Start a Rolfing and Craniosacral Therapy practice?

[fifth house]

Hello all. I'm new to this forum and am researching whether it might be possible for me to open a bodywork/massage therapy practice in Santa Cruz. I have over ten years experience and I practice Rolf Structural Integration (www.rolfguild.org) and Craniosacral Therapy (www.upledger.com).

I know in Spain you can open a business if you partner with a local person, or if someone hires you and can't find anyone local to fill your job. Is that true in Santa Cruz also?

Also, does anyone know of any natural therapy clinics or yoga studios that I might contact to see if they would consider hiring me?

I would love to move there and am interested to hear what people might have to say.

Hope to hear from you.

Best to everyone.

[mary]

If you are a professional, you can set up business in your own home - ie accountant, lawyer, doctor. On GC, you can open a business as long as you have permission from the ayuntamiento etc.
I dont know anyone in Santa Cruz - that's tenerife isn't it.
Contact Healing hands in Arguineguin. They may be able to help you
www.gran-canaria-healing-hands.com (http://www.gran-canaria-healing-hands.com)

Funnily enough i was asked if I knew of a cranial therapist only 2 weeks ago. I didn't know of anyone

[fifth house]

Thanks alot Mary. I checked out the link you provided, and I'm going to contact them. You mentioned the ayuntamiento. Is that the government office that deals with immigration and business, work permits etc? Would you happen to know how I would contact them. I haven't been able to find anything on the net for Canary Islands, only Spain. Maybe that's it, I don't know.

Thanks again for your help.

[rab_c.]

hi
try this link lots of info for moving to the canaries http://media.ukinspain.com/documents/pdfs/ServConsulares/laspalmas_settling.pdf

good luck
rab_c.

[fifth house]

Thanks for your help everyone. I've been checking out various possibilities and it seems that I have a couple of choices: one is to find someone to hire me at a clinic or spa; the other is to find a resident to go into business with. I'm going to check out the job possibilities and see if any of the health facilities would be interested in hiring someone like myself.

If I can't find a job then I'll come to visit in May/June and see what I can discover that way. Looking forward to it.

[chorlton]

A fact finding mission is probably a good idea, gives you a chance to make some contacts, check out the areas and get a bit of sun whilst you are at it!

Good luck.

[fifth house]

Indeed, the more I have been searching on the net and trying to learn what I would need to do to open a business, the more apparant it is that I will have to actually come over there in the spring. I'm looking into ticket prices now, and getting started on my Spanish, and ...Should be a great adventure.

In terms of the potential for a massage practice, so far it looks promising in terms of the market there. Where I live in Nova Scotia Canada, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of therapists, and it takes a few years to get a strong practice going. From what I can see on the internet, it doesn't seem to be like that on Gran Canary. I have extensive training and eleven years of solid experience, so I am hopeful the demand will be high.

To make another request, if anyone knows of any therapists on the island who you think wouldn't mind connecting with me, that would be helpful also.

[fifth house]

I was thinking I should tell people why I chose the Canary Islands as a place to move to, in case you might be wondering. About two years ago I decided to leave Nova Scotia and live in a different culture, speak another language. Basically I want to expand my horizons. So I started searching the planet.

A year ago a friend turned me on to a process called "astrocartograpy" where you explore the globe in terms of what astrological influences affect you in different regions. Well, since then I have been searching for the 'ideal place' and found several locations that I felt pretty good about, but never quite had the THAT'S IT feeling.

Last month I consulted with a professional astrologer and he sent me a copy of my map with various lines and shadings that indicate good, bad and neutral areas. Depending on your astrology chart when you were born, every persons map is completely unique to them.

Well, to make a long story a bit shorter, it turns out the Canary Islands are one of the best places for me according to this astrocartography way of looking at the world. Some people might think this is a flakey way of making decisions about your future, but when it comes right down to it, is there ANY way we can ever be certain about the choices we make?

OK, just wanted to share that.

[vecino]

i was asked if I knew of a cranial therapist only 2 weeks ago. I didn't know of anyone

There's a very skilled and highly-qualified osteopath/chiropractor who also does cranial-sacral therapy and lymphatic drainage, near the airport in Ojos de Garza. She also runs clinics in Las Palmas (where she also teaches osteopathy and other manual therapies). Her name is Andrea Kaltenborn, and she speaks English, German and Spanish. She's an international karate/martial arts competitor, so comes to these therapies from a sports medicine point of view (she's been in GC for about 30 years), rather than some kind of hippy alternative.

I would trust her (she also holds many qualifications from the Upledger Institute and elsewhere) - you have to be extremely careful in your choice of practitioner.

As you might expect, she's quite booked up, but compared to the UK her charges are extremely reasonable. Her number is 928 57 41 43, and her mobile is 606 930 669.

[mary]

That-s great vecino / another one for my contact list. Thanks

[fifth house]

Yeah thanks very much for the recommendation vecino. I'm going to give her a call.

-Craig in Nova Scotia

[Caro]

Mary if you need a closer alternative (not the hippy kind vecino!!!! lol) we have a very good highly qualified and experienced dutch therapist.

Caro
www.gran-canaria-healing-hands.com