One of the questions I am asked most often during a massage, and even in casual conversation, is: “How did you get into massage therapy?”
The short answer is that I was practically conceived into the profession.
My mother worked as a cleaning lady at the California College of Physical Arts (CalCOPA), a massage school in Huntington Beach, California. At the time, the school consisted of little more than a single classroom, a Jacuzzi, and a shower. While she was pregnant with me, the school's founder, Roland “Rollie” Clark, even hosted a baby shower for her.
My connection to the massage industry continued throughout my childhood. When I was a toddler, my parents purchased a business in Huntington Beach called Huntington Sans Sauna. This is where some of my earliest memories of massage therapy began.
The spa had two showers, two bathrooms, a dry sauna, and approximately five or six massage rooms. My mother would often take me to work with her. Depending on the circumstances, I would either sit quietly in the lobby while sessions were taking place or stay in one of the back rooms with my toys and coloring books. When I was allowed to sit in the lobby, some of the regular clients became familiar with me.
I especially enjoyed helping with the small details of customer service. I had access to the water cups and would get excited about filling a Dixie cup with water and offering it to clients as they finished their sessions. They always seemed delighted to receive a cup of water from a three-year-old, complete with what I apparently considered professional “service with a smile.”
When I became a young adult, I eventually became my mother's receptionist. She needed someone who spoke English well enough to answer the phones, schedule appointments, and handle the front desk while she and her massage therapists were busy with clients. I did this for several years.
During that time, some of my mother's massage therapists were continuing their education as local laws and ordinances changed. Occasionally, I was asked to serve as a practice client for therapists preparing for their licensing examinations. As I received these practice massages, I found that I genuinely enjoyed the experience. Eventually, I began thinking, “I could do this.”
My mother offered to send me to massage school, and after giving it some thought, I decided to take her up on the offer.
I attended CalCOPA, the same school where my mother had worked years earlier. At the time I began my training, I needed only 200 hours of education to obtain my license. By the time I completed the program, however, the local requirements had changed again, increasing the minimum to 500 hours.
Initially, I was discouraged. I was ready to start earning money, not continue spending it on additional coursework. But the time passed quickly. Before long, I was working as a massage therapist and earning an income. Eventually, I began paying for my own continuing education and made professional development a regular part of my career.
While I was in school, I was told that the average career span for a massage therapist was approximately six years. I have now been practicing massage therapy since 1998.
By the time I was 24, I had even owned a spa. I quickly discovered that I did not particularly enjoy owning a business, but that is another story.
There have been periods when I stepped away from massage therapy because of moving or the need to work in other industries, including retail and real estate. Even during those periods, however, I never stopped considering myself a massage therapist.
Massage therapy has been the profession that has followed me throughout my life. Long before I ever received formal training, I was surrounded by it through my mother, her clients, and the businesses she worked in. In many ways, becoming a massage therapist was not so much a career I discovered as one I eventually realized had been part of my life all along.
