Working Well Resources' Blog

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

Today, I’d like to introduce Carlos Peccioto, anther fine massage therapist I have the pleasure of working with at Working Well Massage. I met Carlos when I first moved to the Chicago area in the late 1990′s and we were both riding our bikes around Wicker Park. Carlos impressed me at that time as being a very compassionate, kind and fun person.  In 2004, Carlos approached me about doing chair massage at Working Well Massage’s chair station in the Gold Coast Whole Foods. I interviewed him, got a great massage from him, and since then Carlos has been a bright and sunny face with Working Well Massage for the past 6 years.

I had a fantastic, deep back massage from Carlos last Sunday at Whole Foods Market-Lincoln Park and interviewed him about his massage philosophy, his background and education for this blog. I share Carlos’ responses with you here.

1. What got you into massage therapy, Carlos?
I’ve always been interested in being able to work with my hands as well as my head. About 2002, a friend of mine announced that she was going to massage school.  Her announcement rekindled my previous interest in massage therapy. About 2 months later, I enrolled at Chicago School of Massage Therapy.  I graduated as part of Class #66 in August 2003. In school, I was delighted to discover that the profession united head, heart and hands.   It’s heartfelt work and I enjoy having a career that lets me help so many people.

2. How would you describe your massage style?
I like to call my type of style “Carlossage”.  It’s a unique blend of modalities, such as: Swedish, Trigger Point, Deep Tissue, Myofascial Release, Body/Joint Mobilization, Therapeutic Stretching, Craniosacral Therapy, Lymphatic Drainage, Thai/Nuad Bo Rarn, Sports, Reflexology — each specially selected and incorporated to fit my client’s needs. Having this combination of massage tools gives me the ability to meet my clients where they are. If a client needs a deep therapeutic massage, I can give them deep pressure and address their specific needs. if someone just wants to relax, I have many techniques to make their massage not only relaxing but soothing.

3. How do you assess your  massage clients needs?
I like to conduct a brief intake interview before the session to gauge my client’s individual needs.  The great majority of clients I see tend to complain of tension in the neck & shoulders.  Because this condition is so prevalent, I have taken to calling that area “sheck & noulders”.  Depending on the client’s tolerances, I seek to break the cycle of pain and tension using Deep Tissue, Myofascial Release and Trigger Point techniques.  I do see my share of clients who simply want to relax.  Before their session, I inquire if they want or need any challenging work.  From there, I can either target the problem area(s) or exclusively provide a profoundly relaxing experience.   After the session, I suggest to the client ways of maintaining relief & relaxation going forward, such as certain stretches and yoga poses that act upon the affected areas.

4. Where do you perform massage?
My main venues at present are  Working Well Massage inside the Whole Foods Markets and Chicago Touch. I am available to do house calls as well.

Carlos is available to give chair massages at Working Well Massage chair stations:

Fridays from 12noon to 4pm at at 30 W. Huron  inside Whole Foods Market-Gold Coast

Sundays from 4-8pm at 1550 N. Kingsbury inside Whole Foods Market-Lincoln Park

5. Aside from being a massage therapist, who is Carlos Peccioto?
My father was born in La Paz, Bolivia and came to the U.S. as a graduate student in the mid-1960s.  I was born and raised in Chicago, tried to live elsewhere (Paris, France; Detroit, MI; Austin, TX; San Francisco, CA), but was always drawn back to my hometown.  For better or worse, I am proud to be a Chicagoan, and I believe this city is best explored on a bicycle.  Despite being “disillusioned” by my university education (I graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Linguistics), in retrospect I feel it gave me a good basis for life and quenched an intellectual curiosity.

I care deeply for the fate of humankind and consider myself a humanist to the core.  I consider myself a strongly ethical, truth-driven person.  I also like to have a good time — my idea of a “good time” is the annual Burning Man Festival, taking place in the extreme conditions of the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada on the week before Labor Day.

I also enjoy music — I sing and play percussion.  I am in two music groups: Chicago Aissawa and Environmental Encroachment.  The former is a Moroccan folkloric group that plays percussive trance/healing music — I play a variety of drums.  The latter I like to describe as an art-damaged brass marching band with a rocking, circus-like stage show — I play snare drum/percussion and sing.  With this band I enjoy touring the country and appearing at music festivals (most notably: Lotus Fest, Bloomington, IN; HONK!, Somerville, MA; Michigan Peace Fest, Lacota, MI; HONK! West, Seattle, WA).  I have been taking private voice lessons for the past 2+ years.  Through these lessons I have gotten acquainted with Sound Healing which I plan to incorporate in my list of modalities soon.

I someday hope to be able to freely travel the world.  I also speak French and Spanish semi-fluently; know a few words in Japanese, Dutch, Arabic, German, Quechua, and Portuguese; can read the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets; and am planning on learning Italian.

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If you haven’t tried a massage with Carlos yet, you don’t know what a great experience you are missing! Watch Carlos in action doing massage in a video at Chicago Touch website here.