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What Did You Do Before Massage?
I know, I'm nosey. I was a travel writer.
For six years, I got to travel to Bed & Breakfasts and get massages, all for free, and write about it. So my roots are in traveling, meeting people and hearing their stories. Now I travel around and do The World Massage Festival & Massage Therapy Hall of Fame.
I found the adjustment to a single location massage establishment, inside a strip mall, very confining. So I started a way to stay "in the massage world and travel!" But that is another story!
What's your story? What did you do before massage? Tell us of your travels and what massage is like where you are, especially if you massage outside the U.S. We really like pictures, if possible.
If you get bored come see me at my page http://www.massageprofessionals.com/profile/MikeHinkle
Thanks and welcome to Massage Professionals!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Valerie Lyon on -
I decided to do massage for a living when I was 12 and living with my parents in Sasebo, Japan. Massage is so thoroughly integrated there, it seemed like a no brainer to get involved.
This was 1960 and my parents were not so gung-ho. So I became a speech therapist because it had the same word in it as physical therapy (which my folks thought I'd not be strong enough for) and physical therapy was practically massage!
Twenty years after I was bitten by the bug, I got my massage license in 1980 and have been blessed ever since!
I love problem solving and educating clients by working with them toward a goal.
Valerie
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Permalink Reply by Valerie Lyon on
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I so relate to your story! I decided at 12 and it took me 20 years, a career and numerous other jobs to make it to nirvana! I've been doing massage for 20 years now and NO REGRETS!!
Valerie
Tige' Miller said:Massage therapy has always been my calling. Before the age of 10, I knew that I wanted to become a massage therapist but didn't finally pursue my dream until 2008 & finishing school in June of this year. I have a bachelor's degree in Agriculture Business but didn't go into the field. Even during school, I would sometimes massage a couple of my classmates shoulder's & even then, they told me I was in the wrong field. After school, I stayed in banking & then that progressed onto many other fields such as: purchasing (absolutely loved this job), accounts payable/receivable, customer service, student loans, administrative work & finally insurance. I really enjoy the insurance industry & it is not rocket science to figure out either...Currently, I am doing massage therapy fulltime & love it. Timing is everything. Even though I wish I had ventured into massage years ago, God told me when it was time to go & am so very glad I did. I truely enjoy helping people......Me & massage therapy are one. I am looking forward to the journey ahead with massage & am very excited.
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Permalink Reply by Denah on -
I have always worked in the social services field as either a case manager, facilitator, counselor, etc. and I have felt from young that working with people in the capacity of helping them has been my calling and enjoyed it.
I've always been the type of person who was into all kinds of natural things. I started out with natural hair and skin products, herbal supplements and wellness ideas. I have always worked with special populations in the social work field and felt that I needed to reach my clients on a different level, I also felt that performing massage as well as other energizing techniques would be another way to assist my clients to reach their desired level of wellness. Finally after moving to another state and not really having the luck of getting another job I decided to go to school and follow my dream! I have never felt so free in my life! One of the best decisions that I have made in my adult life and no regrets about it!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Jeffrey on -
Hi Mike
I went into engineering when I left school for 12 yrs, then whilst the kids were young I had to suppliment my earnings as a motorcycle courier and got sucked into that for 12 yrs, then I had a major accident (am ok now ) so in getting fit again (always a good long distance runner) I had some sports massage and had one of those "this is what I was born to do" moments and took a course in 1997 and from 2000 have been full time massage therapist.
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Permalink Reply by Ralph Miller on
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I ran my own air freight expediting company in Western NY. I also have been a mobile material transportation specialist and coordinator...a truck driver. I have been a marketer, a logistics consultant, and the general manager of a portable mini storage facility. In massage, however, I have found my place. The thought of doing something else really does not enter my mind.
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Permalink Reply by Serena Bennouri on -
Got "accidentally" laid off from a copyediting job in the software industry. Weirdly, I got my job back two weeks later when they figured out the error, so the job ended up supporting me through massage school and I left on my own when I was done!
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Permalink Reply by Mike Hinkle on -
Well many successful therapists say massage is a dance, so you are already ahead of the game.
Nancy Turner said:I was a dance instructor!
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Permalink Reply by Caitlin Lemoine on -
I was an art student at UL! I have a BFA with a concentration in painting. I love to work with my hands the kind of zen state that i would reach painting my best paintings is exactly the same as the meditative state I'm in when I massage. Since I haven't done a lot but schooling and more schooling I feel like my story has just started. I don't travel much so there is not a lot to say about it.
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Permalink Reply by Simone Fairly on -
I've never been anything but a massage therapist! It's a long standing family tradition... as it is in many asian families.
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Permalink Reply by Jan Schwartz on
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I was a sales leader and trainer for Dale Carnegie & Associates! I taught the Sales Course and assisted in the Management Seminar. How to Win Friends and Influence People Course was left to others. :-)
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Green on -
What did I do before massage? That question is like asking about a past life. The short answer is underground copper miner. But I am not known for short answers. I have been a massage therapist for thirty years and what and who I was before is not a simple question, bear with me as I attempt to answer.
Turned 18 in 1973, that is important to this answer because that is also the year the military draft ended. With the Vietnam war ongoing and my birth-date being one of those picked in the draft lottery I fully expected to be called up to serve. Not that I wanted to. So with no real plans for my future I went to work in the Copper MInes north of Tucson. It didn't take me long to know that working in a mine was not my life's work and living in Tucson I had the opportunity to see a demonstration massage at a workshop and that was it. I knew right then that massage was my work.
I found a Massage School in Mesa that offered a 1000hr training and I applied for the up coming class.
It took six months at 8hrs a day to complete. Money was short and I lived out of my van in the desert on the edge of town. Those days still hold great memories and even now with all the books I have read and workshops I have attended I still find that foundation to be the core of my work.
Shortly after completing my schooling in massage I had the opportunity to work at the newly opened Canyon Ranch Resort. The four years I spent working at the Ranch furthered my skill, exposed me to many great therapist and opened the door for me to move away from Tucson and develop a private practice here in Kansas City, Mo. This is where I meet my wife and partner. Massage is still my work and before massage I was lost.
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Permalink Reply by Meggie Hayne on -
Thanks for the nice question Robert! I started doing massage right out of high school. It has, however, taken me on an interesting journey.
Massage started me on a journey to learn to nurture myself and help others do the same. After practicing massage for a few years and seeing hundreds of clients, I realized there would always be more to learn. When I started practicing K** Nye (the meditative discipline and self healing technique) in 2006, I had found my path. The word 'Nye' in Tibetan means 'massage'. K** Nye is a set of healing exercises, meditations and self massage techniques introduced to the West by Tibetan Lama Tarthang Tulku. These exercises massage us from within the body. Since becoming a permanent resident of Ratna Ling Retreat Center on the Northern California Coast in 2007, I have worked with senior K** Nye Instructor, Arnaud Maitland to become an authorized K** Nye Instructor. Drawing on my professional massage background and my personal experience with practicing and teaching K** Nye, we have developed a technique for massage therapists to apply the ancient wisdom principles of K** Nye to their practices. So I have organically transformed into a massage educator.
Although I do some traveling to teach workshops around the country, most of my travels have taken place while discovering the vast universe inside the body.
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