What to Expect in Massage School

Massage School is a life changing experience.  There really is no other way to describe the overall experience.  All of us who decide to go to massage school have our reasons for wanting to attend.  Most of us believe we will practice massage after finishing massage school and the majority of us do, for some period of time.  However, for the rest of us, massage school becomes another step in our evolution as a person.  It becomes a jumping off point for additional spiritual growth or the entrance to the path of our real purpose, or we might find that it has opened the door for additional training and perhaps an advanced degree in holistic health.  Many massage therapy students find that by acting on a belief, a belief that we need to go to massage school, helps us find another path we are meant to take as a result of "doing something" toward a positive outcome. 

For me, I chose massage school because I wanted to have a little more control over my destiny.  I had just been downsized twice, leaving me without income and employment when the idea to go to massage school came into my head...and by the idea I mean "the idea that caused me to take action".  Being true to myself now, I had received "my calling" to attend massage school years earlier but I was too busy "being successful and climbing the corporate ladder" to recognize the drastic step I would need to take to lead me to a life completely off the grid of the future I was creating for myself.   I received my first massage in my early 20's and immediately felt a connection to the ancient art of touch.  My early 20's were back in the early 80's, there was not much of a call for massage therapists.  I knew only 1 therapist and she worked inside a gym.  Being from Kansas, there weren't any massage schools in the state at the time, although my massage therapist moved away for 6 months and received her training in Kansas City, MO.  I say I felt a deep connection but I didn't take action.  I continued to receive massage therapy.  I moved to NYC and found a massage therapist in the city.  She worked out of her apartment…her tiny 1 bedroom apartment yet when I hurt my back, she traveled to mine.  It seemed after each session, I would think about massage for days, dreaming about what kind of life a massage therapist must have and I’d look into training.  It was all so foreign to me…where did they get trained?  What was required for them to call themselves massage therapists?  What kind of quality training was out there for massage therapists?  When the internet became accessible, it became easier to find articles supporting massage therapy.  I was able to find schools and programs available to the public.  But still I continued down a life path in corporate purchasing that seemed to be my destiny but certainly didn't fill me with any kind of joy or passion.  If someone had said to me then that I had the right to feel joy and passion with my job, I would have laughed with sarcasm. 

Years later I moved to North Carolina and found another therapist and still I sought out information about massage.  And then one day it happened, the 2nd downsizing…my whole department was laid off and our jobs when to the Phillipines.  It was time.  I knew it.  Even as they were telling me to lay-off my department, this sacred idea of massage school floated up in my head.  It had been laying a pathway for me, I just didn’t realize it at the time.  When the news came, I knew where my path was headed. 

From the day I started massage school, until today, 10 years later, I recognize making the commitment to attend massage school was the single most important choice I could make in my life.  I check in with those I graduated with periodically.  Some have stayed in massage.  Some have used that choice as a jumping off point.  Some have taken completely different paths since massage school, but the consensus is the same - it was the right choice.  And at that time it was the most important choice.  I have never looked back.  There is no doubt, staying in my corporate career I would have earned more money, received more paid vacation, had my health insurance provided, owned a better car, and a bigger house...but what I gained after attending massage school is worth more than any dollar figure can ever express.

Being a massage therapist requires that you address things inside yourself.  Are you emotionally healthy enough to give touch to someone?  Are you emotionally strong enough to be the vessel that helps someone else utilize massage to find their own emotional health?   Are you physically healthy enough to deliver massage after massage?  Are you financially healthy enough to move to a simpler life?  

Massage school challenges you to look at your beliefs, your biases, and your shortcomings.  You learn what a miracle the human body is and how it works. Where you attend school may be important.  When you attend may be important.  But what is most important is the fact that you also have permission to find joy and passion about your life's contribution.

Don't let this opportunity pass you by.  If you are meant to come, the concept will follow you and circle your life until you do.  For those of you that need to make a commitment to do something different with your life - chose massage therapy.  Being touched by massage therapy every week while you are in school will change you.  How could it not?  It changes our clients.  It changes our students.  Make your decision to change your life today.