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How I Got to Here

  • Writer: Jessica
    Jessica
  • Oct 3, 2021
  • 4 min read

Updated: Jan 25, 2022

Full disclosure: I am a combo of western beliefs and holistic beliefs (further known as oowoo because it's much more fun to say!!).


My journey started in 2012 I had just ended what I thought at the time was a very important relationship, and started working in the office industry. There was a psychic in the oowoo industry making a name for herself, and I was curious to try her out. She said I hated my job and I should become a massage therapist, Very point blank. I felt it was forward, but simultaneously felt that her words of not liking my job were true. I loved the people but working behind a desk 9-5 doing the same monotonous routine just wasn't my jam. So I figured what harm would it do to check out some entry level course. And enrolled in MRUs' massage for beginners.


I attended 2 of the 4 sessions total, and decided from my 2 sessions that yes, this is a path I want to pursue. Not wanting to lose the awesomeness of full time job money, I looked for a quality education part time that allowed me to continue working full time. I found that in MH Vicars, which is still currently one of the top provincial schools to attend in spite of being delivered part time. It was a program that expected you to self study 15-20 hours a week and then teach the major principles and techniques of massage 4 days a month.


Once graduated in 2014, I was asked by a student in a fast track class if I would be interested in taking over her practice. Welcome to my first year of working alongside a chiropractor. I was able to learn some of the basics of k-tape and even little nuances that I still use in my practice today. Such as pain in the lower edge of the shoulder blade that doesn't lessen from treatment is highly likely a diaphragm issue.


In 2015, my practice wasn't thriving as much as I had hoped and considered maybe massage wasn't for me. I tried to get back into office and was having no luck. This was eye opening because work opportunities have always come easy for me. Worn down from trying, I decided to switch clinics. I had such a positive experience booking consistently as a deep tissue female therapist who could work evenings, that I realized... it was not me as a massage therapist, but my role with the chiropractor that was not working. This wholistic center had massage therapists that believed in western (straight up always studying anatomy and pain science), to eastern beliefs (incorporating energy work into their practice), to EFT practitioners, to acupuncturists that were all trying different things. It was so revolutionary and felt like home.


In the midst of this, I was also building a small mobile practice to balance my income. I found this aspect highly attractive because a self-employed individual - I work for myself, I'm sovereign over my finances - even if it meant saving and paying more to taxes. I have complete freedom of my schedule. Which was one of the major attractive points to me as a massage therapist. This continued to grow as I would visit trade shows, try and learn from various marketing techniques on what worked and what retained clients.


Towards the end of 2016, our wholistic clinic had changed ownership and the new owners agenda did not coincide with my goals and plans in life, so I took a risk December 2016 and went fully mobile. I thank myself everyday for taking this gamble as it has rewarded me time and time again.


Today I run a thriving practice where most of my clients are either repeating clients or direct referrals from my repeating clients.


 

Other things that should be of note: I love to learn, and try to incorporate all things I learn into my practice. I do not always completely take on the modality I train in (such a thai yoga massage), however, I always keep a piece of it for my practice.


Courses I have taken are: Introduction to Aromatherapy, Indian Foot Massage, Dynamic Cupping, Traditional and Multi Reflexology, Thai Yoga Massage, and recently RAPID NeuroFascial Reset.


I also take personal interest courses with the intention of integrating them down the road. These courses have included: Intro to Palm reading, Foot reading, and Astrology.


As much as I am curious about the body, I am also curious about the mind and personality of the individual and is a huge driving factor to taking these types of courses as further personal interest. It is my ultimate goal to include personal interest topics into my main lineage of work (massage therapy) to be a really cool wholistic practice. I know... it was repeated in the sentence above.. that's just how strong the desire to integrate would be. But for those looking for a massage. I'll continue to have your back!



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