Creative Light Wellness

05/16/2026

We have a new member of the Creative Light family… and she needs a name! 🦴

She’s patient, incredibly detailed, and has literally never missed a class. (Respect.)

This week we’re collecting name suggestions from YOU — next week, we vote. The winning name gets announced at our Open House on May 30th!

Comment below with your best she-skeleton name. Bonus points for creativity! 👇😄

05/15/2026

I used to use the same products everyone else uses. Then I learned what was actually in them. 🌿

As a Doctor of Natural Health and Licensed Massage Therapist, people sometimes ask me how I stay consistent with everything I teach. The honest answer is — I don’t separate my worlds.

The food I eat, the products I use on my skin, what’s under my sink, what’s in my pantry — all of it is chosen with intention. Not because I follow a rigid set of rules, but because I’ve spent years learning what the body actually needs to thrive, and I can’t unknow what I know. You know?😆

What I recommend to my clients, I live myself. That authenticity matters to me deeply.

A while back I stumbled onto what turned out to be the largest online natural wellness store — and I’ll be honest with you, I am slightly obsessed. 😄 It’s become my go-to for everything — cleaner skincare, safer household products, better supplements, non-toxic personal care items. Real swaps for the real things you use every day, without having to hunt across a dozen different websites or wonder if what you’re buying is actually what it claims to be. When I found it, it genuinely felt like someone had done all the research for me. And given that I spend a lot of time doing that research anyway — that said something.

Here’s what I want you to understand about why this matters:
Every product you put on your skin, every synthetic fragrance you breathe in, every processed ingredient your body has to filter — it adds to what’s called your toxic load.

Your body is remarkably capable of processing and eliminating toxins, but it has a threshold. When the load exceeds the body’s capacity to clear it, that’s when we start to see the slow creep of symptoms that eventually become diagnoses. Chronic fatigue. Inflammation. Hormonal issues. Autoimmune conditions. Chronic disease.
This isn’t fear — it’s physiology.

The body wants to be well. It is always working toward balance. But it needs us to meet it halfway — by reducing what we’re asking it to process, and by supporting its natural detoxification pathways regularly and intentionally.

I have consultation appointments available, and I would love to help you:
✦ Identify and swap out the toxic products in your home
✦ Support your body through a gentle, effective detoxification protocol
✦ Build a real, sustainable wellness rhythm that fits your life

This work is not about perfection or deprivation. It’s about getting informed, making better choices one step at a time, and finally feeling the way you deserve to feel.
If you’ve been feeling like something is off — tired, inflamed, stuck, or just not quite right — this might be exactly the conversation you’ve been needing.

Send me a message or book a consultation through the link below. I’d be honored to be part of your path to greater health. 💚

05/14/2026

Here’s something every aspiring massage therapist should know before choosing a school:

The MBLEx — the national licensing exam — covers 7 distinct content areas. Your school should be preparing you for all of them, every single day, not just in the final weeks before you test.

At Creative Light School of Massage Therapy, test prep isn’t bolted on at the end. It’s woven into the fabric of every class, every assignment, and every hands-on hour.

Here’s how our curriculum maps to each MBLEx content area: 👇🏻

→ Anatomy & Physiology ✓
→ Kinesiology ✓
→ Pathology ✓
→ Benefits & Physiological Effects of Massage ✓
→ Client Assessment, Reassessment & Treatment Planning ✓
→ Ethics, Boundaries, Laws & Regulations ✓
→ Guidelines for Professional Practice ✓

If you’re exploring massage therapy programs, this is one of the most important questions you can ask: How does your curriculum prepare me for the MBLEx?

We’d be happy to walk you through ours.

Send us a message anytime.

05/13/2026

Week one at Creative Light School of Massage Therapy isn’t orientation.

It’s education — real, substantive, and hands-on from the very first day.

Here’s what our students cover before their first week is even finished:

Anatomy through touch.

We begin teaching students to read the body the way therapists actually work — with their hands. 👐🏻

Not just memorizing structures on a diagram, but developing the kinesthetic awareness that separates a competent technician from a truly skilled therapist. You learn anatomy by feeling it.🩻

Touch as a form of communication.💆🏻‍♀️
This one surprises most new students. Before we get into technique, we explore what touch communicates — safety, intention, presence, care. Your hands tell your client something the moment they make contact.
We teach you to be deliberate about what they say.

The laws, rules, and regulations of the profession. 📚
Massage therapy is a licensed healthcare field, and we treat it that way. Students learn the scope of practice, legal obligations, and professional standards that govern our industry — because understanding your professional framework is just as important as understanding the body.

This is week one.

If you’re exploring massage therapy programs and wondering what the difference feels like — this is it.

💬 Questions about our program? Send us a message. Shannon personally responds to every one.

05/11/2026

Something I want to be completely honest about — because I think it matters enormously when you're deciding where to train.

Not every massage instructor is still practicing. And not every massage instructor's training stopped at their massage license.

I want to tell you exactly where I stand on both of those things.

I have held an active LMT license for more than 12 years. I am still practicing. I still work with clients regularly — not as a footnote to my school work, but as a living, ongoing, central part of my professional life. Every week, my hands are on this work. Every week, I am learning something new from the people I work with.

But here is what most people don't know about me:

I am also a Doctor of Natural Health.

That designation represents years of study and training that go well beyond my massage license — in naturopathic science, whole-body wellness, detoxification protocols, the role of nutrition and lifestyle in physical health, and the deeper mechanisms of how the human body heals. It is a significant body of knowledge that took years to build and that I continue to apply in active practice today.

I work with naturopathic clients. I work with massage clients. And in much of my practice, I combine both — bringing the full picture of what I know about the body to bear on each person I work with.

That integration is not theoretical. It is real. It is practiced every week. And it is exactly what I bring into the Creative Light classroom. And I’ve been in the wellness space for almost 20 years.

When I teach you about the body, I am not teaching from a textbook alone. I am teaching from almost two decades of active, multi-disciplinary practice — from the intersection of massage therapy, natural health science, intuitive healing, and the kind of clinical understanding that only comes from genuinely living this work at a high level for a long time.

Not every massage instructor brings this to the classroom. Some are newly licensed with limited hands-on experience. Some stopped practicing when they started teaching. Some have never worked across disciplines or developed the broader wellness picture that today's clients — and tomorrow's healthcare environment — increasingly require.

There is a significant difference between learning massage from someone who just learned it themselves and learning it from someone who has practiced it and everything around it for over a decade.

That difference lives in every class at Creative Light.

I don't just teach massage.
I teach from the full picture of the body — because that is how I practice, and because that is what your future clients will need from you.

What I teach on Monday, I practiced last week.

That is the standard here. And it is the standard every massage therapy student deserves.

If you are considering massage school in the Billings area, I would love for you to come see what this kind of instruction looks and feels like. Enrollment is open.

Send me a message, visit our website, or come tour the school in person. 🌿
📍 Billings, Montana

05/10/2026

If you or someone you know is looking into massage school, there is one question that doesn't get asked enough:

Is the school NCBTMB approved?

Not every massage school in Montana is. Creative Light is — and I want to explain why that answer matters far more than most people realize.

NCBTMB stands for the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Earning approval as a school requires meeting rigorous national standards for curriculum, instructor qualifications, and educational methodology. It is not automatic. It is not given to every school that opens its doors. It has to be earned and maintained.

Here is what that approval means specifically for the student who trains here:

🗺️ LICENSE PORTABILITY
Your education is built on a nationally recognized standard. If you ever practice in another state, pursue additional credentials, or want your training recognized beyond Montana's borders — graduating from an NCBTMB approved school is what makes that an easier transition.

📚 CE CREDIT ELIGIBILITY
Continuing education is required for license renewal throughout your career. Graduating from an NCBTMB approved school opens access to a full range of CE providers and courses — including the most respected advanced training available in the profession.

🏥 EMPLOYER CREDIBILITY
The clinics, hospitals, wellness centers, and integrative health practices where you'll build your career pay attention to where you trained. An NCBTMB approved credential signals that your education was held to a standard — and that matters in every professional conversation you'll ever have.

⭐ PROFESSIONAL STANDING
Massage therapy is a licensed healthcare profession. Where you trained is part of your professional identity. Graduating from an NCBTMB approved program places you squarely within the national professional standard from the very first day you practice. As long as your school is actively maintaining the standard and it is not just an old credential.

You will carry your education with you for your entire career.

Make sure it carries weight.

Creative Light is currently enrolling for our next program. If you'd like to learn more, send me a message or come see the school in person. I'd love to show you what we've built.

📍 Billings, Montana

If you know someone considering massage school anywhere in Montana — please share this with them.

These are questions every student deserves to ask before they enroll. 🌿

05/09/2026

Meet the newest member of the Creative Light family! 🦴 She’s bony, she’s beautiful, and she doesn’t have a name yet — and that’s where YOU come in. Our classroom skeleton needs a name worthy of her anatomy, and we’re turning to our community to help us choose! Drop your favorite in the comments below. Bonus points if it’s anatomically inspired. Her official name will be revealed at our Grand Opening on May 30 — you won’t want to miss it! 👇 ”

05/08/2026

I want to show you something.

When I was designing the Creative Light classroom, I made a decision that might seem small but felt enormous to me:

Every single detail of this space would reflect the profession our students are entering.

Not a converted room. Not a space that works well enough.

A space built from the ground up to feel like the career you're training for.

Curtained stations that give clients privacy and students the chance to practice in a real, professional setting from day one.

Warm, intentional lighting — because the energy of a room affects how people learn, how they relax, and how they heal.

A spa-quality environment — because if you're going to spend months training your hands and your mind for this work, you should do it in a space that honors that.

We designed this space to feel like the career you're training for. Because the environment where you learn shapes the professional you become.

This is not a converted classroom.

This is Creative Light. 🌿

If you've been considering massage therapy — or if you know someone who has — I'd love for you to come see this space in person. Walk through it. Feel it. Ask every question you have.

Enrollment is currently open for our next program.

Send me a message here, or visit us in Billings. 📍 Montana

05/07/2026

You will never be able to replace human to human contact and healing between organic individuals with robotics and AI.

US-based robotics wellness company Aescape Inc has entered insolvency proceedings following the sale of substantially all of its assets and escalating financial pressures.

05/07/2026

Not all massage schools are the same. And in Billings, the difference is significant. Here is what to look for — and why it matters for your entire career.

If you’ve been thinking about massage school – the question isn’t whether to go. The question is where. Here’s how to choose well.

If you or someone you know is considering massage school — save this post before you make any decisions.

Most people compare tuition prices. These are the five questions that actually determine the quality of your education and the trajectory of your career.

Scroll through the images 👉 and see how each question should be answered by any school you're considering.

Then ask yourself whether the school you're looking at answers all five.

We built Creative Light from the ground up to say yes to every one of them:

✓ NCBTMB approved — because your credential should carry weight anywhere you go
✓ An actively licensed instructor with 12+ years in the field — because real experience belongs in the classroom
✓ Curriculum that goes beyond technique — anatomy, wellness science, clinical reasoning, and the full picture of the body
✓ An environment designed for the profession — because where you learn shapes who you become
✓ A school invested in your success — small classes, personal attention, an instructor who knows your name and your goals

The school you choose follows you for your entire career.

Choose with intention. 🌿

Enrollment at Creative Light is currently open. Send us a message, visit our website, or come see the school in person.

📍 Billings, Montana — serving students across the region