Good Neighbor Podcast: Palmer
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Palmer. Good Neighbor Podcast Palmer MA hosted by Liz Lemon helps residents to connection with local doctors, lawyers, financial advisors, insurance agents and other business owners in and around Palmer, and other Massachusetts Communities. Helping neighbors to become friends while introducing them to local businesses and charities is my goal.
With 29+ years of hard work, my career began in Graphic Design. Evolving to TV Production, Newscast Directing, Technical Producing, and Filmmaking. In addition, Sales, Marketing, and Advertising across various platforms, while always exceeding expectations. Then transitioning to the Entertainment and Sports Industries, I specializes in Special Events, Promotions, VIP Services, Live Events and Security, expanding Nationally at various Stadiums, and Concert Venues.
Passionate about learning and diverse topics, I love sports, especially the New England Patriots, the NFL, and NASCAR. An avid outdoors enthusiast, I also enjoy swimming, hiking, and exploring new places while photographing, digitally recording each one . Excited about my new role as PPM Area Media Executive at Podcast Plus Media, I'm ready for this new Adventure of a Lifetime, continuing to connect with people and exceed expectations in the local community.
Is your business serving the residents of Palmer? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpPalmer.com or to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Palmer
EP# 70: Healing from Within: Hakim Noah's Journey from Self-Discovery to Holistic Health Expert
Discover how to transform your well-being with insights from Hakim Noah of Amherst Massage Therapy. Hakeem demystifies the world of bodywork, coaching, and sacred medicine education, including the therapeutic potential of psilocybin. Learn why bodywork isn't just a luxury but a vital practice for maintaining connection with your body and calming your nervous system. Hakim challenges the fast-paced, achievement-oriented culture that leaves many of us stressed and disconnected, offering practical advice on how to slow down and engage in meaningful self-care.
Join us as Hakim shares his personal journey from starting his practice in 2018 to becoming a sought-after expert in holistic health. From his passion for rock climbing and hiking to a life-changing mountain biking accident, Hakim's story is both inspiring and informative. You'll hear about the lessons he learned from his own injuries and how they've shaped his approach to helping others heal. This episode is packed with valuable information for anyone interested in holistic health, resilience, and the power of self-care.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Liz Lemon.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of some relaxing techniques? Surprisingly, it might be closer than you think. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing your neighbor, Hakeem Noah, with Amorous Massage Therapy. How are you doing today, Hakeem?
Speaker 3:I'm pretty good. How are you doing, Liz?
Speaker 2:Great, we're excited to learn all about you and your business. So please tell us about Amorous Massage Therapy.
Speaker 3:Well, the name is actually a little misleading because I do a lot more than just massage therapy. It's kind of my bread and butter. So I see a lot of clients for what I call body work. My tagline is heart centered body work, but I also do coaching and I do education on a range of topics, but especially around the use of sacred medicines such as psilocybin for healing. So I don't provide any psilocybin or medicine, I just talk to people about how to use it for their own personal healing journey and how to hold it in a sacred context especially. So that's like kind of an overview. I do a lot of fascia work, myofascial release, and I help people with pain and injury in their body.
Speaker 2:That's super interesting. How did you get into the business?
Speaker 3:Well, I went to massage school in 2018, 2019. And so then I grew up in the area, so I opened my business back here and it's been growing for about six years or so. It's pretty full for the body work, but I'm moving more into the coaching and the education side of things, like I had mentioned. So that's kind of the direction that I'm hoping to share more about.
Speaker 2:Right. What are the myths and misconceptions within the body work, massage therapy industry?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. Misconceptions there's a lot, I mean. One of the main ones is that people think bodywork is a luxury or something that they can only do. It's kind of like an extra. You know, I shouldn't do that unless I'm on vacation or really like have extra money to spend on myself.
Speaker 3:Most of the people that I work with find that it's a really helpful way to stay in touch with their body and also in our world that's really busy and people are always moving. It's really helpful to have a space where you can, um, to be supported in slowing down, because it's kind of hard to do on our own sometimes, and having another person there working with you, having that opportunity where you're away from everything, you're just on the table for an hour, an hour and a half, can be really supportive for the nervous system, and oftentimes the source of a lot of our injuries and our stress actually comes from our nervous system being dysregulated and being in that fight or flight or survival mode which is very celebrated and common in our culture, like go, go, go, achievement orientation, you know. So that's a common misconception is that it's only something to do when you, you know, are treating yourself basically.
Speaker 2:Right? No, it's important to take that self care, you know, weekly, bi weekly, monthly, whatever it takes to. You know, get your body right. That's important. Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:I do a lot of things. I'm pretty diverse, and what I like to do, I like to rock climb. I hike a lot of things outside, so mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, running or just lying in a hammock by water these days, while it's really hot.
Speaker 2:Right, you too need to take time to enjoy and relax and unwind as well, but staying active is definitely important as well, and it's beautiful, great summer weather to do so. Let's change gears just for one moment. Can you describe one hardship or life challenges that you rose above and can now say because of it, you're better and stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:Well, in body work I find that I learn the most from my own injuries. It's not the best way to learn, but it is a good way for me. I had a pretty bad mountain biking accident downhill mountain biking last October and so I've been in the recovery process for, you know, I guess about six months or seven months now. So that was quite a process and I learn a lot through having to heal my own body. So then I take what I learn and discovering just okay, how does the fascia adapt? How does the body adapt when you have an injury?
Speaker 3:You know, pain is an amazing teacher and I oftentimes what I'm doing in my work with people is helping reframe our orientation to pain and our relationship to it, so that instead of seeing it as a enemy, we can see it as a communication from our body that's telling us to pay attention in a certain area. So I had to learn that firsthand, and it's been quite a process of learning basically how to heal myself and not having necessarily that much help. So learning self, fascia release techniques, practicing getting back into movement slowly over time after an injury, all these types of things, and then things that I've learned on my own body, I'm now helping other people and my clients with and who have a lot of similar issues that either are from injury or just from regular life, helping them get back into movement. So that was a recent one.
Speaker 2:Right, well, first of all, we're glad that you're okay. I mean, that's that's definitely scary. Glad you're okay, um, but you're welcome. Um, but pain is learning, um, and you were able to focus, um, you know, on healing and then progressing your business, so that's amazing. Um, what is the one thing that you wish our listeners knew about? Amherst Massage Therapy?
Speaker 3:I think the main thing is just like I said in the beginning it's more. It's a lot more than just massage therapy. I keep that name because it's super easy for people to find me, but I'm, and I am going to be bringing on some more massage therapists as well so that I can move into more of the coaching and the education world. So the main thing is just, you know, a lot of people are really interested and curious about, um, specifically about psilocybin, because it's it's becoming a lot more, uh, well known that it has a lot of potential for healing, and so my job is to help, uh, make myself available in the the the information that I've learned and received from these mushrooms, and what I do is I work with people to have a relationship with the being of the mushroom, which is a very different orientation than what our culture is kind of moving toward, which is the more medical model of like okay, I have these symptoms, how can I fix them? Give me what's the medicine that's going to, you know, get rid of the symptom. And that's not how these medicines work. These are the medicines of the earth, like psilocybin and others. Ayahuasca, even cannabis, can be a sacred psychedelic medicine, but it's not these. Our culture doesn't really know how to hold them in terms of a relationship with a being or a spirit of a plant, and so what I'm doing is I meet with people in a coaching capacity, so we sit down either at my office or we might even go for a walk, and I have some handouts and some information that I've written up that's helpful for people who are starting to explore this.
Speaker 3:But the main thing is helping people develop their own relationship with these plants in a way that feels authentic to them. It's not about like there's a right way and a wrong way or you know you have to say these words or do it in a specific way, but basically the process begins of entering into a relationship with a being, just like you would with a person. If you're getting to know somebody and you want to. There's a healing relationship with these plants and fungi, where they have a desire to help heal us, to help support us in getting in touch with our deeper self, with the part of ourself that is beyond the outer layers of our personality and our trauma, and they can help us get in touch with that part of ourself that wants to express. Sometimes we have a lot of layers to get through first.
Speaker 3:So it's not a, it's definitely not a heal all one stop fix and it's really not for everybody. Um and again, I actually don't recommend it for everyone. It's more for people who are feeling a call, who have some sort of a sense like this is what's, this is something I need, this is something that is calling to me. Then I'm making myself available to help people begin that process and find what works for them in a safe way, giving them information to do it safe, because the education is really important. These are not medicines that we want to mess around with, and they're becoming more popular and more widely available, and we actually, in November, it looks like Massachusetts might legalize psilocybin, especially on the it'll be on the ballot. So there's a lot moving in this area and there's a big need for education and support. So that's where I come in.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That's impressive and inspiring for sure, Like holistic, natural ways, body work definitely interesting. How can our listeners learn more about the Amherst?
Speaker 3:Massage Therapy. You can go to my website, it's amherstmassagetherapycom.
Speaker 2:Perfect. Do you have a phone number you'd like to share as well?
Speaker 3:Everything's on the website. If you just go there you'll find the contact form. I also have actually another website called littlemush mushroomorg and that one is more where I share, if you're more interested in the psilocybin and sacred psychedelics, healing, spirituality, that side of things. I do some writing there. Sometimes they're kind of messages that I receive from spirit or also from the mushrooms. Sometimes it's my own writing about spirituality and healing and that's totally free. People can donate if they want, but it's just something you sign up and you get emails in your inbox basically with these writings Every once in a while. It's pretty rare, so just something that's available if people want it.
Speaker 2:Perfect. Well, hakeem, I really appreciate you being on our show today, and we wish you and your business the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppalmercom. That's gnppalmercom, or call 413-414-5940.