Meet Joel Puckett of Therapeutic Restoration Massage

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Puckett.

Joel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I worked in the restaurant business in the Denver area for over 20 years as a server/bartender/floor manager. I started at Benny’s place on 7th and Grant for five years and moved around to different places including Meade St Station in The Highlands, Racine’s and other places around downtown Denver.

I got caught up in the great money I could make in tips and the fun I could have partying without having the debt and workload of going to college. Woohoo!! Plus, I really enjoyed serving people and being social and happy as a means to make a living. Unfortunately, my life was deteriorating into one long sinking party scene as I was unable to keep a job, or a girlfriend or any sense of purpose or fulfillment. In all honesty, my existence became nothing more than I desire to disappear, stop feeling and eventually into a state of apathetic suicidal insanity. I finally surrendered and sought help with my addiction.

Miraculously, people who did not have any idea who I was started to teach me how to live. After a few years getting back on my feet and establishing myself as a manager at Sam’s No3 I began to start to experience the effects of the stress of working in the environment of fast-paced restaurant work; constantly aching back, feet, neck, legs and head, a constant agitation that I brought home with me and an overwhelming lack of purpose in what I was doing each day as I walked in to work. I really loved the people but something was missing and I knew it couldn’t last much longer. In 2015, I was at a crossroads.

Picture being very angry, anxious, exhausted and getting into another argument with your partner as they drop you off at the airport and you just can’t wait to get out of the car and you leave your cell phone in the car and you realize as you are stomping to your departure gate in the middle of DIA and it hits you: “It’s time to meditate” and so you laugh out loud like “why not” and you plop down in a chair in the middle of this rushing river of people in this teeming airport and you get really quiet.

Two weeks later I am in a classroom at a massage school and I say to myself “you are old, 40 years old and you are in school?!” Upon signing up for this one year program they told me I had two weeks to get my money back if it didn’t work out……once I got to the anatomy portion and then really started to gather how much of an impact I could have on people and their quality of life I felt like I had found my calling and I never looked back. I was able to work full time at the restaurant, go to school at night and buy a house and have a baby with my beautiful wife Rachel that year and it was the greatest I had felt in my whole life.

It doesn’t hurt having four or five massages a week even from students!! After school, I mentored with a couple who have over 40 years experience and learned really specific and rarely used techniques that help me to specialize in support of the nervous system and structural bodywork specifically for low back pain caused by Anterior Pelvic Tilt which many people who sit for long periods suffer from.

My mission is to help people discover how big their life can be again when they are not in constant pain. My favorite part of my work is rejoicing with people as they become able to hike, play with their grandkids, care for their parents, get back to work, love themselves and see a new possibility for their lives. I like to be an advocate for folks who have felt like a number or juggled around or that surgery is their only option or just plain not wanting to go through their insurance company because it feels like the system is broken and they just need someone who will care for them after listening to them.

People want to be heard and I love being present when that actually occurs. Often after that happens people start to heal. I have seen it happen and I want to see more of it. This moves me out of bed every day. Often you might find me at a coffee shop or gathering or party offering people massage and asking how they have been sleeping. Love this stuff. Live for it.

I am blessed to have two beautiful boys who are three and one and an extraordinary wife and countless friends who have all given of themselves so that I could learn how to live soberly and to bring something worthwhile to life for other people in my community. I am super dedicated to myself improvement and always looking for ways to improve myself in order to make a difference for others. Gets me out of bed in the morning.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Therapeutic Restoration Massage – what should we know?
What sets me apart from other massage therapists is that I am 44 years old and have some life experience that lends itself to bringing solution to my clients. I use a tool called a T-bar that I have been trained and have over two years experience utilizing on clients to support the nerves as they leave the central nervous system and enter the body which allows treatment to get to the root of dysfunction throughout the entire body.

I am a results-driven therapist which means I place a high value on what my clients receive and begin to experience in their life after receiving treatment from me and my coaching about sleep, hydration, nutrition and posture. I provide Reiki energy healing as well for those who are looking for very light touch and/or energy healing.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
That by receiving my care the quality of people’s lives are improved and that I make a difference through my business.

Pricing:

• 60 minutes $70
• 90 minutes $100

Contact Info:

• Address: 2323 S Troy st bldg 3 suite #108
• Website: http://auroracomassage.com
• Phone: 303.960.5728
• Email: joel@auroracomassage.com

Image Credit:
Joel Puckett

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