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What Did You Do Before Massage?
I know, I'm nosey. I was a travel writer.
For six years, I got to travel to Bed & Breakfasts and get massages, all for free, and write about it. So my roots are in traveling, meeting people and hearing their stories. Now I travel around and do The World Massage Festival & Massage Therapy Hall of Fame.
I found the adjustment to a single location massage establishment, inside a strip mall, very confining. So I started a way to stay "in the massage world and travel!" But that is another story!
What's your story? What did you do before massage? Tell us of your travels and what massage is like where you are, especially if you massage outside the U.S. We really like pictures, if possible.
If you get bored come see me at my page http://www.massageprofessionals.com/profile/MikeHinkle
Thanks and welcome to Massage Professionals!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Hinkle on
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Sounds like you are taking time to really enjoy life. I hope you make it to Festival someday! Have fun!!!
Gloria Nash said:I travel constantly myself...but am finding it annoying and tiring as my daughter (now 3 1/2) is getting older. While it is still great that I have clients in Alaska, Illinois, Connecticut and Vermont...I am glad to be focusing on building my clientele here in my (semi perminent) home in Brattleboro VT.
I was traveling all over the US and lived in a van with fuzzy orange carpeting while on the road and the woods all other times, selling jewelry, clothing and hand bags. It was great! I also started selling things at music festivals...and still do! Anyone interested in a big wonderful hand made custom Hula Hoop?
However, I wanted to do something more for myself and for others. I was always interested in energy healing and so I explored Reiki and Barbra Brennans School of Healing before actually attending a formal massage school. Once I got into my massage school, I began exploring all the different modalities and also became a certified Yoga Teacher.
Now I am coming full circle back into my playful nature and am balancing a holistic approach to healing the mind body and spirit with Circus Arts. I have taken 2 levels of Circus Yoga Trainings, and am now enrolled in the New England Center for Cirucs Arts to work on learning aerial fabric.
Ive always thought it tremendously important to "live the life you love"
*Bless~
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Glad you're here, Kris!
Kris Kelley said:Greetings!
I was GM of Short Line Gaming and Short Line Express Markets.
The gaming company was a slot route company. (We're the ones that run all over town collecting money and fixing the slot machines.)
The markets are a convenience store chain, 12 strong.
So, I guess one can say that I carried a lot of money and sold slurpee's!
Kris
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Permalink Reply by Joseph Matties on
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I work for an engineering company as a piping designer. Go to school part time right now to be a massage therapist. I find what I do for work right now isn't very rewarding. I like seeing people happy and massage is awesome. I can't wait to get my liciens.
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Permalink Reply by Dayna Davis on
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Wow it's amazing the different professions. For me I am a student but I am about to graduate February 6, 2010. I was in the Army for 10 years and then I worked as a government contractor as a helicopter mechanic/crewchief. I miss it sometimes but I got married and had a child and I'm not going to leave my boy to go fight in a war. Especially because my husband is still in the service. Before I started school I always would go and get massages, and then one day I asked about the massage profession. Long story short, I liked what I heard and now I'm almost there. One good thing about working as a mechanic you get good with your hands so the transition to massage wasn't as hard as I thought it would be lol.
Dayna
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Permalink Reply by Travis Alligood on
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Dayna,
Being in the military, did you ever feel to relaxed to be able perform whatever came your way militarily. When I was starting out at the YMCA (less than a year ago) A wife of a military personnell tried to get her husband to get a chair massage , he refused, I felt like he would not recieve because of military performance being to relaxed that was the feeling I got. Because he was getting ready for a TOUR OF DUTY. AND BY THE WAY THANK-YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.And if there are any other military personnel out there reading this Thank you as well. Peace Travis
Dayna Davis said:Wow it's amazing the different professions. For me I am a student but I am about to graduate February 6, 2010. I was in the Army for 10 years and then I worked as a government contractor as a helicopter mechanic/crewchief. I miss it sometimes but I got married and had a child and I'm not going to leave my boy to go fight in a war. Especially because my husband is still in the service. Before I started school I always would go and get massages, and then one day I asked about the massage profession. Long story short, I liked what I heard and now I'm almost there. One good thing about working as a mechanic you get good with your hands so the transition to massage wasn't as hard as I thought it would be lol.
Dayna
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Joseph,
Keep at it and if you need help, just holler!
Joseph Matties said:I work for an engineering company as a piping designer. Go to school part time right now to be a massage therapist. I find what I do for work right now isn't very rewarding. I like seeing people happy and massage is awesome. I can't wait to get my liciens.
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Dayna,
We thank you for your service and welcome you to a less stressful life. It may not seem like it until you have that license in your hand, but I promise it is coming. If you need any help along the way, just let us know!
Travis Alligood said:Dayna,
Being in the military, did you ever feel to relaxed to be able perform whatever came your way militarily. When I was starting out at the YMCA (less than a year ago) A wife of a military personnell tried to get her husband to get a chair massage , he refused, I felt like he would not recieve because of military performance being to relaxed that was the feeling I got. Because he was getting ready for a TOUR OF DUTY. AND BY THE WAY THANK-YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.And if there are any other military personnel out there reading this Thank you as well. Peace Travis
Dayna Davis said:Wow it's amazing the different professions. For me I am a student but I am about to graduate February 6, 2010. I was in the Army for 10 years and then I worked as a government contractor as a helicopter mechanic/crewchief. I miss it sometimes but I got married and had a child and I'm not going to leave my boy to go fight in a war. Especially because my husband is still in the service. Before I started school I always would go and get massages, and then one day I asked about the massage profession. Long story short, I liked what I heard and now I'm almost there. One good thing about working as a mechanic you get good with your hands so the transition to massage wasn't as hard as I thought it would be lol.
Dayna
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Sounds very ambitious! Let us know how we can help!
David J Otto said:In my former life, I was also a workaholic, but in middle management for an international bank - I gave it up to move to Vegas where the bank had no offices, then was in middle management for a furniture rental chain, and then, while in massage school, a car rental company. On graduation day, I became another kind of workaholic: a massage therapist working toward independent status. 8+ years strong and (thankfully!) still working....
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Permalink Reply by Cherie Dreier on
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Prior to and during my massage career I worked in the credit department for a heavy equipment dealer, then was the controller at another heavy equipment dealer. I have been a massage therapist since 2004, mostly part time, but I took a year off from my work to do it full time. I decided that I wanted to get out of the corporate world and get back into massage full time in some capacity. I was then offered a position at a massage school as an educator, and I took it!
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The reason I got massages is because the job I had as a crewchief was kinda stressful. My job entailed making sure my aircraft was flyable and I also flew as part of the crew, so my ducks had to be in a row. However, I also made sure the pilots up front didn't do anything stupid like turn off the wrong engine if one went hay-wire in flight (almost happened once). With the job I had I usually encountered new situations everyday but I usually had fantastic people to rely on for guidance (Louisiana National Guard).
As far as the gentlemen fixing to go to war I can't say for sure, there may have been many factors involved with his refusal. He might have been so torked up to go to war he didn't want to take time away from the people who mattered the most, maybe he had stuff to do at home. Maybe he didn't want a massage lol. I know my husband was a bear before he went to Iraq but I understood the stress he was going through. Thanks Dayna
Travis Alligood said:Dayna,
Being in the military, did you ever feel to relaxed to be able perform whatever came your way militarily. When I was starting out at the YMCA (less than a year ago) A wife of a military personnell tried to get her husband to get a chair massage , he refused, I felt like he would not recieve because of military performance being to relaxed that was the feeling I got. Because he was getting ready for a TOUR OF DUTY. AND BY THE WAY THANK-YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.And if there are any other military personnel out there reading this Thank you as well. Peace Travis
Dayna Davis said:Wow it's amazing the different professions. For me I am a student but I am about to graduate February 6, 2010. I was in the Army for 10 years and then I worked as a government contractor as a helicopter mechanic/crewchief. I miss it sometimes but I got married and had a child and I'm not going to leave my boy to go fight in a war. Especially because my husband is still in the service. Before I started school I always would go and get massages, and then one day I asked about the massage profession. Long story short, I liked what I heard and now I'm almost there. One good thing about working as a mechanic you get good with your hands so the transition to massage wasn't as hard as I thought it would be lol.
Dayna
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You are building a solid background. So glad you are with us!
Cherie Dreier said:Prior to and during my massage career I worked in the credit department for a heavy equipment dealer, then was the controller at another heavy equipment dealer. I have been a massage therapist since 2004, mostly part time, but I took a year off from my work to do it full time. I decided that I wanted to get out of the corporate world and get back into massage full time in some capacity. I was then offered a position at a massage school as an educator, and I took it!
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Nehman on
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B.C. (before children), I was a research biologist working on the microscopic level of dis-ease. My 3 year old son led me to massage therapy after contracting Bells Palsy while the family was living in Ascunsion, Paraguay. When local doctors had nothing to offer the healing process, we followed a referral to a massage therapist from Canada who was working in Paraguay. I decided to take the course she was teaching to recruit workers for her successful clinic. I found that I much preferred working with people than with laboratory specimens. After that, the yellow brick road led me to M.T. certification back in the U.S., my first job in the Cooper Aerobic Center in Dallas, and to The Trager Approach (R) to mindbody integration which has been the hub of my wheel since 1982. Since then, I have become a tutor and Sr. practitioner for The Trager Institute. Reiki, reflexology, and physiosynthesis (core muscle strength and postural alignment) inform my work. The joy and awareness I feel in practicing The Trager Approach has influenced my other interests in life.
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