Only 17 1/2 months to go!
My classes are every other weekend, Friday night and all day Saturday. Friday evening focuses on anatomy and ethics, that sort of thing. All day Saturday is massage technique and PRACTICE!
I like the instructors, who seem very knowledgeable and have a lot of experience. My Saturday teacher has some 2000 hours of training in various modalities but is very focused on clinical massage, which I like because I am more into fixing pain than aligning chakras.
I was exhausted after Saturday but that’s to be expected. I can handle it, I think…the long break between class weekends allows me time to study, take care of kids and house, and confine class hours to the weekends the kids are away.
So…yay! I’m very excited. As long as I can hold the damn finances together…I quit my 2nd job after/during my long sick summer, so I’ll be struggling financially, I’m afraid. I can go back to work if need be, but I’ll try to handle it this way for as long as possible. My kid is doing so much better at school (and in general) now that I don’t have those extra hours away from home. We’ll see.
You… are going to be very popular at parties.
Already I can see my popularity increasing. I wish I had a buck for every “Oh, you can practice on me! Hahaha!” I’ve heard. (Although I’ve also had a few follow up with “…and I’ll PAY you to do it!” That’s nicer.)
And I can already tell that the “happy ending” jokes are just never going to get old.
Congrats, and good luck! I’ve had some great experiences with therapeutic massages.
I had a relative who once gave massages at a fancy hotel. She once gave one to President George Bush 1 (after he left office), Mini-Me, and Paul McCartneys wife. She said the tips can be amazing.
One tip I’ve heard is dont engage in small talk or ask questions of celebrities unless they start them.
Celebrities, hmmm? Never considered that. Although Robby Benson lives here, and John Mellencamp, and probably others I don’t know about.
I’m actually considering (eventually) learning some pet massage techniques. I have someone who pays me $18/hr to hang out with her dog when she has to go out of town for a few hours. I don’t have any trouble believing there are LOTS of people around here who are much like her, who would pay a hefty fee for someone to give their dogs a nice massage.
I should add that my relaitve is Swedish and that helps because many people prefer Europeans.
Maybe Asians.
I was an anatomy instructor at a massage therapy school in the early 90’s.
Right there, I can tell you would have been one of my favorite students. The more woo a student espoused, the more unrealistic their business plans for post-graduation tended to be FWIW. My more successful students tended to land jobs working for spas or chiropractors rather than being self-employed.
I’m curious about this, if you don’t mind my asking. Massage therapy is a practice which seems almost unique in that it’s divided into what I’ll call “legitimate” practitioners and …er… “less than completely legitimate” practitioners, with the defining characteristic for the latter being the offering of sexually-related acts as part (or instead of) the actual massage.
Does being mistaken for the latter concern you? I don’t mean as a general principle – I mean as you picture yourself actually working, does the prospect of being propositioned for sexual services worry you?
It’s a bit of a concern in that I want to be able to handle it properly. The instructors are already addressing the topic, and have promised us extensive conversations in ethics and boundaries. I particularly like the hands-on instructor because she is so matter of fact: “…and when he turns over on the table and if he has an erection, just pull the drape up like this so you aren’t staring at it and neither is he…” and has also shared a few strategies on dealing with the issue should it continue/worsen.
Mostly, I think men who are familiar with me think it’s funny and like to joke about it. It would take a lot more guts for a guy to actually act on it in private when he’s on someone’s professional territory, I think…but that certainly doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen so I’ll try to be prepared.
I lost my reply to Scumpup.
Thank you…I have to be careful in class because a couple of the students are very into energy work. And I suppose that if someone feels better after having their chakras aligned (or whatever it is you do with chakras) or has a reiki session or whatever, that’s all good. I’m a strong believer in the power of placebo and belief and am certainly not above using good vibes in the right venue.
But I also know that when I have a headache or a backache, the last thing I’m worried about is whether my energy meridians are in need of adjustment. I want someone to dig in and loosen me up.
I’m also skeptical because once in a sort of fly-by-night massage therapy school, the teacher told me I do “amazing energy work!” and I truly had NO idea what she even meant by that.
It meant she thought she might lose you as a student and was trying to massage your ego.
Probably. She was ready to put us on the floor (after 3 months of centering ourselves and talking about energy) doing “clinicals” before we had even so much as learned how to drape a client. “Oh, you have to develop your own technique” was the excuse. I bailed before I could hurt someone.
You’ll get a lot fewer creepy clients if you find work in a spa, gym, or similar milieu. The number of creepy encounters skyrockets if your business model includes making housecalls at the homes of clients. Although some therapists of my acquaintance still offer that option, they are the same therapists who have the larger number of icky stories. The ones who have the smallest number, nearlyzero, are the ones working at airports and malls where they_in full public view_supply neck and shoulder massages to fully clothed clients.
This seems like an awesome type of job, too. You can invest in one of those portable massage chairs, find a place to set up that doesn’t charge you too much rent, and charge your customers ~$1 per minute. I’m not the entrepreneurial sort, but this doesn’t sound too difficult as far as business models go.
There are a lot of local businesses who do or would be willing to do this…have someone come in with a table or a chair and do massages.
I don’t think I’d do home visits unless it was someone I know personally, and have enough background and history to know all is on the up and up.
I have a vague plan but we’ll see how things evolve.
As for me, I’m sorry I dont think I could be naked with an attractive woman touching me and not get turned on.
Once I had a coupon for a free massage and turned it down.
Spa treatments are really becoming a thing though now. Women especially if it combines getting their hair and nails done.
A good massage is not all gentle and pleasant. Therapeutic massage is more like being beaten with a stick for your own good. And why would you assume that a Massage Therapist is attractive, or even female? And why would you assume you have to be naked? None if these things are universally true.
Oh, I’m not attractive. No problem there. 
Getting turned on isn’t the issue, though. I don’t think erections can be controlled any more than, say, goosebumps. It’s just a thing. The expectation on my end, though, is that my client not feel like he has a right to be sexual with me just because he gets it up. Such things can be ignored for the safety and comfort of us both.
I do find massage, even a deep tissue massage…oh, maybe not gentle, but definitely enjoyable. But not in a sexual way at all.
You could try a chair massage and see how that goes.
The major drawback of being an instructor was that there was an expectation that we would help the students work on their technique by allowing them to practice on us while we offered feedback. I’ve never particularly enjoyed receiving a massage even when it is competently done. There were times I had to politely tell some of my students to stop what they were doing before they injured me. Roughness and clumsiness do not link in any way to the sex of the therapist, in my experience. My most skillful student was a female, but so was “The Mangler.”