Advanced Training Commitments
I invite you to think back to the time when you decided that you wanted to be a massage therapist. Something inspired you, what was it? What was it that motivated you to research schools, go through the admissions process and show up on the first day of class?
Can you remember how it felt on those first days, learning how to be a touch professional?
So many students tell me that they were both excited and nervous at the same time. They wanted to get it right and really HELP their clients. (I’m sure they wanted to get good grades, too!)
Did you ever get nervous or anxious in massage school? Was there ever a moment when the coursework, the exam preparation and the pathway to graduation and licensure seemed difficult? How did you work through those difficult times to see your objectives through to completion?
Massage school prepared you to be a competent, touch professional. You studied the ethics of touch, laws & rules. You practiced your clinical reasoning skills and studied various pathological conditions. If you attended a school in the west, you studied in some detail Swedish and deep tissue styles, maybe some neuromuscular trigger point therapy, a little bit of hydrotherapy and some sports massage.
You may have received an introduction to some other modalities, too- maybe even Thai massage and ashiatsu. And, while these modalities were fun to learn and share, they were not necessarily considered “entry level” material. Especially if you were studying to take a licensure exam.
It’s also possible that the study of anatomy & physiology might have felt like learning a whole new language.
Many students tell us that studying Thai massage and ashiatsu feels the same way sometimes. They say it’s like learning how to be a massage therapist all over again.
Think about how many hours you spent in massage school. 200? 500? 750 or more? What about all the time since then that you’ve spent honing your skills as you work in the field?
A thorough study of Thai massage and ashiatsu requires the same type of dedication.
Our ashiatsu and Thai massage programs are designed to build on the skills you already have as a massage professional while at the same time presenting an elevated set of standards that are specific to these practices. If you were a doctor we might say that you are a general practitioner who has decided to narrow down their scope and become a specialist.
The education model that currently exists for massage therapists doesn’t fully encourage in-depth, advanced training. Many states in the U.S. only require 12 - 25 hours of continuing education every few years for licensure renewal. With a license to touch and manipulate soft tissue a massage therapist can legally integrate any techniques they learn in CE classes into their practice right away. There aren’t currently any rules (outside of the massage school sector) that specify how many hours of training you must have before you can call yourself a Thai massage or ashiatsu practitioner and hold yourself out to the public as such. Therefore, a massage therapist could really just take one class then say they are a practitioner of this work. It’s up to us as individuals to dedicate ourselves to advanced training, regardless of minimum licensure renewal requirements or continuing education credits. Advanced training requires a strong commitment to
- Being a teachable student
- Learning and making mistakes
- Practicing for feedback
- Maintaining physical health and stamina
- Identifying and utilizing your support system
When you dedicate yourself to study in this way you become fully absorbed with the learning and sharing of these modalities. You learn how to use your entire body and BEING, not just your hands (and brain), to deliver effective massage treatments without burning yourself out. Your chances for repetitive overuse injuries decreases and your stamina improves. Therefore, you are able to help more clients, make the money you need to meet your goals and enjoy being a massage therapist even more than ever before! The time flies by while you are engaged in the learning process and you soon realize that you’ve cultivated a new set of skills that make you feel like you’ve started your practice of massage therapy all over again, just like many of our students report.
