HOW I CAME TO BE AN LMT – Rachel Joyce

Massage therapists often find their way into the profession through personal experiences as clients…healing, learning, inspirational experiences. Here is an interesting story from an Oregon School of Massage (OSM) graduate who has been successfully practicing for over two years and, unfortunately, may need to limit her practice.

_____

BECOMING A MASSAGE THERAPIST
By Rachel Joyce

Slick Anchorage streets and cell phone preoccupation
About eight years ago a man – a very busy man – smashed into my car while I was driving through an intersection one afternoon. He was so busy using his cell phone, he didn’t notice his traffic light was red. He didn’t notice I was in front of him.

Thanks to the snowy winters in Anchorage, Alaska, my car spun and slid into a snow bank, rather than being flipped and squashed on hard pavement. Lucky for me, I found something life-changing: massage therapy.

Up until that week, I thought chiropractors were hacks. Yes, hacks. In my ignorant opinion, I thought they practiced pseudo-medicine and once you had your back cracked, you’d have to get it cracked for ever. Once you start, you can never go back…that sort of thing. Once the symptoms of whiplash set in, my boss (at the time) tried to convinced me to see her chiropractor. Ugh!  I gave as many excuses as I could muster on the spot, but agreed to go.  Her chiropractor was fantastic, I soon realized. But what was even better? The in-house massage therapist.

Massage, a new experience
This massage therapist knew exactly how to handle me. I’d never had a massage before and I didn’t really want one. I had no idea if I needed to take all my clothes off, if there would be chanting and incense, or if I’d be left uncovered and naked on the table. At that point in my life, I still considered touch a sexual experience. I was scared. And Molly – that was her name – knew what to do.

Molly’s intake was thorough but friendly. I was immediately put to ease by her laid-back attitude and respect for my very obvious discomfort in the situation. Once I got on the table, I fell in love with massage. Within the first five minutes I was already thinking I could do this!. It seemed like the best possible career — so much better than my paralegal job. Molly helped people feel better. She helped people in pain. What an amazing contrast it seemed to my job, where people equated my voice at the other end of the phone to huge amounts of money they’d never see again.

A career for me?
Over the next few months I saw Molly weekly and at every appointment I questioned her incessantly. I wanted to know everything: from what the classes were like in massage school to what the most rewarding part of her job was. Her answer to the last question was “I love helping people improve their quality of life”. Yes. I knew I wanted that job.

From Alaska to Oregon
Two years later, I packed up my repaired car and drove to Portland, Oregon. Massage therapy was still on my radar, but as far as massage schools go, there wasn’t much to pick from in Anchorage. I researched massage schools in Portland and knew, when the time was right, I would find a school I’d love. And I did.

Massage as a business
Soon after getting a license to practice massage, I started my own business. Most business advisors would recommend having a solid business plan in place. A business plan? Yeah right! I knew from the first day of massage school I wanted to be my own boss. But I had no idea what type of massage I wanted to do or who I wanted to to work with. I just had to help people.

So my business began. Thankfully, massage is somewhat forgiving in that I was able to experiment with ideas without fully committing. I tried different modalities, like hot stone and shiatsu. I tried outcall and chair massage, but none of it clicked. In addition to my own practice, I worked for a chiropractor who sent me client after client with injuries from car accidents. Suddenly, my schedule quickly filled up weeks in advance and I realized I’d settled into my “thing”. I’d finally found what I loved about massage: helping people with injuries.

These days I run my own business full-time. I get to pick the type of work I do and most of it is injury work with clients who are in a lot of pain every day. Clients who are a lot like I was, back in the beginning, when pain made me seek out something new – something frightening. Despite the long hours, the endless obsession with marketing ideas and Friday nights spent washing sheets, it is the most rewarding career choice I’ve ever made. I spend my days helping people improve their quality of life.

 

Comment  from OSM
Due to a shoulder injury, Rachel finds she may need to limit her involvement in a  practice; hence, she is also developing one of her other passions…writing. She has always been interested in writing and enjoyed doing the copy for her website and other marketing. She loves engaging entrepreneurs about what they do and envisions writing for other practitioners and even other businesses. As an example of both her massage  work and her writing visit her website: http://www.twmassagebeaverton.com

Rachel says she will in a month or two have another story for us about this new career…how she builds on her massage practice experience and the services she might offer LMT’s.