On the one hand, a massage can be a wonderful treat – picture giddy, towel-wrapped newlyweds on a cruise ship bound for Cancun. On the other hand, a massage can provide rehabilitative relief, say, for a new retiree with a bad shoulder who desperately wants to take up golf again. That’s all good, Cailin McBee will agree, but she also fervently believes that there are incalculable benefits to massage for massage sake, in the form of regular therapy sessions. Having a licensed Massage Therapist put the one hand and the other hand on clients regularly can promote relaxation, reduce stress and allow a body to heal itself. “It can make such a difference,” says Cailin, “and, really, health and wellness are everything.”

She knew pretty early on what she wanted to do in life, having always been fascinated with anatomy and physiology. Cailin is from Maryland, a competitive swimmer growing up and on the tennis and volleyball teams in high school. She then went to Elon University in North Carolina to study sports medicine, thinking she’d become an athletic trainer, but one day heard a classmate mention massage therapy. Cailin was intrigued. “It seemed like the perfect alignment, with my science background and the sort of energetic piece.” This was 25 years ago and at the time, the Newington-based Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy was considered one of the top such programs on the East Coast. Cailin signed up, moved north, dug in and is still at it.

Massage is at its core the kneading of a body's soft tissues but Cailin and her team offer a variety of services designed to heal, to reinvigorate, to relax. There’s the classic Swedish massage with its five basic strokes, and the slower deep tissue relief, and the light or no-touch Reiki and even the CBD Oil Massage. They also have hot stones and bio mats and offer stretching services and skin care and more. Hers is an impressive operation – and a testament to patience and persistence. When starting out, Cailin’s clients were pretty much just those referred by her friends and family. But satisfied customers knew a good thing and spread the word and bookings increased. She soon opened a two-room shop in West Hartford and then moved to her current home in Newington, where she has been since 2003 – undergoing an expansion from 2,500 to 4,300 square feet a few years ago.

“Some people have been coming to us for a long, long time,” Cailin said, noting that not only do client’s bodies and needs change, but so, too, do their lives. “With some I’ve been with them through marriages, and kids, and divorces and lost family members.” She and her other massage therapists (there are three more on staff) are always thinking holistically and that goes beyond muscles and aches to mindset. That’s the ‘balance’ part of the business. “Health and wellness are really a conglomeration of things,” Cailin said, and she also knows that massage therapists need to take care of themselves too. “And it’s not an old person’s game,” she said, referring to herself and the hard work of giving a massage. So she’s spending more time of late in boss-mode, working to market and grow the business. And she’s also committed to taking care of herself. “I make sure to get a message just about every two weeks,” Cailin said. “If I don’t, I just don't feel right, I don't feel myself.”