How I Got Into This And Why It’s Important
Until the age of 31, I never really gave massage therapy much thought. Surprisingly so, because most of my life I’ve been drawn to healthy living. Whether it was researching nutrition for fun, eating whole garlic cloves “just for health”, or being out in nature, I always had a yearning to discover what we could do to achieve optimal health, especially through diet. The “let food be thy medicine” really pulled at me. Although I still believe that ultimately food is the foundation of what ails or heals you, I have found so much more goes into the spectrum of what makes one feel their best and live their best life.
When I think back a couple years ago to what connected me to massage therapy, it was not because I had received a lot of professional massages or knew of someone that was in the profession. It always goes back to something that I am kind of shy to admit. It is simply this: My boyfriend, Kevin, would give me back massages often at night time just because. Sometimes it was because my back hurt but mostly it was because it felt nice. That’s it. One time during a back massage from him, I felt a wave of “Oh My God, This is What I Want To Do! I love getting massages, and I feel so good getting them, I want to give them to other people! I want them to feel what I feel!” is what I was thinking and I knew I wanted to learn more about it. I knew there had to be SO much more to the power of human touch, healing, energy, everything. I feel like the story should be more interesting, but this is truly the point at which I affirmed to myself that I would search for a massage therapy school and enroll.
I started massage therapy school some months later and am in awe at the changes it has made in my life. Both giving and receiving massages has been so beneficial to me mentally, physically, and spiritually. I would love more than anything for more people to practice and receive massages and see how it changes their life, too. I learned in massage school that human touch is #3 on the Hierarchy of Needs. It is so powerful and transformative, on so many levels. It is more than just relief of back pain (although it often excels in this category). It is more than making you feel good that one day. I believe the accumulation of getting regular massages is really, really special. Along with living a healthy lifestyle, it can change your self image, self esteem, and create a harmony in your life if you let it do its magic :)
