Soul of 78: Karen Guthrie Woodruff

“I am a licensed massage therapist and co-owner at RastoreDay Spa and Salon here in Jasper. I’ve been doing massage therapy for 13 years.

I was working a lot of office jobs where I sat a lot and Ijust felt terrible. Growing up, I was always athletic and moving, and because Iwas sitting, I just started hurting.

So I just asked the Lord to please give me something to dowhere I can move and help people and make people feel better. Having abackground in sports, I understood muscle but I never thought I’d do massagetherapy.

A girl I was going to church with was around my age and shewent into this profession. I really prayed about it and the Lord just openedthe door completely.

It was scary because I didn’t like feet and my family waslike, ‘what are you going to do when you have to massage feet?’ and I was like“I don’t know!” Now, that’s one of my favorite things to massage.

To become a massage therapist, you have to go to school fora year; there’s a part-time program or a year program. You have to pass anational board before you can practice. Then you get licensed through the stateof Alabama.

I started doing massage when I lived in Mobile. I workedthree jobs just to make it: massage and two other jobs.

The Lord told me to move back to Townley in 2011. I startedworking (at Rastore) in June of 2011. In May 2012, Bennett Boylen and I wereable to buy it. We became owners then.

I do Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, fire cupping, hotstone, and I do neuromuscular therapy. Most people want the Swedish or deeptissue. The deep tissue addresses knots, tingling, or numbness.

Massage is a “feel good,” but it’s also about wellness. Ithelps circulation, helps with stress level. It can help with weight lossbecause of the stress—people are so stressed that they overeat! This gets thebody relaxed and helps with any kind of lactic acid buildup in muscles. That’swhat causes the knots. I concentrate on getting those out. The release of thatwill just relax the body.

I do a lot of sciatic nerve treatment as well. There’s a piriformismuscle that lays on the sciatic nerve that runs down the leg. When the musclereleases, the pain goes immediately. As soon as that releases, you will nothurt!

I asked the Lord what to do, what profession He wanted me tobe in, what His plan was for me…and this is what He showed me to do. I justobeyed him.

The Lord has just blessed me tremendously.” 78