Daily Mail article

[Typical]

I thought ear candling forum members might like to have a look at this article in the Daily Mail - I didn't know whether to laugh or just to despair of lazy journalists.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...e-therapy.html

[Bannick]

Marie Cadounas is one of the few therapists to offer this relaxing and balancing therapy using Hopi ear candles

Few?????? Well done daily Mail! Then again, not exactly a reputable newspaper, only a couple of rungs up from the Sun.


Also, the way the contact details are given at the bottom, it does point to a "paid for" or "advertising" feature which many papers sell nowadays. If it is then the therapist is a bit slow of mind thinking that people won't realise that it's a popular treatment offered by a plethora of therapists.

[Lady Lude]

£50? Blooming 'eck, that's a bit steep!

[myarka]

Originally Posted by Lady Lude

£50? Blooming 'eck, that's a bit steep!

That's £50 to the journo, and £35 to everyone else.

[Starshower***]

'Ear candling' has nothing whatsoever to do with Hopi Indians, who have tried strenuously to stop being associated with this practice - even appealing to governments to outlaw using their name in vain.

[Cis]

What a load of b******t ............. well most of it

Not a Hopi candle therapist myself only love having it done and don't pay nowhere near £50 ................ might be worth having training so that I could earn that much

Cis

[Reiki Pixie]

Hi

Don't worry about the £50, The Mail always does articles on the upper end of the market. I looked at Marie's website and it does quote £40. May be Myarka has a point, re post #4. It's very easy to think we can all charge £50 for a HEC treatment, but unless you work at a posh clinic/spa and have clients that have more money then sense, this isn't the reality for most of us. I would prefer to see the article as informing the public of what out there in terms of complementary healthcare.

HEC Pixie

[poohbear]

Hi

Who pays £50 for a hopi ear treatment and why do you need a course of 6???? I am a therapist who offers hopi ear treatments for £30 and you actually only need to have a course of 3.

Love and light
Poohbear

[Urban_Hippy]

"After completing a massage and reflexology diploma...."
GURU STATUS
"With her wealth of knowledge in all areas of massage and holistic treatment, Marie is one of the most experienced therapists in England to offer this unusual treatment."

ALL areas of holistic treatment and one of the most experienced with a diploma in massage and reflexology?

I hope a journalist did write this, or we can blame Marie's ego for global warming.

[John_D]

Originally Posted by Urban_Hippy

ALL areas of holistic treatment and one of the most experienced with a diploma in massage and reflexology?

I hope a journalist did write this, or we can blame Marie's ego for global warming.

I've had a fair amount of experience of dealing with journalists at newspapers and 'glossies'. I've found that you really have very little control over copy. I often find that a 'journalist' will try to get a bunch of free treatments for themselves and colleagues in return for a lazy, sloppy and boring write up. Regurgitated articles that say nothing, just a bit of content in between the big adverts that are paying for this dying medium.

I've also found that being published these days has a miniscule effect on interest / awareness from the public (this can all be monitered by web hits). I tend to turn down more press 'opportunities' than I accept these days, although for a therapist working alone it may be more attractive.

[RE285309]

Few ?? Think they have that wrong and where did they get £50.00 from. I am obviously not charging enough or some people are charging far too much lol. xx

[CalmandClear]

Hello - thanks for putting the link up for this article (which I know you did at the time it came out in Jan 2009!).

It is quite astonishing what journalists get away with these days, and I know from experience that this will not have come directly from Marie - so on that note I have to say let's please not be so hard on Marie

Having taken a look at her website it says that she works in Neal's yard in covent garden in Central London. I know she's not there anymore as I work there, and have done for many many years - so it's probably that her website just hasn't been updated for a while. I don't actually know Marie, and have never met her - but have seen her name of the price list previously.

I know a lot of you are horrified and mystified at the £50 charge in the article. At this particular clinic due to the very high hourly rental we pay (as it is prime central London location) the therapy prices are equivalently as high. At the time of writing this article the hourly cost for ear candling offered by all practitioners here was £50 (we all set our own prices). There's recently been a big hike in our rental again, so the price is now £55 per hour. We all try to keep our prices the same, and for many treatments the charges are much lower than at some nearby clinics (£75 for 1 hours massage nearby - we're £55-60). I know this is going to make many of you fall down as the charges seem so high, but our actual "take home" money is not so high once you take off our high rent, high London underground travel, other equipment costs etc. Obviously in Outer London or outside of London the cost of treatment is lower. I work in the suburbs of London too, where my ear candling is far lower - but "take home" is the same.

With regards to what has actually been said in the article I have to go with John_D on this about the journalists being lazy. I do many journalists treatments and have had a few write ups. Depends on the person - some are very good and thorough, and others are just lazy in the write ups and make loads of mistakes. There's nothing I can do about that. As John_D says, this sort of work and cover can be quite beneficial for the solo practitioner - and I always have a great increase in bookings at the time of any article. The bookings are often for treatments other than the one mentioned in the articles. Also Neal's Yard like to promote themselves and will pay us freelancers in their therapy rooms to treat journalists from time to time - and that may well have been the case here with Marie. The journalist may just have decided to write about her rather than Neal's yard!