Shannon Wick

Dr. Jack Wong: Hey everybody, this is Dr. Wong with Next Level Regen PT and welcome back to our spotlight series. Today I am here with a special guest, Miss Shannon Wick with Béni Massage and Wellness. Welcome to the show, Shannon.

Shannon Wick: Hi. Thank you for having me, Dr. Wong.

Dr. Jack Wong: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Nice to be here as well. Um, thanks for your time. So, the reason why Shannon is here today because one of the main questions we get asked all the time in clinic is should I go to a massage therapist and if I should like what should I be looking out for? So, what better um to have Miss Shannon from Béni Massage and Wellness to answer those questions for us. So, once again, welcome to the show. And the first question I have for you, Miss Shannon, is what made you decide to become a massage therapist?

Shannon Wick: Honestly, I really kind of stumbled into it and I’m so grateful that I did. I was in my late teen years, so almost 19 years ago, I stumbled across this. I was waiting tables at a restaurant and one of the hostesses there was going to massage school and I had came in with a headache and she said, “Give me your hand. I can help with that.” and she pressed a specific pressure point and within moments my headache had greatly reduced. I was really impressed and that was the moment that everything really shifted for me. I thought if I can help make someone feel better that quickly with just my hands and some knowledge, I want to learn how to do that. I want to be that person for others. And she also mentioned of course like a flexible schedule and solid income which mattered because I was about to attend college. But what really sold me was the feeling, the possibility of giving someone real relief in a moment when they really needed it. And that’s what still drives me today with my business, Béni Massage and Wellness. Every session is a chance to genuinely change how someone feels physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Dr. Jack Wong: That’s amazing. So, how many times have you used that trick on other clients? Like, oh, you got a headache? Let me press on that spot.

Shannon Wick: Normally, I haven’t. I might do it during session if they mention a headache. Um, but it also depends on where the headache is originating from. If they’re talking about, you know, neck and shoulders, I’ll of course spend extra time on their neck and shoulders. But um specifically out in public, I’ve never done it out in public, but I I do keep it in my back pocket in case ever anyone needs it.

Dr. Jack Wong: That’s awesome. That’s a cool party trick.

Shannon Wick: Yes.

Dr. Jack Wong: Awesome. Okay, so I know there’s a lot of massage therapy clinics out there. What makes Béni Massage and Wellness different from all the other massage therapy uh places?

Shannon Wick: Well, at Béni Massage and Wellness, we’ve built an entire culture around two things: co-creation and consent. And it’s not something that I notice in all practices. Like, there’s not always a whole bunch of communication before their session or even during or after. And I think it’s really important to check in with with your client. And so, this is something that every therapist on our team is aligned with. Um, we believe that our therapists bring expertise and training, but our clients have lived their entire lives in their body. So, we want to take their knowledge of what their life experience has been and combine our our expertise. And so, because we’ve never spent a day in your body is what I tell clients all the time. And I think it’s really important because, you know, clients go to different health care providers. And one thing that I hear regularly from my clients is that, you know, I just don’t really feel listened to. I didn’t feel acknowledged. And so that is really honed in on at our business. And we don’t just perform a massage. We build a session together so it actually meets my client’s outcomes or our client’s outcomes. And that philosophy is really woven into everything. how we do our intake, how we check in during the session, how we follow up afterwards to see how your body responded. On top of that, our introductory pricing is structured so new clients can try different therapists each time. And that’s way it gives you a chance to find the perfect fit within our team. So, that’s not something you really find most places. And we’re not just a regular massage business. We have a holistic wellness mindset and every person who walks through our doors is treated like an active participant in their own healing because if we don’t have our clients buy in or if they’re not um as motivated uh you know I can work on you for an hour once a month but if you’re not doing anything between sessions um it just will dampen what your outcomes will be and how long that result lasts for

Dr. Jack Wong: I love that. Um I think what you bring up is a really good point. Communication is huge. Um I think not just in your business, but just you know in our business as well, right? And when you have people who’ve never had a massage before and they’re a little skeptical, maybe a little scared of it, right? And maybe they have some knots or pains or aches. Um having someone they never met before put their hands on them. Right.

Shannon Wick: Right.

Dr. Jack Wong: It’s really sensitive subject. So, I think what you brought up of having um transparent communication and just having the client know you’re on their side and you’re working as a team together speaks volumes about, you know, some of the results that I’ve heard from some of our patients that have uh came to see you guys as well.

Shannon Wick: Yeah. And I really do think that um it’s important co-creation not just with the client but the other providers as well. So, that’s why, you know, we refer business back and forth and I’m regularly saying like, “When was the last time you went to see Dr. Wong?” Like, I think it might be time.

Dr. Jack Wong: For sure. Awesome. So, I know you obviously been in the industry for some time now, right? So, how would you say the whole massage therapy industry is evolving as a whole?

Shannon Wick: Well, I think massage therapists are becoming more diverse in their knowledge. They’re learning about many different systems of the body and how it all works together. There are so many different uh practices and types of massage. And um the one thing that I’ve been noticing lately in forums that massage therapists are on and that I’m in and active in is people talking about the differentation between deep tissue and deep pressure and how they’re spending some time educating clients. And I do this with my clients as well where I’m like, you know, just because you’re saying you want deep tissue doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what your body actually needs because the way what will happen when there’s all this pain when the body registers pain, it’ll start tensing up and it’ll start fighting what we’re actually doing. And so having a conversation to educate them uh about that is becoming more and more prevalent with multiple massage therapists. And I love seeing that. That way it’s again going back into co-creation and education with your client. But also um one thing that I help tell clients to help them know like okay how do I even say or speak on the pressure that I like I tell them a therapeutic massage what I like the phrase that I like is it hurts so good where it’s uncomfortable but it still feels good and so you’re actually getting some work done but you’re not pushing the body so far into pain that is starting to fight against your therapist.

Dr. Jack Wong: Yes, you bring up a good point. It’s like a fine delicate balance between what actually hurts and like a feelood hurt, right? That’s something a lot of our patients, you know, tell us about a good massage therapist. It’s like, oh, that hurts, but it’s like a feelood. Like, I kind of know I need it versus like, no, that’s the original pain I came with. I don’t kind of like that. So I think not every massage therapist have that certain skill. So I’m glad that obviously you you bring to the table for your clients and all that. Yeah. So who would you say is your ideal client?

Shannon Wick: Well, we tend to attract people who are serious about their health and body and they’re not just looking for a one-time fix um or a one-time treat. people who really understand that consistent care is how you actually get ahead of pain and stress and dysfunction and disease. Um, our team really works well with athletes, active people who want to recover fast and perform better. We have prosurgical clients who come in to help speed up healing with manual lymphatic drainage sessions. We also see a lot of chiropractic and physical therapy clients who come to us to help complement their rehab and healing. And like I said earlier, that collaboration is something that we’re really passionate about. We regularly refer our clients to chiropractors, phys physical therapists, and even posture specialists. We serve many people managing chronic pain who have tried other things without lasting results. of course stress professionals who carry the weight of their work physically in their neck, shoulders, low back, all the typical standard stuff and and they’re everyday, you know, pounding away at the keyboard. So, what all these people have in common is that they’re not looking for a quick fix. They’re really looking for someone who’s going to be a wellness partner. And that’s exactly what Béni Massage and Wellness is built to be.

Dr. Jack Wong: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, you bring up a good point because a lot of the folks you mentioned, they didn’t get their pain yesterday, right? It it’s like kind of build up over the years. So, it’s going to take a little time to start unraveling some of the issues that kind of built up over the years. So, I definitely can resonate with that. And our patients um you know that see us have chronic issue a lot of times. So, we tell them the same thing. You don’t have this problem because you had you know a uh situation yesterday like it took months and years to get here. Not say it’s going to take months and years to solve it, but it’s going to take a little time to, you know, obviously see the results and all that stuff, right? That’s awesome.

Shannon Wick: You can’t expect years of uh bad behavior or, you know, doing things that weren’t conducive to your body and then only one session. It being we’re not magic wands. None of us are, whether we’re chiropractors or physical therapists. So, yeah, for sure. Massage therapists. Yeah.

Dr. Jack Wong: So, how do you determine if someone needs a massage?

Shannon Wick: Well, basically, if you have a body, you probably need a massage. But more specifically, I look at what someone’s daily life looks like. Are they sitting for long periods? Are they standing all day? Are they training hard? Are they recovering for something? Uh, is their stress through the roof? All of these create tension in the body. and left undressed that can become chronic issues or even need surgery in the future. Um, I also ask our clients about the wellness history like what you’ve tried, what’s helped, what hasn’t, and that intake conversation really tells me a lot about where we need to focus and how we should approach their session.

Dr. Jack Wong: That’s awesome. Is there such a thing as a typical session at your facility? And if like what if there is like what would a typical session look like?

Shannon Wick: Um a typical session would basically um look like going back to our our our conversation about co-creation. Every therapist on our team has a co-creation conversation before. So that would look like how are you feeling today? What’s been going on in your body? Uh what do you want to focus on during your session? We treat that conversation as part of the session itself, not just a formality. This is also why we don’t take the consultation time out of your massage time like a lot of other facilities. And from there, we really uh customize your treatment. So, your pressure, the technique, the focus areas, all tailored in real time and our therapists check in throughout the session and adjust accordingly. So, nothing’s on autopilot. um we can go in one one session have one thing being the focus and then the next time we see you it being completely different. So that’s why we make sure to check in every time uh after the session then we debrief. We ask like how did that feel? What did you notice? What did you like about this session? What should we do differently or make sure we do more of next time? And that feedback loop is what really allows us to get better for you with every visit. So it’s a living evolving experience because your body is always changing and we need to adapt to it

Dr. Jack Wong: for sure. Would you say that’s something that’s unique to your practice as far as asking the questions first so you know where to pinpoint your session or do most clinics like do like a like you said autopilot kind of like oh you can come from massage this is what we’re going to do versus figure out what the client actually wants and needs from that session.

Shannon Wick: Yeah, I think that our company does tend to go a little deeper um because we have the time. We a lot time for it whereas some places like I mentioned they take the consultation time out of the hour session. So then the hands-on time is really like 45 50 minutes. So they only have a really brief amount of time to cover some things. We have more time between each session. So that way we can actually spend 60 minutes hands-on and then also have time for, you know, your consultation and then getting you checked out and out the door. So that is different in regards to the consultation having more spaciousness around it.

Dr. Jack Wong: That’s awesome. I think I could imagine someone who’s never had massage before how helpful that will be to build that trust and just know that you’re on their side right before even doing anything at all. So that’s that’s a huge I think leg up for you know the other things that might not have the time or bandwidth to want to do that.

Shannon Wick: Yeah. And I think that also um our our client paperwork is probably more in depth than what I’ve seen at other places, but each place is different. So, it’s really hard to say like not every therapist uh cuts their consultation out of their massage time and so but it is common other places. It’s also part of why I think it’s important for you to be able to communicate clearly with your massage therapist so that you can build that relationship so there can be some intention in your session and also so you can communicate if something’s hurting because um I’ve been places where I like I’ve traveled abroad right and they didn’t speak my language and I thought to myself oh this is this is dangerous like they don’t they they were trained but not um they were doing things that I didn’t think should be done and um there was you can be hurt when you’re getting a massage. So it’s important to really go to someone who you can communicate with if you’re feeling major discomfort in your session so that way you don’t get hurt.

Dr. Jack Wong: No, you’re absolutely right. He actually remind me of a patient um I saw a few months ago where he was asking me on massage therapy and I told him my thoughts on it and I did tell him like if you do decide to go you have to be really careful who you go to right especially if they’re not asking questions it’s just you know laying on the table and doing whatever their agenda is. And then he revealed to me years ago he actually got hurt by massage therapist in Asia because they didn’t speak the language and you know he was feeling tight from you know jet lag and he wanted a massage and he had been more pain for and he couldn’t enjoy his vacation. So that’s why he was like skeptical about massage therapy after that situation. But I obviously told him like that’s probably a not ill intention. It was just they didn’t speak the language and that’s why what you wanted out of it was totally different from what they were, you know, able to give you and stuff like that. Yeah. Okay.

Shannon Wick: Yeah. I I hear I hear stories all the time of people even not traveling abroad even here in the US where they’ve gone somewhere whether the therapist can uh communicate in their language or not and they still like they’ll get injured or it doesn’t the outcome of the session doesn’t come the way that they wanted like the one common thing that I see is oh they didn’t actually focus on the areas that I asked them to focus on which is a big um I want to like people like what did you come here for if you’re not going to actually work on those areas? But um as a massage therapist, that’s what I’m thinking about like why would we not work them? But I think also therapists um I think that clients can be afraid to speak up and therapists really need to communicate like really please tell me like please please please tell me if there is anything that is bothering you at any point in time because even if it’s ticklishness people will be ticklish in places you would never expect them to be ticklish in and your therapist should have the knowledge to be able to change the technique of whatever they’re doing in that area to take out any of the ticklishness. So, that’s just an example, but I tell clients all the time, I do not take it personally. If you want me to go deeper or lighter, it doesn’t matter to me because this is your session. You’re paying me for this session and I want to make sure you get out whatever you want from it. I want you to feel better. So,

Dr. Jack Wong: yeah, that’s great. So, what is something most people should know before getting massage at your clinic?

Shannon Wick: Well, it kind of ties into what I was just saying. The biggest thing we want to know, want you to know at Béni Massage and Wellness is that your voice matters. And we really want you to hear that. Like, our culture here is so built on co-creation that it means we’re not just here to do a massage to you. We’re here to do it with you. And if something doesn’t feel right, say it. If you want more focus somewhere else, tell us. The communication is what separates a good session from a great one. And we also want clients to know that your first session is really a discovery. So, we’re learning your body, your preferences, your history, and each visit after that really builds on what we’ve learned, which is why our clients are consistently telling us that their sessions just keep getting better the more they come. and be surprised. Don’t be surprised by our questions. We’re not being nosy. We’re just really being intentional. And what a lot of people don’t necessarily know is how much everything is connected in the body. And we ask these questions to keep you safe and make sure there’s no contraindications for your massage. So, not even relating to pressure us hurting you, but there are reasons why people shouldn’t get massaged. And that intake should help us determine if there is any reason why you shouldn’t get a massage. And this is why I stress to people it’s so important to see a therapist that can communicate well with you. And we ask because we care about your outcome, not just the hour that you’re on our table. We want to see you feel better. We want to see you thrive.

Dr. Jack Wong: That’s awesome. Yeah. So, what are your thoughts on supplementing physotherapy and massage therapy together?

Shannon Wick: I think they are incredibly powerful together, and I believe that they should be talked about in the same breath more often, which is why I’m so excited to be here today. Uh, physical therapy really addresses function and movement and rehabilitation, whereas massage addresses the soft tissue. It’s releasing tissue, uh, releasing tension, improving circulation, reducing inflammation, and really helping the body recover faster. So, when you combine the two, you’re really attacking the problem from multiple angles. And a lot of our clients, our P2 clients, who found that adding massage accelerated their results and the the muscle was more receptive, the body was being less guarded. And so the work done in PT tends to hold better when it’s the surrounding tissue isn’t locked up in tension. So it’s neither uh it’s not either or, it’s a both and together they really can be a gamecher which is also why we partner with a lot of chiropractors as well because that really ties in where it’s like which came first, the chicken or the egg? is the muscle affecting the bone and pulling them out of alignment or is the bones being out of alignment, you know, affecting the muscle and making them tense up. So, I really think that um it really is all connected and supplementing massage and with physical therapy is really a wise decision.

Dr. Jack Wong: Yeah, you you hit it spot on. Um it’s not this or that. It’s when you have several disciplines working together, the body responds a lot more efficiently, right? So, I understand that. So, tell me about the process to work with your team.

Shannon Wick: Yeah. So, we’ve made it as simple as possible because the hardest part should be deciding to invest in yourself, not figuring out how to book. Um, you just go to our website, baymassage.com, b- namassage.com. You book online. You pick your service, your therapist, your time. There’s no phone tag. There’s no waiting. Now, for those of you who are not computer savvy, then of course you can call us or text us even uh before your appointment. You receive a link to fill out the new client paperwork online. So, we gather this information so our team comes in ready, prepared, and ready to serve you. And then after that, once you arrive to our facility, we have that co-creation conversation. Then we get to work. And so after session, we talk about what we discovered, any suggestions that we have for self-care afterwards. Uh we share our referrals if we have people that we want to refer to like other healthcare practitioners. And then we also talk about how often we think you should receive massage to meet whatever goals or outcomes you’re trying to reach. And something that I really love about how we do things is there’s no sign up, no contract, no commitment, but we have a loyalty program. And if you book within 30 days of your session, you automatically get 20% off the next one. And if you book on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, you get an additional 5% on top of that. So, we’ve really made it easy and rewarding to keep showing up for yourself because consistency is where the real results really happen.

Dr. Jack Wong: That’s awesome. There’s always a what I call compound effect. So, that totally makes sense as far as consistency, right? So, if there’s one main thing you want to be known for, Shannon, what would it be?

Shannon Wick: Uh, I feel like I’m beating a a dead horse here, but creation and co-consent because that’s what we really care. We really do. And I want people to know that when they come to Béni Massage and Wellness, they are not just a body on our table. You are an active participant in your own healing. I bring years of training and expertise, but they bring something even more important, which is a lifetime of knowledge of their own body. And we try to honor both of those things. And that’s when the real transformation happens. And I want every client to experience that. Not just a good massage, but a session that’s built for them by us together. One of the favorite things that I hear clients say is, “Man, I think that was one of the best massages I’ve ever had.” Like, that is music to my ears. Um, I really love hearing that. And I love I love that they’re experiencing such a great session that they feel motivated to say it, too.

Dr. Jack Wong: That’s awesome. I can feel excitement through the screen, you know, when a new client comes through and they’re like a blank canvas. You don’t know, you know, anything about them besides whatever didn’t take form. You have a conversation and then they’re just glowing afterwards and he’s like, “Yes, I did it again.”

Shannon Wick: Yes. And it’s great. I really love getting first timers, like people who’ve never had massage before or have never had professional massage, and I’m like, “Oh, I love getting to be someone’s first.” Because in my mind, like, I know you’re going to have a great session. And um I’ve had people say, you know, you worked on areas that I’ve never had worked on before. Like a big area that a lot of massage therapists avoid or ignore is the glutes and hips, which contribute so much to like hip pain and low back pain, and it can even contribute to knee pain. So I um yeah, I really love getting to be someone’s first uh experience into massage.

Dr. Jack Wong: Awesome. And just for the viewers, how can people get in touch with you?

Shannon Wick: Yeah, the easiest way is to just go straight to our website, baymassage.com. You can book online anytime, day or night, and uh your body will thank you.

Dr. Jack Wong: Awesome. Well, thanks for your time, Shannon. I really appreciate it.

Shannon Wick: Yeah, thank you, Dr. Wong.

Dr. Jack Wong: Absolutely.