I was recently interview by Bob Blaise on the Good Neighbor Podcast. It was such a treat to tell my story about my career and business! Check out the full interview here!

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Hello, Delco, this is Michael Barkan welcoming you to the Good Neighbor podcast where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again, to introduce my friend and neighbor our host. Bob blasey, hey, thank you very much, Michael barkhan for that introduction, and yes, my name is Bob Lacy, and we're here with another episode of The Good Neighbor podcast. Now, when we have the good neighbor podcast, you might think we're bringing neighbors together. We're actually bringing businesses together with their neighbors who are not businesses, patrons of their business in a community that prides itself on having community and having businesses that are really good neighbors. That's what the good neighbor podcast is all about. We come to you from Delco. For those of you listening around the country, Delco is Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, right above the state of Delaware and right below the city of Philadelphia. The small, little Delaware County very highly populated, but got a great vibe and great people and great businesses. Today we're bringing you another great, good neighbor business, and it's called Newtown square healing arts. Let me bring to the stage here for our podcast episode today, the owner of Newtown square healing arts. Ani, Byrne, welcome to the program. Ani,

thanks, Bob.

It's great to have you, and I haven't really said yet what Newtown square Healing Arts is, but I think people, if they take the Newtown square part out and just focus on healing arts, we're going to get a suspicion that it's going to be different than regular medical doctor science healing. So I'm thinking it's definitely in the area of massage therapy. I think that's what you're known for in the Newtown square area with your brand, but it's going to probably mean other things. So let's start with massage therapy. Ani, you are a licensed massage therapist. Yeah, yes, I'm a licensed massage therapist. Since 2012 and I started Newtown square massage therapy back in 2019 shortly after losing a job and got licensed in a new in a new practice, so you could be entrepreneurial and help people at the same time. Yeah. So I've been, I've been doing massage therapy since 2012 but I'd gone out on my own in 2019 with massage therapy. Well, for the for the for the benefit of people who have had state massage. I mean, I've had few of them. But you know, if you're at a spa and you're on vacation or you're on your honeymoon, maybe you get a massage and and my, my thought is that they're very relaxing and you feel great afterwards. But when you tie the word therapy to it, we're talking about massages on a more regular basis, but for a different pointed goal, rather than just say stress reduction. So from a licensed massage therapist point of view, tell us what massage therapy is, or what it can be for your for your patients, yeah.

So for for me, most of my clients come with come to me because they have a specific issue, whether it's chronic or acute, there is something an issue they're looking to resolve, or or overwhelming amount of stress, like stress that's just been mounting, and there, a lot of the times I'm like, a last resort or a post op situation. So they've had surgery, they've done physical therapy, and for whatever reason, they're not experiencing their relief that they want. So I'd say that's usually the thing that brings people to me and, yeah, more injury rehabilitation. I've worked mostly in chiropractic settings, so I've, you know, got pretty used to working with people who injured themselves the previous day. Yeah, let's talk about the massaging that goes on. Is it? Is it, you know, almost 90% always on the back. Or are you massaging different joints, you know, leg muscles and those kind of things tell us a little bit about what the actual movements are and where. Yeah, so ideally, I'm addressing the whole body, and I I'm unique in that I don't, I don't specialize in a specific thing in terms of pressure, I've learned modalities over the years that require anything from 120 pounds of pressure with deep tissue trigger point therapy massage all the way to craniosacral therapy, which is a more light touch therapy. It's about five grams of pressure, so that also helps manipulate tissue and gets to the more deeper and maybe more emotional level of some of the issues that people might have. But yeah, I'm firmly believe in just being responsive to what the person's body seems to need. Right? Rather than, Oh, I do deep tissue. That's the style, that's the technique that I'm the best at, and that's just what I do. I'm for me. It's about addressing the person and the and the full body. I lean on that as much as possible. Let me ask you, is the massaging that must go on often? Is it intended to be comforting, or is it actually intended to have to kind of unbuckle something? Is it? Is there? Is there some necessary no pain, no gain, kind of massaging that has to take place? Well, it's a little bit of both. I think there's a misnomer here that, yeah, the no pain, no gain, you got to grit through it, yeah? Just do what you need to do and get in there and work at it. Yet, to me, that's, that's, it might work for some people, but what I've found over the years that it's, it's, it's also definitely not about just fluff, you know, just like a nice, you know, petting either. While that does have plenty of benefit, I'd say naturally, no change happens within the comfort zone. And so there's the comfort zone, and then you have the trauma zone, far outside the comfort zone, but just outside, just on the edge of the comfort zone, right outside of it, is the healing zone, and that's where I operate from. It's sort of this safe like, oh, a little bit of discomfort, tolerable discomfort, sometimes,

but it's also not required if you're not in the

so where some people drop off on the subject of, say, massaging and understanding, and I probably am one of them. But you know, everybody could accept that getting a good massage will eliminate stress. They can also readily understand how if I have soreness or stiffness, I'm stressed because of that, so the massage on doing that stiffness soreness will then relieve stress. But there's much more here that is kind of under the stress or in the muscles, and that's really where it starts to get even a little more both science and maybe even a spiritual dimension to it. So speak a little bit to the point of how massage therapy can release stress causers that are like buried in the muscles. Is a way, I guess, of saying it is related to some kind of trauma that could be as emotional as it might be physical. Yeah. So again, I'd say that this is, I'd like to say at first that massage is only going to be part of it, and that really the healing is partly also what you're doing at home. A lot of I'm not going to be the thing that solves, solves your problems, but I will help you on that journey and supporting you and giving you things that you can do at home as well. That aftercare is really important, but in terms of going beyond just the tissue, you know, we are multi level beings. We're we're human beings, but we have an emotional self, a mental self, a physical self, a spiritual self. And so I believe that an injury in one area is going to manifest in all the other aspects of our being. So a deep emotional wound is going to physiologically change your body a little bit as well, and you're going to have tension in an area. And so that tension is going to be held by releasing that tension here, then also releasing the emotional chains of that and so that can be, you know, really affirming and helpful for people. I think people don't realize that those emotions are in there. I think these emotions can come up even outside of the outside of the Massage Studio at social events. You know anxiety, you know things like that. So

it's just informed that whole thing for me, but

Well, you've touched on it really well. I mean, that was a great explanation of how it can be deeper than just muscle pain, but it's other pain that maybe from experience, but by manipulating the muscle, those earlier experiences are released in some way, aside from the muscles being freed up. I have to think that, as a professional witnessing this over years, that the ability for you to kind of understand how capable that therapy is in helping someone's emotional well being is just easier and easier all the time, because you see it more often. I would think that that would lead you into even understanding that there there are other kinds of healing arts you've named your business that allow you to kind of understand that there are other therapies besides manipulation therapies and and I understand that you have some insights to those as well. Yeah, so this year, I introduced meditation courses and classes to my practice. It's I've been meditating for years of know a lot about it, and I thought that could be a great service to add a lot of people don't. Know how to meditate, they're very intimidated by it. And I thought, rather than telling people that they need to go home and meditate and reduce their stress, I can actually teach them how to do it as well. Sound healing is another thing I've been using and kind of incorporating. I've actually just changed all the music that I listened to in the studio to just be Tibetan singing bowls and sound healing sessions so that also, you know, can help is another form of like vibration or manipulation, but it's almost like wave therapy, or something from from sound that comes off of, you know, a perfect pitch instrument or or tones, or bowls or something like it. So again, the reason I bring this up is because, as you have I should tell the listeners we're who we're speaking with here. We're talking with ani Brown, who is Brett Byrne, excuse me, Ani Byrne, who is a massage, licensed massage therapist, but really a healing arts entrepreneur, who is bringing multiple healing arts to her clients, Ani is licensed and working out of Newtown square, Pennsylvania. She's got a thriving practice for 12 years as a therapist, and has had access to physical therapy through chiropractic shops and now as a massage therapist in her own business. This is a really interesting science ani that not everybody is exposed to, but then when people are exposed to it begins to make sense. And of course, the next step is really experiencing it right? Tell us a little bit about what the very first experiences for someone who's never really had a massage of the type that you would give to try to bring some release, like, what

would, what would they feel?

I'll bet you that they not only feel released, but I'll, I'll bet you there's some emotional unpacking that happens. Sometimes they can walk out completely different than they walked in. Yeah, definitely. You know, there's, I think people are surprised by how good they could feel. I think a lot of times they're coming in here feeling like, oh my goodness, my body is a mess. I'm a mess. You know, I've gone everywhere and blah, blah, blah, and then they get the massage. I have no idea that. I had no idea I could feel that good. I had no idea just just muscle tension could feel that good. For other people, it's just feeling nurtured and safe and seen and understood, and being able to unload just that, that nurturing care, being able to unload in a neutral setting and really just focus on their body. That's that's a huge relief I get a lot of times, people want to hug me for the first time. Client once told me they feel like I opened up a chakra that didn't exist. How cool is that to be able to change your profession? You're in a new profession. You said you were looking for a job, and you decided to become a licensed massage therapist, and now you're 12 years later, you've got a mission to your work in a mission into kind of a help for humanity. What a great what a great way to get up in the morning, and a great business to have. You're helping people. You're, in a way, changing lives. And it's very admirable. We have as our guest here ani Byrne, who is definitely a woman of business, but also a woman of mission in the healing arts, Newtown square. Healing Arts in Newtown square, Pennsylvania. Let me give you the phone number and the website. If you'd like to talk to Ani, you can find her at on her website, at Newtown square healing arts com. And if you'd like to call her, her number is 215-821-8887, and you'll be able to talk to Ani. She'll give you some advice and and it might be that you've listened to this podcast that you're in Delaware County, and you realize this is the person that I'm meant to meet. And these kind of things in providential way, happen, and there's a professional massage therapist for you, Ani. Do you want to tell us, if you weren't doing this, what would you be doing with your life? Would you be sailing? Would you be painting? Or would you be just, was this exactly what you have found that's the center of your life now? Yeah, you know, this is a career change for me. I went to art school, you know, and photography just wasn't, wasn't doing it for me. And I really put a lot of effort and time into figuring out, like, what, what would be an alignment for me and the healing world. Is it? You know, for me, it's, it's taught me how to be a better person, a better human, A Better Life, A Better daughter, everything. So for me, it's, it's, it's my anchor to myself and my my purpose here on the planet, to be honest. So, yeah, I love this stuff. But you know, when I'm not doing massage, I'm I'm doing music, I'm a DJ and and producer, and I've been kind of merging the healing into that as well, and so just kind of tethering that golden. A thread of healing to everything I do. But yeah, music and DJing would be another the other side of me. It was great having you today, as on the episode of The Good Neighbor podcast, take some comfort in knowing that you're healing in art, music and with your fingers, your hands, your massage, you're doing good work for good people, and you are a good business, a good neighbor business. We're proud to have you here on the Good Neighbor podcast today. Thanks for being our guest.

Thanks a lot, Bob.

I thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to GNP, delco.com or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745, you.