The start of something new

Most do not know that I embarked on a new adventure over the summer when I enrolled in school at the Madison School of Massage Therapy. It had honestly been something that I had kept tucked away for years- a desire to learn this particular craft and to be able to give something back to the world that really meant something. But for whatever reason, I always thought I was already cruising down a different path with my career. And plus, starting something new takes a lot of uncomfortable ingredients. You have to carve out time that you may not have much of, spend money, re-arrange your schedule and make sacrifices. It meant less time with Rob, the animals, and our fun hobbies together. But the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that this was absolutely the right time to finally start this new chapter. I earnestly wanted to find something that could mean long-term fulfillment for me and for others. And the time was going to pass by one way or another, so I might as well be in school working toward something than nothing at all.

So, consider yourselves caught up and informed! Since July, I’ve been going to school after work at night twice a week, where I will eventually complete a 15 month program full of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and applied practice. I will then (God willing) pass the National MBLEx (Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination) sometime near the end of 2017, at which point I will become an official licensed massage therapist 🙂 Pretty exciting! My school is an incredible place, and the instructors and students are awesome people who have truly become good friends!

I’ve given a lot of thought about what this all means, and what it will mean in the future. How will I use this? What will I do when I can officially practice and earn a living at this? For now, I have a lot of ideas tumbling around but I just want to sit back and see how certain things play out over the next year. More than anything though, I want to help people. I want to give athletes the ability to recover quicker from injuries, perform better in their element and feel more equipped and confident in their bodies and what they are capable of. I want to help my friends deal with stress and tension better, and I want to help educate everyone on how incredible our mind, body and spirit can be when all three are healthy and nurtured properly. And I feel I can absolutely affect all of this in bodywork.

So here is where you can help! As part of my program, I must complete 15 “unsupervised” hours of massage outside of the clinic and then another 75 hours inside the clinic. As of right now, I am ready to begin accumulating my 15 unsupervised hours, which will be performed in a private area of my home. (I am pretty proud of the little space I have created so far!)

If you are interested in helping me become better at what I am learning, I would love to have you reach out to me for an opportunity for a one hour Swedish massage. During this session, I will be able to practice what I have learned so far, as well as have an opportunity to get your constructive feedback on how I do! This is a really important step in the program, because your feedback and your presence on my table will be contributing to my overall development and overall success as a body worker! And because I am not yet licensed, I cannot charge for this. So you will get a free 60 minute massage and hang out sesh with yours truly! (I will however accept hugs, constructive feedback and baked goods though). 🙂

I am only offering this invitation to friends I personally know and see on a regular basis at this time since these will be performed in my home, so if that’s you and you would like to help, shoot me a message and we can arrange a time for you to come over and help me with my homework. Disclaimer: friendly animals live in my home, so if you have an animal allergy of any kind this may not be the best set up for you. I will, however, eventually start working in the clinic around Spring of next year, so there will be other opportunities for me to perform work on you outside of my house (more on that later!).

Be Well,