system, prevent and relieve muscles cramps, and help manage long-term pain.
That much has been documented and accepted by the general public. What hasn’t been accepted as easily is the importance of setting aside time in a busy work week to enjoy such benefits. After all, who has time to cram yet another appointment onto the calendar?
That reality is what drove Keith and Dora Boyles, owners of Peaceful Serenity Massage Therapy, to bring the “touch of relaxation” into the corporate environment.
“The seed was planted when we were in school (at Southeastern School of Neuromuscular Massage in North Charleston),” said Keith. “We realized this would be a good way to get our name out. If people don’t come to you, you can go to them.”
Taking massage therapy “on the road” is fairly easy, he said. They bring an ergonomic massage chair into the workplace, and people line up.
“They don’t take any clothes off,” he said. “This is a different facet of the massages we do in the office, which are typically Swedish relaxation massages on the table.”
The Boyles have done chair massages for several corporate clients, including a credit union, a hospital, a law firm, a dental practice and the office staff of a church. They were booked recently by an airline for an entire day.
“We’ve worked with the credit union, both their main branches and their satellites, many times,” said Keith Boyles. “They have an annual meeting in Myrtle Beach, and they told us to just book them every November.”
The benefits of massage are essential, especially for people who work in stressful jobs, he said.
“It’s extremely important to find some time out of your day to do something that could lower your blood pressure and get your endorphins going, to help you forget about what’s going on in the world,” he said.
The chair massage is especially helpful for those who work at a desk.
“People don’t realize how tight their shoulders can get sitting in front of the computer all day,” Keith Boyles said.
One client likened it to stepping into another world for a one-hour vacation, Dora Boyles noted.
“After the massage, she went to the door and hesitated. She said she didn’t want to go back out,” Dora Boyles said.
Both the Boyles know what the corporate life can do to the body, stress-wise. Dora Boyles was a licensed custom house broker for 25 years, with a total of 30 years in the business. Keith Boyles, after 6? years in the Navy, worked as a freight forwarder for 19 years. Eventually the stress of their jobs began to take their toll.
“I was about to turn 50 and was looking for another career,” said Dora. “I kept thinking, ‘I can’t do this for another 15 to 20 years. I’ll die at my desk.’”
She fell asleep in front of the TV and woke up to a commercial for Southeastern. She talked to Keith about the idea, the two researched the industry and finally Dora Boyles enrolled in a night course while continuing her day job. Keith Boyles followed the next semester.
“I didn’t want to die at my desk either,” he said.
By February 2002 they were in business, and in the six-plus years of being massage therapists, they have not had to do much advertising.
“Word of mouth is the best form of advertising,” Dora Boyles said. “And a lot of times, when we do chair massages for a corporate client, one of the employees will talk to the employee of another company, and so we get a good bit of work that way.”
Some of the corporate chair massage clients end up coming to the office for other services, which includes the one-hour Swedish massage, a half-hour legs and feet or upper body massage, hot stone massage or foot reflexology, among other services. They also offer a pregnancy massage and a sports massages either pre- or post-event.
Prices range from $30 for half-hour session to $50 for the hour Swedish massage to the most expensive item, the hot stone massage at $95. The chair massage is $1 per minute or charged at an hourly rate for corporate clients. Many companies treat their employees to Peaceful Serenity gift certificates.
“We try to price it right,” said KeithBoyles. “We don’t want to gouge people. We want to make it affordable for them to relax.”
In fact, after clients sample the chair massage, learning to relax is not as difficult as learning to wait patiently for the next massage.
“We traveled to Georgetown not long ago to do massages that were given as treats to a client,” he said. “They told us the corporate office had praised them for the job they did and gave them the choice of being treated to lunch or a massage. All of them wanted the massage. They said, ‘Hey, we can do lunch any time.’”
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