News Notes

By Brandon Twyford
[News Notes]

Massage & Bodywork Wins in Los Angeles
Massage & Bodywork won first prize at the Western Publishing Association’s 2015 Maggie Awards for the article “Physical Fitness for Bodyworkers” in the July/August 2015 issue. Massage & Bodywork was also a finalist in nine other categories.
 To date, Massage & Bodywork has won 15 publishing awards and has been nominated for 30 additional awards. Professional Assist Corporation (parent company to Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals and sister association Associated Skin Care Professionals) has won 31 publishing awards and has been nominated for 42 additional awards.

Mary Bemis named one of Folio’s 2015 Top Women in Media  
Mary Bemis, founder of Insider’s Guide to Spas and co-founder of Organic Spa magazine, has been named one of Folio’s Top Women in Media for 2015. The annual program celebrates the creativity, innovation, and accomplishments of women in media.
Bemis is a longtime spa advocate and has served on the editorial advisory boards of Shape, Spirituality & Health, and Premier Spas magazines. She launched Organic Spa magazine in 2007, against the advice of many of her magazine industry peers, who told her the idea would never take off. The magazine was chosen as one of 2007’s top consumer magazine launches by Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni, and established Bemis’s status as a pioneer in the sustainable spa and organic beauty movement.
“To be recognized by one’s peers in the media industry is an incredible and humbling honor,” Bemis says. “People are finally waking up to the fact that spa is not trivial or frivolous. Spa is a large and growing industry at the heart of healing and health maintenance.”
To learn more about Bemis and her initiatives, visit www.insidersguidetospas.com.

Massage Therapy Improves In-Vitro Fertilization Rates
A recent study published in Alternative Therapies observed that patients who received deep relaxation (andullation) massage therapy prior to embryo transfer during in-vitro fertilization had higher rates of pregnancy and birth, suggesting that stress reduction from massage therapy improves embryo implantation. The findings further support the use of massage therapy as a safe and effective complementary therapy for assisted-reproduction techniques.
Read the full study at www.scribd.com/doc/259801345/Massage-Therapy-Improves-In-Vitro-Fertilization-Outcome-in-Patients-Undergoing-Blastocyst-Transfer-in-a-Cryo-Cycle.