We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ben Kalayjian a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ben, thanks for joining us today. What was your school or training experience like? Share an anecdote or two that you feel illustrate important aspects or the overall nature of your schooling/training experience.

My school was the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. I attended a one month intensive massage training that had a deep effect on my perspective of how I wanted to live my life. I didn’t have any real plans to become a massage therapist, I was already an accomplished chef. Instead, I dropped a job offer to chef at a little company in Silicon Valley called Facebook and took a job at a Tibetan retreat center and continued my studies at Esalen. A couple years later I took a job as a chef at Esalen and spent another seven-plus years working and studying with a multitude of masters in massage, bodywork, movement, psychology and the arts.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My entrance into the healing art began before I knew it. I was a chef and working at the HeartMath Institute in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. For three years I was both cooking and learning from a group of folks who were researching the problems of stress in our lives. From the chemicals our bodies make during traumatic events, the variability of our heart rate during stressful and easeful times, to practices that help us cope with these inevitable events. Later I discovered both Esalen massage and the awareness practices around it, while also investigating the concept of the “Subtle Body” in both Yogic and Buddhist practices.
What sets my work apart from the typical massage is my approach to the subtle body and ways of shifting my clients autonomic nervous system to a healthier pendulation or rhythm.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I believe that every excellent bodyworker has to have at least one personal practice that promotes their own wellbeing – both physically and mentally. From the gym, yoga, pilates or dance to more internal practices such as meditation or somatic work. By maintaining a healthy body-mind connection therapists can further embody the practice they are performing.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Learning to work one-on-one with people. Our clients come to us for help typically and creating a safe space and healthy relationship with our clients has taken years of practice. There is no way we would be growing as we are without the interpersonal skills that came with working at spas or centers that would provide a constant stream of new people to work with. It takes experience and finesse to learn tools that help get folks to open up and trust you in such an intimate setting as a bodywork studio or wellness center.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.healinghomewellness.com
• Instagram: @healinghome_healingarts
• Facebook: Healing home LLC
• Linkedin: Healing Home LLC

Image Credits
photos by Ben Kalayjian