Posted by Jennifer Shaw on Fri, Apr 30, 2010 @ 10:12 AM
Rachel Doyle, LMT is a graduate of the March '04 (Professional Massage Training for State Licensure, then a 300-hour Program) and Nov '04 (Advanced Clinical Training/Semester 2) programs.
Why were you interested in massage therapy? I had been searching for my professional 'path' for what felt like FOREVER. I had gone to college, changed majors 4 times, dropped out to 'figure out what I wanted' and had never made the time to go back. I was good at my job, but hated it... then my body began to hurt. Doctor after doctor (all out of my own pocket) was unable to diagnose my pain.On the advice of a family friend, I finally saw a massage therapist. He helped to alleviate my pain almost immediately, and saw a structural imbalance that was easily turned around. That got me thinking...
Why did you choose Lauterstein-Conway Massage School? When I finally made the choice to go to massage school, I talked to everyone I could find about where to apply. They ALL said that TLC was the best choice - even the folks who hadn't gone to school there themselves!
What do you do now? (As it relates to regards to massage therapy.) I am a massage therapist at The Watermark Hotel & Spa here in San Antonio. We provide 4-star quality massage and body treatments 365 days a year in a beautiful urban setting.
What was the impact of massage school on your life? Massage school gave me a skill set that I will carry for the rest of my life regardless of how long I earn my living as a massage therapist. Becoming a therapist has given me a different way to approach my world. I feel that I am more thoughtful and more patient, and I would like to think that I am more connected to who I really am and what I have to offer.
What was your favorite massage school class? I really loved massage school in general. That being said, I loved anatomy. I am a serious science dork at heart. Having the knowledge of 'what goes where' in my head really guides my hands. I tend to close my eyes and really visualize my intent as I work. I also truly love Shiatsu. Not only do I dearly love to puuuull on limbs, learning but Shiatsu really solidified then enhanced what I knew about the body. It also took away the fear I had about making true, solid contact with a client's body.
What was hardest about massage school? For me, it was THE NERVOUS SYSTEM! Even today, I have to refer to my notebooks and textbooks if I have a question about nerves. For some reason, I can't get that set of information to stick...
Tell us about your fondest memory or "ah-ha" moment. My favorite memory from school is Blindfold Massage Day. I had sprained my thumb, and was unable to participate, so I was a 'draping monitor'. There were moments of true massage beauty interspersed with moments of absolute hilarity - yet I was unable to make a sound. It was the first time I was able to watch my classmates truly surrender themselves in a session. Amazing.
We want to hear what you think! Feel free to comment about this story in the box below, or share the story of your own massage school experience with fellow massage therpists and future LMTs.
Posted by Jennifer Shaw on Fri, Apr 23, 2010 @ 09:00 AM
Shaken by a Blindfolded Massage and a Trip to the Grocery Store, Part Three
By Hjalmar Perez, January 2010 Intensive Massage School Student (See Part Two.)
Back on to the HEB story: I must confess that I have been to this 'new' HEB five times since the first time and for my benefit (or detriment?), my filters have already started adjusting to the new way things are at this HEB. Before long, the filters will have adapted I am sure I will be able to zip through it in the most efficient way to collect all the products that I know (think) that I need. All along ignoring all the other aisles that I perceive to offer no value to me and challenging me to seek the next new experience that will continue to challenge my 'new' (old?) filters.
This brings me to the blindfolded massage led by Cindy last week. The experience was simply A M A Z I N G. It undoubtedly threw my filters for a spin and gave me the opportunity to explore massage from a different totally perspective. For one thing, I have a new appreciation for bony landmarks! It also allowed me to share with my fellow partner in a different but still very supportive level. The session ended on a high note when my brain made me aware that towards the end, the music playing in the room was no longer the typical music we were accustomed to but instead, it was guitar music. I guess the feeling of newness coming from delivering a blindfolded massage allowed my brain to question whether the music was truly coming from a CD (as it always had been up to now) and made me register that David L. was actually playing for us as we delivered our massages. Great way to cap off a great new experience!
The Takeaway
So, what is the takeaway from all this? Well, as John Schreiber writes on his book "Touching the Mountain", we must continue to "remain a beginner." We must remain open to new input and to seek new opportunities to expose ourselves to new concepts and ideas in order to keep our filters from becoming stale. This applies even as we go through massage therapy school. Maybe it means being open to working with those we are not very comfortable with, or maybe it means asking questions and then truly listening. There is always the possibility that this will help us discover new sources of inspiration and growth that we may not have considered before.
Interested in experiencing massage in an entirely new way? Lauterstein-Conway Massage School is enrolling for two of its upcoming professional massage training classes!
Not to start massage school? Try our new, free Informal Massage Classes.
Posted by Jennifer Shaw on Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 04:00 PM
Shaken by a Blindfolded Massage and a Trip to the Grocery Store
By Hjalmar Perez, January 2010 Intensive Massage School Student
Having listened to David Lauterstein's lecture on the nervous system in Week Nine, my fascination with the role that our brain plays in shaping the world we experience as well as the ideas we generate has been reawakened .
Week 12 presented me with two amazing opportunities to further my exploration on this topic. First, my wife and I completed the move to our new home in the south part of town after over 12 years of living in the north side of Austin. Second, Cindy - our Wednesday instructor - led us through our very first blindfolded massage!
During the weekend leading to this week, I kept telling my wife about how much I was looking forward to the impact that the coming Week 12 would have on my perception of the world. The impact I am referring to was something I was very much looking forward to -- the opportunity to have my "world" shaken... a bit. OK, maybe I am exaggerating... but only a little. Let me take a side step and explain the reason for my excitement:
See, our minds and bodies are constantly being bombarded with tons of information (input). There is just too much for the brain to handle. Our brain's response is thus to create filters that help us to select what information to pay attention to and which one to ignore. The part of the brain responsible for this filtering is the reticular activating (RAS) system. This filtering is necessary so that we do not fall into chaos. It simply brings organization to our lives and allows us to manage our lives.
Sounds great? Well, hold your judgment for a little longer...
To be continued...
To get Parts Two and Three of Hjalmar's article, subscribe to this blog by completing the form in the upper right-hand corner of the Austin Massage Blog page, become our fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter!
To experience massage school for yourself or to refer a friend, contact admissions. We are now enrolling!
Posted by Jennifer Shaw on Thu, Aug 27, 2009 @ 12:57 PM
By Mason Hickman, June 2009 Intensive Program Student
Last week, we worked blindfolded. Though it sounds unusual, the experience was exciting, challenging and engaged us in very new ways.
Massaging blindfolded means both paralysis and empowerment. Without sight, the sense of touch becomes so heightened that at times I forgot, or failed to notice anymore, that I was working blind. But suddenly, I had to reinvent my sources for acquiring information, such as spatial dimensions of the table and area I was working it, the geometry and topography of my subject, and my judgment of time.
Without the compass of sight, the body quickly adjusts, and one's body awareness finds new territories and prioritizes previously ignored actions. For example, the new handicap demanded I become conscious of how big or small my steps are, details that sight took care of. Instead of seeing the range from the malleolus to the greater trochanter, I had to feel it. The once dual and very mutually dependent sensory input systems of sight-touch, which guide us around the body and around the world, had been relegated to touch only.
Without visual evidence to support what I was feeling, or tactile evidence to support what I was seeing, I learned that a piece of information like the distance between the malleolus and the great trochanter is indeed not a single piece of information, but an amalgam data registered by our body-minds via the senses. The amount of data required to make this distance meaningful for the massage therapist is perhaps the same, but without sight, the data was finding new ways into my body-mind, which processed it differently. In this case, I became sensitive to the finest details of my body's positioning in order to gage size and location, and before long, I had acquired a complete and much richer tactile registration of this person's entire body. In fact, I feel I know this persons body better than others I've worked on ten or more times.
It was a fulfilling exercise, and I am eager to try it again soon.
Want to try Blindfold Massage? Want to reacquaint yourself with the experience? Check out TLCschool's massage continuing education course listing for a three-hour Blindfold Massage CE.
Posted by Jennifer Shaw on Fri, Aug 21, 2009 @ 04:30 PM
Blindfold Massage is one of Lauterstein-Conway Massage School students' favorite massage classes. First students review the entire body's major anatomical boney landmarks, then give a full sixty-minute massage session - sightless. Be sure to look for the two students from the March 2009 program who did the whole table set-up blindfolded, too! (That is not a requirement of the class).
Do you find yourself closing your eyes during a massage session?