Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian McAllorum.
Brian, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I feel like I was born exactly who I have always been. I’ve switched roles too many times for any one label to feel right. I’m interested in an endless list of things. I wear the Massage Therapist uniform because days with sessions are pleasant and healing days, for my clients and for myself.
My family relocated to Atlanta when I was in Middle School. We lived in Peachtree Corners. I attended two years at Norcross High School, then we moved back to Maryland.
In Maryland, I studied computer science, majored in Psychology, and minored in Philosophy in Liberal Arts college. After that, I attended a Fine Arts College, Maryland Institute College of Art where I studied Visual Communications. I worked at a couple of places in Maryland doing media arts work; then I went out to Hollywood, CA for a few years where I worked at yU+Co as their lead designer. It was a great experience working on major motion pictures, working with talented artists, and focusing on the process.
Then, I decided to move on from yU+Co and flew back to Maryland on 9/10 of the infamous 9/11 to begin a job search. The job market changed quickly so I had to expand my search to look around the nation. A company in Atlanta, Spin Productions, was looking for a media artist, so I moved BACK down to Atlanta to work there. After that, I worked as a media artist at Crawford Communications for a few years.
While at Crawford, at age 31, I went through a double hip replacement. Soon after, my hindsight saw the whole thing as psychotic. I simply fell into lower back pain from all the sitting and lack of exercise.
I certainly didn’t need such an extreme surgery. I just needed to get moving and improve my diet. So, after surgery, I quit my job, and just worked as a freelance media artist (which generally meant working less). Being a freelance artist allowed me the time I needed to turn my health in a more positive direction. It also allowed me to become a part of many Atlanta communities.
I sold my car, rode my bicycle everywhere, and lived very inexpensively. I rode in Atlanta’s Critical Mass bike ride every month. I rode the Silver Comet Trail and loved the flatness. I did meetup bike rides around the city. I went to the YMCA several times a week. I attended Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, Water Aerobics, and a slew of group exercise classes. I attended Acro Yoga classes and met that community. I went every week to Studio Lotus for Pilates. I went several times a week to Yoga Samadhi in Inman Park, and Nirvana Yoga in Reynoldstown.
I started group camping at local Burns and met the Atlanta Burner Community.
I started attending classes at Atlanta’s ‘Circus Arts Institute’ in exchange for doing media arts work. While at Circus Arts Institute, I partnered with other students and friends and helped form Imperial Opa Circus. I helped with that group for about two years.
After helping to grow a circus troupe; I moved into space and helped my roommate grow a grassroots Aerial Arts Studio on The Beltline called Kinetic Hive. I lived there for a couple of years and met a lot of great people.
After Kinetic Hive, I enrolled in the Atlanta School of Massage. I lived with a trainer from Sky Gym Aerial Arts Studio during and after massage school. The Atlanta Cirque Community were my greatest supporters when I first began practicing massage on the general public.
I have practiced massage four to six days a week, on two to six people a day; ever since graduating in 2013. I’ve practiced some form of massage my whole life, really. The continuing education can, and does, get very complex. The simpler you can think about your health, the better, I feel. I became a therapist to help others, but also to help my own body. I view ‘sitting jobs’ as an enemy of health.
It was Massage Therapists and Group Exercise Instructors that guided me in a good direction. I’m forever thankful they exist. They are so great that I am moved to mimic them. I am now a Massage Therapist and a Group Exercise Instructor myself. I am currently a group exercise instructor for the YMCA. I am leading water aerobics classes.
The main reason I agreed to do this interview was to reach and meet my extended community; meaning people whom I have friends in common with. I’ve dedicated my life to serve my community…and many people in my extended community don’t even know that fact…and don’t know me. So if that is you, you should say hi : ) To that end, I would like to thank VoyageATL.com for their work and focus on people.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been easy. When I was young my mom was undergoing chemotherapy. She did three rounds and died when I was 18. My father traveled a lot for work, my older brother left home when he was young. So my teen years were spent taking care of my mother and two younger sisters. And honestly, it was hard to be happy when my mother was visibly very sick and in pain. To cope, I would focus on my girlfriend. It worked and felt like the healthiest thing I was capable of at the time.
When I first entered the workforce, I was very successful due to a ridiculous work ethic. Later on, that “ridiculous” work ethic showed me it was “ridiculous” to work so much and not take care of my health. I spent at least six to eight years in horrible lower back pain and hating life and existence as it hurt me to sit at the computer to work. Standing desks hadn’t made it into any of my workplace cultures at the time.
The same year I went through a double hip replacement, I went through a divorce from a 13 year relationship a few months prior (which also meant I went through surgery and recovery alone). A couple of months after surgery I had to put my dog to sleep. So that was a difficult year.
I live with a ‘botched’ double hip replacement. It hurts often and the devices they put in me are broken. I used to be 5’8”, when I last measured myself I was 5’5” due to problems with my hip replacement sinking and moving. I think I’m shorter than that now, but it’s depressing to measure my height.
I’ve spent over 10 years in college full-time and part-time. I worked in media arts for over 15 years. After all that, I decided to dump my career because I saw it as bad for my health. That was extremely hard to do. People would call with big paychecks for me to do a freelance media arts job when I had NO money and I had to force myself to say “No, I don’t do that work anymore”. It felt like I had to suffer financially to improve myself physically.
The spas I’ve worked for in Atlanta have been mean and blatantly disrespectful workplaces. I’ve received an education in gender dynamics I never wanted; same for race dynamics. I wouldn’t have tried to become a massage therapist if I had known how poorly I would be treated daily by others in the ‘industry’. I simply thought adults would be less prejudiced from sheer personal evolution.
Seeing how horrible the spa industry is has given me an even greater appreciation for people that support my small business; these are people that reach out to me DIRECTLY to help them with any of my abilities. Some people come to my home for a massage session, or a stretching session, some people hire me to massage at an event, and some people hire me to consult or help with media art projects (music videos, performer promo videos). They allow me to live the life I want to live.
Let me say that again…people who support my business literally allow me to live the life I want to live. I could not be any more thankful that each of these real individuals exists. Without them I would be living a life I don’t want to live and working where I don’t want to work. Some of my clients speak well of me to many other people. What a wonderful gift. I honestly love my clients. They give me my life.
Please tell us about your practice.
I am a Massage Therapist. I work out of a carriage house near Decatur Square. People also book me for events around the city. My massage practice is in my home and as such I have a “common friend policy”, meaning it’s for my community and extended community only. My Facebook is public if you would like to see if we have a friend in common. I work on all types of people who have many different reasons for booking a session. I have music, warm towels, warm stones, a warm table, and essential oil aromatherapy available for every session.
Some areas I’ve specialized in are:
– Massage and stretching for athletes and physical performance artists. Many of my clients train six days a week.
– Prenatal Massage. Six years of experience. Note, there is one small flight of stairs at my home practice.
– Geriatric Massage. I’ve helped many people regain motion they thought they would never regain.
– TMJ Massage, Neck Massage (I’m proud to say I’ve helped people move out of chronic neck pain)
– Back Pain (plagues so many people’s spirits…move on from it with my help)
– Hip Specialty (most lower back pain is being greatly affected by hip tension)
– Shoulder issues
– Relaxation / Meditation (many people book a session mostly for their mind)
What am I most proud of?
I am most proud of the referrals I’ve received. Seeing my clients send their best friends to see me for a session is the best thing in the world. I also love seeing people regain ability that they lost. I do range of motion tests at the beginning of some people’s sessions partially to show them their progress. I’ve seen clients that could only lift their arm horizontally out to the side during their first session. Seeing them able to raise their arm straight up over their heads months later is one of the best things in the world to me.
What sets me apart?
The thing that sets me apart is my exact personality grown from a great family before me. I think very simply about tension in muscles. I think simply about tension of the mind as well. Much of what I do is instinctual and intuitive. Relaxing environment and healing touch are archetypal to me…simple in so far as if you let go the answers are there from nature.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Being with my mom…every second of that.
Contact Info:
- Website: brian-mcallorum.art
- Phone: 4047904776
- Email: brian@brian-mcallorum.art
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.mcallorum
- Other: cirque-cirque.com
Image credit:
Personal photo – Photo by: Benjamin Rhoades
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