“Mountain Bliss Massage” can now be found on Park Street

The two therapy rooms at Mountain Bliss Massage on Park Street are decorated in warm colors and lit with soft lighting. The furnishings are very much in touch with the Adirondacks.

by Dan McClelland

Tupper Lake resident Jocelyn Law has just opened her Massage Therapy practice in the center commercial space in Greg and Barbara Gachowski's commercial block at the corner of Park and Cliff.

Her business, Mountain Bliss Massage, is headquartered at 84 Park Street.

“Why the name?” the Free Press publisher asked her this week.

“Mountain for the mountains we live in. Bliss for the feeling you get from a massage. Simple, right?” she said with a bright grin.

The new quarters are attractively decorated in warm colors and wood. The one side of the hallway to the therapy rooms is finished on top with drywall, the bottom in half corrugated metal roofing for an interesting contrast.

Her partner, Contractor Rick Martin, and his crew knocked out in nine working days all the improvements, which include a front reception area and two softly lit massage rooms, laundry room and bathroom. The commercial space was entirely open before.

A native of Canton, Jocelyn studied biology for a time at St. Lawrence University before moving to Costa Rica to study massage therapy at a U.S. Massage School, “Costa Rica School of Massage Therapy”, in 2009. It was an intensive program and she finished 600 hours in four months.

“I went for four months and ended up staying for three years and opened my own massage studio!” She returned to the states to finish her degree for the 1000hr NYS requirements at North Country Community College, accompanied by her son, Noa. Jocelyn received her NYS Massage Therapy License in 2014.

For the past six years she has been a contract therapist with Healing Elements of Lake Placid, operated by Gretchen Lansing. She still works there one day a week where she has developed a solid and loyal client base. She has also contracted out of the Olympic Training Center as a Massage Therapist for about six years until the outbreak of COVID-19 last March when her contract was put on pause.

“I'd still be there if COVID hadn't happened.”

She said she and the other Massage Therapists at the Olympic Training Center were the only practitioners not on staff. As contract people they were the first to get cut when budgets got trimmed because of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games being postponed.

One of the walls of Jocelyn's new massage therapy shop at 84 Park Street shows off some of the Olympic memorabilia she has received as part of the therapy she has given to Olympic athletes training at the U.S. Olympic Winter Training Center in Lake Placid in recent years. (McClelland photos)

During her time at the national facility, she provided therapy to mostly winter Olympic athletes including mostly, Bobsled/Skeleton, Luge, Biathlon, Alpine Ski. Jocelyn has traveled with three USA teams for various competitions including, Germany and Austria with the USA Bobsled/Skeleton team, numerous locations within the states with the USA Woman’s Hockey team and most recently the USA triathlon team to Bermuda. She knows personally many of this nation's finest Olympic athletes.

The young therapist said she enjoys her relationship with the Olympic Training Center- because it makes her mind work with trying to figure out how she can help the individual athlete succeed and excel in their sport.

Jocelyn met Rick Martin three years ago “in the woods” at the camp of a mutual friend. “-And we've been together ever since.”

Together they have a one- and one-half year-old son, Skyler, a baby brother for Jocelyn's older son Noah, who is almost ten years old.

Jocelyn says she is accomplished at several different types of massage therapy, which include IASTM, Trigger Point Therapy, Myofascial Release and Cupping- both manual and medicupping (machine assisted).

Cupping is a sort of suction technique, applied with various size cups and at different strengths to help promote blood flow, decrease inflammation, break up adhesions and scare tissue creating restrictions.

She also uses “hot stones” warmed in a crockpot-style device for a relaxing therapy she performs.

IASTM is her scraping technique done with a metal tool “to break up adhesions and scare tissue, increase the blood flow. They are really helpful too for people with injuries!”

Between customers the therapy rooms are completely cleaned and sanitized with conventional cleaners and ultra-violet devices.

Soothing music is piped into the rooms.

Jocelyn says she enjoys her trade “because I like helping people- and especially if they are trying to work through an issue whether chronic or acute. I enjoy giving them the knowledge and the tools to also help assist them in their wellness journey.”

She says massage therapy can help relieve some of the symptoms brought on by chronic diseases.

“I'm not going to get rid of your arthritis, for example, but I can help you manage it!”

“Some people come to me for help with injury-based” ailments. Others come because they enjoy massages, and others just as a maintenance for repetitive daily life and their job, she says.

She believes her background in the study of biology and anatomy have been helpful to her understanding of the body and the interrelationships between the various parts of the body.

“I had the anatomy background and the human body always interested me, so I thought massage therapy was a good direction for me to go!” she said of her training and start in the business.

“In massage therapy training you learn the kinesiology of everything- how this works in conjunction with this!”

Jocelyn said when she is treating patients for injury-related ailments, she often recommends a short series of visits, at the conclusion of which their condition will be re-evaluated.

Jocelyn is also proud of her reputation with her clients and she said she is not worried about generating enough business to keep her new doors open. “Mostly every new client I've had as a Massage Therapist has become a return client. It'll take time but I'll build my clientele over here.”

In addition to office visits, Jocelyn also does house calls.

Her office number is (516) 761-5112 and she can be reached by e-mail at Mountainblissadk@gmail.com. She also has a great online booking option that you can find through her website www.mtnblissmassage.com