A
new career in health and wellness services
For
Lucero Mejia, an early retirement package from AT&T
brought with it the end of one career and the beginning of
another. A lifelong devotee of fitness and nutrition, she had
always dreamed of working in the health and wellness field,
but had neither the time nor the training to do
so.
After retiring from AT&T, Ms.
Mejia finally got her chance.
She set
about earning the degrees and obtaining training that would
give her the background she needed to realize her dream. She
started with a degree in fitness and nutrition from the
International Correspondence Schools in Scranton, Pa., and
then purchased commercial fitness equipment to set up her own
personal training studio in the basement of her Lawrence home.
After first advertising her services in 1998, she had secured
a steady clientele by 2000.
"I noticed
people having pain," she said, and remembers thinking, "These
are very fit people, what can alleviate the
pain?"
She ultimately found her answer at
the Ohashi Institute in New York, where she earned her
certification in Ohashiatsu, a form of bodywork that uses
touch to work with the energy in the body. Shortly thereafter,
while renewing her fitness certification in Washington, D.C.,
she first learned about Muscle Activation Techniques, another
form of bodywork that helps form a connection between the
muscles and the brain to correct their inability to contract
properly. To round out her knowledge base, she earned a
master's in natural nutrition by correspondence from Clayton
College of Natural Health in Birmingham, Ala. Ms. Mejia is now
working toward a doctorate.
"In MAT, we
don't treat muscle tightness," Ms. Mejia explained. "We treat
the muscles that are weak. We treat the biomechanical problems
in the body. Typically, clients have problems in their core
muscles. MAT therapy works to create the muscle connection to
the brain immediately."
Now, Ms. Mejia
has founded her own company, Feel Rejuvenated, offering four
health and wellness services. Her clients are free to select
any of her services, including personal training, Ohashiatsu
therapy, MAT therapy and nutrition counseling. The aim is to
provide a holistic approach to health and solving her clients'
problems.
"With just one MAT treatment,
you see the difference," she said, which means that her MAT
clients typically complete a full course of treatment within
five sessions. Since pain commonly results in lessened
productivity on the job, caused by everything from stress to
repetitive-stress injuries, Ms. Mejia is now seeking to
partner with corporations in the area to offer her services
on-site.
Envisioning bringing aerobic
steps and massage tables into corporate offices to offer
classes, bodywork and nutrition counseling to employees during
the workday — thereby enhancing health, productivity and job
satisfaction — Ms. Mejia is currently in discussions with
three area businesses while actively seeking other potential
clients.
If all goes well, she may soon
employ a nurse to provide more comprehensive medical testing
services, and has an eye toward ultimately franchising Feel
Rejuvenated into a network of centers offering her four
services.
Ms. Mejia's energetic
"retirement" might not be what some people envision when they
contemplate the end of their working days, but for Ms. Mejia,
it is perfect.
"I am a motivated person,"
she said. "This was a tremendous opportunity to do more."
|
Business 
.gif){kind=spacer}
