Massage moms?

[paakbaak]

I´m finally studying and very very excited about starting to work!

i hope there are more of you aut there, and hope to learn from you!

[Kaitnbugsmom]

I'm on a hiatus from working right now but I'm here I am filing for my state license on Monday in fact, now that Indiana finally has a licensing board and I finally have the spare $$

Do you mind me asking which certification exam you plan to sit for?

[paakbaak]

well, i don´t know how it is in the states...

i´m in mexico and it´s a begginer´s diploma, i don´t know how to explain it better. you get 6 techniques and anatomy. shiatsu, holistic, ayurveda, swedish, anatomy and polarity therapy.

i enrolled in the intensive course and i´m taking holistic and ayurveda at the same time. i have my holistic exam next week, and still have 6 more classes of ayurveda, love it!

how is it in the states?

[Kaitnbugsmom]

I am so jealous. Here in most beginning level programs like the one I went through, you get swedish, and 'exposure' {read; a week or so at best on theory, maybe one lab day for hands on} to sports, prenatal, energy work, and a few hours on spa services like scrubs and parrafin wax. All the extra courses you mentioned are considered continuing education hours and you have to locate and pay for them out of pocket after you graduate. A friend in the Southwest USA got in to a really good holistics massage school and got a full year of hands on and classroom work in holistics, Thai, barefoot Thai and Lomi Lomi

How intensive are your A & P and psychology classes in Mexico? A & P nearly killed me even with a background that included working in a geriatrics ward and a couple nursing homes. Learning the origin, insertion, nervation, motion, etc of twenty five muscles every week on top of history, theory, practical applications, contraindications and ethics all crammed into three and a half hours a day classroom & lab time. Not the way I'd ever reccomend anyone to do it but I survived.

[almadianna]

I am moving this to working and student parents.

[paakbaak]

no wonder i couldn´t find it! thanks!
well, a&p isn´t as intensive as you mention. and this beginner course is private, i mean
i´m paying for it as you would any other course.
love the sound of your friend´s course!

i´ve been studying chakras today...kinda burnt out right now!

[paakbaak]

any other therapists out there?

[paakbaak]

therapists?????

[kdmama33]

I'm a massage therapist. I am currently taking an intensive cranial sacral course. I have been wanting to add cranial sacral to my massage tool box for some time now, and I got the opportunity to do so with a scholarship, so I'm taking it! I'm losing out on some work, but my clients have been very understanding about temporarily moving their appointment times. So far, so good.

Kinesiology fascinates me, but just about made my brain explode when I was in school.

[paakbaak]

did it take long before getting enough clients to live off of therapy ONLY?

[Kaitnbugsmom]

Originally Posted by almadianna

I am moving this to working and student parents.

No wonder I couldn't find it! I don't usually consider massage work, and I'm definitely not a student right now {unless you count the constant digging in my textbooks and the books I've picked up on my own, viewing new technique videos, etc., but I'm doing that in the middle of referreeing fights, cleaning house and homeschooling so it doesn't seem like I'm actually 'studying' kwim?

Originally Posted by kdmama33

I'm a massage therapist. I am currently taking an intensive cranial sacral course. I have been wanting to add cranial sacral to my massage tool box for some time now, and I got the opportunity to do so with a scholarship, so I'm taking it! I'm losing out on some work, but my clients have been very understanding about temporarily moving their appointment times. So far, so good.

Kinesiology fascinates me, but just about made my brain explode when I was in school.

Do you mind me asking if you're taking Upledger or a different method? I am fascinated by the applications of CST for PTSD patients and have been lusting after the upledger courses since I was in school. I've thought of taking at least 2 of the other methods as well once I feel comfortable with Upledger, and would love to hear what the others are like, especially if you've taken more than one and care to give a brief contrast?

I hear you on kinesio. I feel that way about myfascial unwinding but drool none the less every time I see the schedules in the MTJ

Originally Posted by paakbaak

did it take long before getting enough clients to live off of therapy ONLY?

I'd love to hear an answer to this one as well. I took the first year out of school 'off' only doing massage on a volunteer basis because my husband was in Iraq and our girls needed me pretty much accessible 24/7, so I'm just now starting to publish my marketing materials, look for guest lecture and other low cost marketing work and so forth. I know the trade mags all say it's relatively easy to build clients even in this economy but I'm nervous none the less.


Did anyone else notice that Massage mag's website has a 118 page Trends and Tips special edition up live on their website for free? I read through it this morning and found alot of it very useful and inspiring.

[Doodlebugsmom]

I attended massage therapy school from 1997-98, and worked full-time as an MT from 98-01. I never made enough money that I would've been able to make it on my own without dh's income. I was lucky enough to be able to SAH full-time, so that's what I've done for the last 8 years. As a mama, I developed de Quervain's tendonitis, which affects my wrist. I also fell at home and broke my radius right at the elbow. I have full range of motion, but overworking it causes lots of pain. So, my massage career is over.

The program I went through was pretty intensive. A&P, business, ethics, pathology, swedish massage, neuromuscular therapy, myofascial release, theory and holistics. I went two full days a week for one year. I loved it, and still practice lots of the holistic health-care practices I learned there.

[Kaitnbugsmom]

Originally Posted by Doodlebugsmom

I attended massage therapy school from 1997-98, and worked full-time as an MT from 98-01. I never made enough money that I would've been able to make it on my own without dh's income. I was lucky enough to be able to SAH full-time, so that's what I've done for the last 8 years. As a mama, I developed de Quervain's tendonitis, which affects my wrist. I also fell at home and broke my radius right at the elbow. I have full range of motion, but overworking it causes lots of pain. So, my massage career is over.

The program I went through was pretty intensive. A&P, business, ethics, pathology, swedish massage, neuromuscular therapy, myofascial release, theory and holistics. I went two full days a week for one year. I loved it, and still practice lots of the holistic health-care practices I learned there.

NMT and MFR as part of school? I would have died and gone to heaven. Granted, my school did alot more energy work than I expected from a commercial school, but it seriously lacked in clinical practice. We worked on each other 2-3 days a week but only 1 hour each day and usually the same person every week. The program total was 9 months long. i am seriously considering paying out of pocket to attend a different school that has alot more clinical time and teaches a wider variety of modalities and more time is spent on them. For example, we did one 4 hour day of study and hands on application of prenatal massage. That was it. And with only 1 actually pregnant person in our class, visual confirmation of the effects was hard to come by.

[paakbaak]

Originally Posted by Kaitnbugsmom

NMT and MFR as part of school? I would have died and gone to heaven. Granted, my school did alot more energy work than I expected from a commercial school, but it seriously lacked in clinical practice. We worked on each other 2-3 days a week but only 1 hour each day and usually the same person every week. The program total was 9 months long. i am seriously considering paying out of pocket to attend a different school that has alot more clinical time and teaches a wider variety of modalities and more time is spent on them. For example, we did one 4 hour day of study and hands on application of prenatal massage. That was it. And with only 1 actually pregnant person in our class, visual confirmation of the effects was hard to come by.

my school sounds like this actually! but i´m a single mom now so i got very little time for me, so my school is fine for now.
finished ayurveda, holistic and swedish, now in polarity and still have shiatsu and anatomy to go. paying an extra for relfex in 2 weeks. it´s fine cuz i get certified by the secretary of education here in mexico.

love it how you get such a good education studying this in the states...

[klt]

Is anyone able to live off of their massage therapy practice? I practiced for some years (licensed in 2003) but it always felt very part-time. And then after I had my baby, it was hard to work enough to cover daycare I am now in school for nursing, but miss massage. I was just getting into cranio-sacral work too, so much fun!

[Kaitnbugsmom]

My instructors for last two mods were both highly successful practitioners. One worked part time as an instructor and 'full time' {about 30 hours/week, IIRC} at her busy practice about twenty minutes from school. The other was moving from practicing full time and being a teacher/admin part time to practicing full time, half of that in research with a local university on the effects of massage on various conditions. Of course, that was two years and a whole different economy ago.

[paakbaak]

i see that in my instructors too. the do live off of their therapies and their classes. i guess it just takes time...right? i just hope it takes less time that i think it does...cuz i´m a single mom...and i have no other option...so i WILL live off of my therapies!

[paakbaak]

Raindrop technique?

[Kaitnbugsmom]

Originally Posted by paakbaak

Raindrop technique?

What about it? Got some inside information or tips? Plz?

It's on my ceu dream list. My cousin saw the picture on the front of one of the trades {Massage and Bodywork, IIRC} a few months back and was like 'An expose on water torture in a massage magazine? isn't that counter-productive for relaxation?'

[paakbaak]

a bit, yeah! i´d never heard of it and this sunday there is a course at school and wasn´t sure if it was worth it. i saw a few videos on it, and read a bit and i´m enjoying the idea, so i thought maybe one of you has been doing this technique and if it´s worth going into it. in the course we also get the basics of ear coning...my grandmother used to do this for me but i´m not sure if it really works... anyway, just checking if you girls had more info about raindrops. thanks!