Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chris Kinkade. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Chris, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I am pretty sure my “purpose” found me. I think I just sort of “stumbled” onto it or was “led” to it by some divine guidance I do not pretend to know or understand. I am not a great “planner.” Never was. I have always just sort of followed my intuition and when that was unavailable or if I was not tuned into it I just sort of “winged it.” When I was a kid all I wanted to do was play sports. I was one of those kids who today might be labeled “dyslexic” but we did not have awareness of stuff like that in the old days. I would sit in class and think I was dropped there from another planet or something. I knew i wasn’t stupid but I also was aware that I processed information in a unique way. Over the years I learned to be accepting of this and as my “purpose” manifested I became acutely aware that my “uniqueness” was an asset in the way my life was unfolding. I always had the innate ability to experience a deep connection through touch. I thought it was something everyone experienced but as I grew older I realized that was not true. I used to do healing work on people just for the fun of it. I never thought of doing it for a living . One day a friend said to me “You do things you aren’t crazy about for a living, why not allow people to pay you for what you love to do?” A little bell went off in my head and I never looked back. I wound up with one of the best private massage therapy practices in Hollywood. Here I am 35 years and over 30,000 massages later still loving it and amazed at my good fortune. I recently moved out to a nice little horse ranch in the country that my girl lives on and now looking to work on a whole new bunch of people out here. I still go into Hollywood once or twice a week to see my clients out there. “Purpose” has directed me to a wonderful life and all I had to do was pay attention and stay out of the way.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I do transformational body work and therapeutic massage therapy. I get to work with people from all walks of life and assist them in fine tuning their body/mind/soul connection. I started out working on the biggest film sets in Hollywood and my reputation and career took off and grew from there. I get to help people and make them feel better. What could be more fulfilling than that? I think of body work and massage therapy as an art form. Every day is new and different and that keeps me excited and engaged in my work and in my life. I have worked on people from all walks of life: rich, poor, famous, regular folks, every kind of religion or sexual orientation, you name it I have encountered it. I have even done healing work with my harp playing as well as equine therapy and work with horses as healers of humans. I hope to expand on that in the coming years. I have taught internationally and my career has opened many doors for me.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Taking what I knew intuitively and adding to that with studies from great teachers in the healing arts has helped me immensely in expanding my skillset and knowledge in my work. One thing I really had to learn was patience and the ability to focus on the wisdom that comes through being present and still no matter the chaos and cacophonous maelstrom of noise and energy surrounding me in this loud and often brutal world. This came through to me by wise teachers who showed up in my life at just the right time. Helping to direct my focus and open the index of possibilities that my journey was manifesting for me. I also found it invaluable to live a life of “voluntary simplicity.” I am not someone who values or is impressed by materialism. I have been employed by very wealthy people as well as those who lead humble lives and have seen firsthand that wealth does not guarantee being happy or healthy.. I have the ability be comfortable anywhere and a touchstone for me has always been the Buddhist maxim “Always accept whatever situation you cannot presently improve upon..” If you are able to do that you can avoid a lot of struggles in your life.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
12 months ago I underwent open heart surgery to fix an aneurysm in my ascending thoracic aorta. My life had been going very well up to this point but in the summer of 2022 I was told i had maybe 4-6 months to live before my aorta bifurcated and killed me. The aneurysm was discovered quite by accident in 2017 so I knew it was there and every year I had to have a cat scan to monitor it’s growth. When I got the word that I had an imminent expiration date I was left with no choice but to put my life on hold and buckle up and try to get through one of the hardest things anyone can ever go through. I had the greatest cardiac surgeon of all time in Dr. Richard Shemin at UCLA and even though my surgery went through some really rough patches (I flatlined the day after surgery!) I made it. I was determined to get my life back and get back to the work I so loved doing.. In the hospital I would tell my girlfriend that I could not wait to get back to work because I felt surviving what I went through gave me access to some new magic in my hands. It took me 3 months before I had someone on my table again but when I did finally return to work the magic was there at a whole new level. You never know what’s around the corner so never give up even in the darkest moments.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.lamassagepro.com/
- Instagram: lamassagepro
- Facebook: Chris Kinkade
- Youtube: Chris Kinkade
