Sandra Mello received some good advice from a friend after being laid off of work two years ago.</p><p>"She was like, 'Congratulations,' and I was like, 'What do you mean?' She said go do what you want to do in life Sandra," Mello recalled.</p><p>She followed her friend's suggestion, went to school, graduated at the head of her class and became a licensed massage therapist.</p><p>Being from Los Ba&#241;os, Mello has a lot of family in town and knew she wanted to continue to live and work close to them. She struck a deal about 18 months ago with the Los Ba&#241;os Fitness & Racquet Club, allowing her to rent a room at the facility for her massage business.</p><p>She went right to work sprucing up her new area. She painted the room in dark, but what she's confident are, relaxing colors. Mello brought in some statuettes, soft music and her massage equipment. </p><p>She's available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, mostly by appointment, but she does take clients during the weekend if pre-arrangements are made. </p><p>Mello is not shy about touting the physical and mental benefits of massage. She said she believes she was drawn to the profession because she likes to help people.</p><p>"It's a natural healing. If (people) can walk away and feel better then I feel great, mission accomplished," Mello said.</p><p>At last month's Memorial Hospital Los Ba&#241;os Woman's Health Fair, Mello gave a massage to someone who, she said, had just come from a booth where her blood pressure was declared to be elevated. Mello gave the woman a massage and asked her to have her blood pressure checked again. </p><p>"I'll be doggone if her blood pressure was not significantly lower," Mello said. "It's easy for somebody to say oh yes it does (help people) but to have it done right there in front of me, I was like, 'Yes, I knew I was helping people.'"</p><p>Mello hopes to help many more people as awareness of her business spreads.</p><p>"I'm still getting people to know what I'm doing," she said.</p><p>Mello said she's at the racquet club four to five times a week. Even though it's tough for some people to afford a massage in today's economy she would love to have more clients, Mello said. </p><p>"I would like to be here five times a week and have maybe four clients everyday. I haven't got that yet, but I'm building there," she said. </p><p>Swedish, deep tissue, chair, prenatal and sports massages are included in the services she offers. "When I'm here and I'm working it's so relaxing. A lot of times I can just close my eyes because I'm not working with my eyes I'm working with my hands," Mello said. "A lot of times I can close my eyes and go, 'Here's a little knot,' rather than actually looking. The eye is kind of tricky. A lot of times the back looks just fine but when you feel with your hands... then I'm really able to help them."</p><p>Mello said massage therapists can get injuries because their work is so physical, but hurting yourself is largely avoidable by developing proper use of one's body structure while working.</p><p>Mello said some clients are self conscious of their body's appearance. She'd like the public to know their concern is probably unnecessary. She said most massage therapists are non-judgmental of people's body flaws.</p><p>Mello also enjoys a good massage herself. She said she often gets massages from other businesses like hers both in and out of town. She said she learns from the good massage therapists and sometimes offers advice to the bad ones.</p><p>"I try to educate people because life's a lesson to be learned," she said. </p><p>For more information on massage therapy or to schedule an appointment with Mello call 769-4427.</p><p>Enterprise staff writer Corey Pride can be reached at 388-6563.