Ever since she was very young, Mechel has loved laying on the hands. She now specialises in remedial therapy and hot stone massage. Pic: Jake Nowakowski

From a very young age I was hands on people, I worked on my uncle’s boats, massaging people. I used to put my hands on people and tell them I was healing them. That was the beginning of the touch. My uncle owned the Great Barrier Reef Cruise centre, and the first reef hotel, so we hosted lots of people who really wanted to get away from it all, including Bo Derek and Bono from U2. I love looking after people.

At 16 I really wanted to learn massage but there was no course in Cairns. My Mum found this awesome gypsy lady called Rita and set me up in her studio underneath an old Queenslander. Rita taught me that you massage from your heart. I’d stand across the table and learn techniques from her.

She was very intuitive, so she’d stop and we’d feel things with one other, and for the first time I started to understand what massage really was, rather than a protocol of movement.  There’s always an energy happening, and with massage you learn how to use these energies in a healthy way. A lot of massage is not just skill and technique but actually the intention.

As a remedial massage therapist you might use four or five techniques in one session or just one.  My youngest client was eight, my oldest 94, we have 1000 people on our books. Some come regularly, some are in pain, some come when they need help.

Massage is eons old, touch and healing goes back to every indigenous culture. It takes a long time to actually understand that energy is everywhere, we take it for granted that it’s all happening.

Cairns has got more therapists, not just massage therapists, than anywhere else in Australia. At rejoovn8 we keep it to four or five massage a day so that the intention and feel and energy is all there.

This series focuses on the unique personalities that make living here such a stimulating experience. Who would you like to see featured? Email your suggestions to digital@tcp.newsltd.com.au

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