Jane Aiken expands Healing Arts business in Lenox

12:00AM / Thursday, November 07, 2002Print Story | Email Story

Jane Aiken is used to introducing new concepts to her clients and to the general public. She began to practice massage therapy and teach yoga in the mid 1980s, before the ratio of massage therapists to ordinary folks wasnâ€™t as high as it is now here in Lenox. Back then she might have had to explain the benefits of regular massage and yoga practice. Now the picture is different. Yoga is a familiar concept for most people, and an hour of massage a much desired luxury. Aiken still practices these crafts, but again she finds herself explaining some of what she does. Her newer work includes warm stone massage, body-mind integration, cranial sacral work and energy balancing. She also offers facial herbal therapy and one-on-one yoga instruction. â€œHealing Arts,â€ says the sign on the door of Aikenâ€™s office on the second floor above the Roseborough Grill. Inside is calm and warm. The long massage table dominates the space; on the far wall is the small amount of equipment needed for her work. Hot lava rocks have their own conspicuous pot, but the room is simple and uncluttered. Since the 1980s when she trained at Kripalu and became a certified massage therapist and yoga teacher, Aiken has expanded her practice even further in the connection of the mind body realms. She earned a Masters in Counseling Psychology in 1995 and has become skilled in various modalities connecting the disciplines of counseling and body work. She has also studied the Indian discipline of Ayurveda, which is an ancient medical paradigm which uses treatments according to energetic body types. One of her services is massage using Ayurvedic oils. Aiken began to learn the ideas of Ayurveda four or five years ago and soon began to integrate them into her practice. She says she has found Ayurveda to be the most appropriate of modalities for her and her clients: â€œIt fits and it works.â€ Basalt stones made from lava are one of her tools. She warms them and places them on parts of the body, sometimes applying pressure, sometimes not, and she says usually what happens is a release of tension or â€œholdingâ€ in the body. Some of this result is understandable, some, she says, is a mystery, but it works. â€œLike cappuccino is to coffee,â€ she said, â€œstones are to massage.â€ Aiken has worked for many years at Kripalu, for a time had a private practice in Gt. Barrington and then went to work at Canyon Ranch for nine years. She then returned to Kripalu and recently opened her practice in Lenox. She decided to open a practice in order to be more accessible to the public and because she said she wanted to be able to work with people more than once or twice per year as is the case at a place like Kripalu. She enjoys her clients there, but wants to see how her work affects them. She also wants to be able to offer more ongoing service to those who want it. The body-mind integration is one aspect of her practice that may require the most explanation, especially outside of the Kripalu community. In such a session a client might come with an issue thatâ€™s bothering him or giving him stress. Or he or she may have had some sort of old experience and may be holding it physically in the body. She and the client may work together for more than one meeting, but she says people always get some sort of insight from one 90-minute session. One piece of this approach is a series of questions she asks during the session, which combines body work with talking. Sessions are always client led: â€œItâ€™s never me telling you.â€ One-on-one yoga instruction uses Astanga, Hatha and Restorative yoga techniques. Most services take one hour, some one half hour, some ninety minutes. Aiken is offering discounts for people who work in Lenox businesses. She says she doesnâ€™t want cost to keep people from trying it out. Meanwhile she also teaches at Kripalu Center and leads trainings for therapists and teachers. Workshops are one method she intends to use to get the word out about her new business and her ideas. On Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. at Three Hills and a Cloud on Housatonic Street she will lead a session on Ayurvedic oils and methods.

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

RIBCO Supply

Check out our great lineup of Boss Plows, and spreaders. 2 Locations Clarksburg & Pittsfield!

ribcosupply.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

McCann Recognizes Superintendent Award Recipient

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:32PM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Landon LeClair and Superintendent James Brosnan with Landon's parents Eric and Susan LeClair, who is a teacher at McCann.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Superintendent's Award has been presented to Landon LeClair, a senior in McCann Technical School's advanced manufacturing course.

The presentation was made last Thursday by Superintendent Jame Brosnan after Principal Justin Kratz read from teachers' letters extolling LeClair's school work, leadership and dedication.

"He's become somewhat legendary at the Fall State Leadership Conference for trying to be a leader at his dinner table, getting an entire plate of cookies for him and all his friends," read Kratz to chuckles from the School Committee. "Landon was always a dedicated student and a quiet leader who cared about mastering the content."

LeClair was also recognized for his participation on the school's golf team and for mentoring younger teammates.

"Landon jumped in tutoring the student so thoroughly that the freshman was able to demonstrate proficiency on an assessment despite the missed class time for golf matches," read Kratz.

The principal noted that the school also received feedback from LeClair's co-op employer, who rated him with all fours.

"This week, we sent Landon to our other machine shop to help load and run parts in the CNC mill," his employer wrote to the school. LeClair was so competent the supervisor advised the central shop might not get him back.

View Full Story