Sometimes, you have to be practical.
That’s what Barbara Meza, a resident of Bayonne, told herself when she took a financial job with General Electric in Jersey City.
She had kids to get through school and bills to pay. Yet in the back of her mind, she kept alive the idea that she might get into some aspect of natural healthcare when the opportunity came.
Then, a few years ago, GE decided to do away with her department.
“They gave me such a generous buyout program, I couldn’t refuse,” she said.
“Massage therapy and other methods of bodywork are employed to help the client’s energy rebalance.” – Barbara Meza
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Although nearly all of her clients are victims of cancer – especially breast cancer – Meza does treat other clients.
“I live here and work in Jersey City,” she said. “I do holistic massage, missed body work and energetic healing. This is geared towards improving the auto immune system that helps fight cancer. But I’m not heavy-handed. While I do heavy massage, most of what I do has a light touch and it is designed help people regain their health.”
Medical journals say therapeutic massage can have a positive impact on a number of autoimmune disorders, including Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis and other life altering illnesses.
“Massage therapy and other methods of bodywork are employed to help the client’s energy rebalance,” Meza said.
Located at 115 Second St. near the Harsimus Cove stop on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail, her office has been open since Sept. 1, 2008.
“I used to do this primarily at home,” she said.
This kind of work brings in a variety of her interests, including nutrition, and helping people reconnect their mind, body and spiritual selves. Massage, she said, helps some of her clients get over the discomfort of treatments or arthritis, and some of the nutritional elements can be helpful to people suffering with diseases such as diabetes.
But massage therapy has been very effective in helping to reduce levels of stress, which often contributes to other diseases.
She treats men and women, but no one under the age of 18.
Mesa is a certified massage therapist and holistic health practitioner, and has been a Reiki practitioner for several years. She is a graduate of Health Choices Holistic Massage Institute, is a continuing student of the Upledger Institute for Lymphatic Drainage and Cranial Sacral Therapy, has studied Thai massage with Michael Buck of the Vedic Conservatory, and is now poised to include Trager Bodywork in her repertoire. Meza is a MS Candidate in Holistic Nutrition through Clayton College.
As a way of benefiting St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jersey City, Meza is planning to soon perform 10 massages at $45 each, the proceeds of which will go to help the church’s food kitchen, The Sharing Place.