WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A MASSAGE THERAPIST?
LayHoon has a good friend who was a Massage Therapist and who would give her mini-massages when they had free time. This was something LayHoon felt she could do herself, as she always enjoyed working with her hands and being active, even when she was working administration.
LayHoon experienced a chronic neck and shoulder injury and was treated with physical therapy as well as massage therapy, and found the massage more effective and beneficial. LayHoon went to school for a Sports Massage course to see if she liked the field and instantly decided this was the profession for her, she quit her job and went to Boulder College of Massage Therapy full-time to pursue this new career.
LayHoon was looking for a solid foundation in the understanding of anatomy, which she found in Boulder. She has been a certified massage therapist for eight years now.
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIALTY OR FAVORITE STYLE OF MASSAGE?
Straight out of school, LayHoon had decided to focus on relaxing deep tissue work, as she was good at it and understood it  well. In class, she didn’t really ‘feel’ the trigger point therapy or neuromuscular work, and wasn’t aiming to incorporate that in her practice. However, due to working with her physical therapist friend, the clients she was seeing needed that type of work for injury treatment. LayHoon was faced with the challenge of doing the work she was afraid to do – injury treatment focused work. Over time, and by continually practicing, she finally ‘felt’ her way into the technique, and discovered how much more effective trigger point therapy or neuromuscular work was to treat injuries than massage for pure relaxation. After years of practice, LayHoon now considers massage for injury treatment her specialty.
As far as her favorite, this technique is in some ways but not in others. Injury treatment has always been challenging, as well as being fulfilling and gratifying as people see the amazing results they receieve. However, due to the nature of the work, people sometimes feel worse before they feel better and don’t understand why. The process of healing can wander through pain before relief is felt, and LayHoon aims to educate her clients about that process. Clients also need to be committed to the time needed for the healing process to be effective, and to the possibility of discomfort during that time.
Folks looking for a “quick-fix” to a life-long problem may not get their needs met.  It’s rare that an injury or long-term pain can be fixed in one session, although it may only take a few sessions, depending on the issue. For more information on injury treatment, see our article on Sports massage.  LayHoon enjoys working on all types of clients, she enjoys the variety as well as practicing her original focus of relaxing deep tissue massage. Her other certifications include Ashiatsu, Hot Stone therapy, Myofacial release, and Intraoral therapy.
LAYHOON ALSO DOES CHAIR MASSAGE!
Chair massage is performed in a massage chair, with the client sitting at an angle, almost upright. This means that the therapist uses their body weight and body mechanics differently than when working with a table. Also, in the chair the clients are clothed, which means a different set of strokes are used than when they are working with bare skin and lotion or oil. For example, LayHoon tends not to use long smooth strokes in the chair; she uses more compression, friction, pressure points or rocking movements. This allows her to get in deep without having to use too much pressure on the body. The motion of pushing in then releasing gets results, given the restrictions of the chair. The other constraint on chair is time – there is less time available to warm up the body so it may feel more aggressive as the therapist moves directly to the area in pain. LayHoon works on Chair Fridays 11-3pm and it is just $1 per minute!
HOBBIES OR INTERESTS?
LayHoon does not have a lot of free time but when she does, enjoys singing in groups, especially a capella. In the past, she has been in groups that have performed concerts and done recordings. Now that she is back in Denver she aims to get involve with singing again as she really looks forward to the rehearsals and concerts. LayHoon also reads a lot and enjoys being active outdoors.