If you're lucky, when you go to massage school, it's a life changing event. Of course you learn many new skills, acquire lots of academic knowledge and gain tools to start a new career. But at its very best, the massage school experience shows you more of yourself than you knew before you started. The experience of giving and receiving bodywork opens your physical and emotional body, exposes your defenses, and gives you tremendous opportunities for growth and healing.At Rocky Mountain Institute of Healing Arts, we're gearing up for a graduation in a couple of weeks. A lot of times at graduation, family and friends of the graduates come up to me and say, "Until I saw this ceremony and heard what the graduates had to say, I had no idea massage school was like this!" So lately I've been reflecting on the profound things that happen during the school year.
In the classroom, we laugh and cry, support each other through challenges and cheer each other in success. When the classroom becomes a microcosm for life with all it's ups and downs, the students have a chance to learn to be great listeners, to stay compassionate, not to become ungrounded by someone else's experience, and to stay present with another human being. These are things that make a person a great massage therapist and they truly can be learned in the classroom. This is why I think it's an honor to be a massage teacher. Because we get to guide and direct our students during this special process.
In this blog, I plan to write about the things that excite me about massage education and share what it's like to be in massage school. Sometimes massage lessons are only applicable to bodywork, but usually they are applicable to life.
© 2008, Rebecca Mauldin
4 comments:
I have been a massage therapist (www.wellnessforthegoddess.vpweb.com) for more than 15 years and I loved my massage school experience. I was one of the oldest students in the school and loved being around younger people. School was an exciting and fascinating experience to learn about the human anatomy and physiology. How amazing our bodies are to be able to function on its own, respiration, circulation, digestion just to name a few amazing systems in our bodies. I love my work and specialize in Pain Relief using my Medical Massage training.Good luck on your journey. I hope you enjoy your career as much as I do. Blessings, Shellie
I am not a massage professional but I am a massage recipient. I often wonder how massage schools differ, and if therapists can tell where other therapists went to school by their skills or style (disregarding the obvious differing techniques).
Thanks to you and all massage therapists out there who help keep us healthy and in the know about our bodies.
Look forward to reading this blog.
I was and still am a student of Rocky Mountain Institute of Healing Arts. It was a challenge for me but worth every minute. I feel I have an awarness that I did not realize because of the experiences I had in school. I see more and more everyday that massage school was not only the path to a rewarding career but a path to a healing collective consciencness that is becoming more prevelant. I do have to say that so much that I learned was not realized until long after school and I am becoming more aware every day.
I hope that if you feel that massage is something you are drawn to...get on the path.
Hi Stamaknox,
If you "disregard the obvious differing techniques," there are still wide variances in the feel of a massage you get from one person to another. While this can be attributed to natural abilities and preferences, much of the difference can also be directly traced back to the education received. If a school emphasizes quality of touch and a specific, detailed training in muscular anatomy, it will definitely show up in the massage. And as a massage therapist, you can tell when you're receiving a massage from someone with this type of background. I know several massage therapists who've work in large spas who have developed tastes for massages from graduates of one school over another. Rebecca
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