A Comprehensive Guide to Massage and Bodywork Modalities or Styles-Intro

Why the massage guide?

The world of massage therapy and bodywork is vast. When I graduated massage school, I had the thought that I wanted to learn every massage modality out there. I was lucky enough to go to a school that not only had multiple massage modalities in the curriculum, and we also had exposure to the idea that there were at least dozens of other styles of massage to pursue. I felt like our teachers pushed us to explore more. What other kinds of massage are out there?

     After graduation I took a few courses, had a mentor for a couple of years, took more classes. I worked in a variety of settings; airport for chair/feet/table, chain spa, luxury spa, clinic, my own practice, co-op, and corporate. I was an Anatomy & Kinesiology instructor and Clinic Supervisory at a massage school. As of writing this, I'm a week away from going to train to become a judge for the American Massage Championships (AMC).

     Upon graduation, many students in the US wind up working for chains such as Massage Envy (ME), Hand & Stone (H&S), Elements. Many others wind up working for mobile app businesses such as Sooth, Zeel, Big Toe. The thing about most of these is that there's only maybe a dozen different modalities/styles between them and that is most of the massages you will find in the US. Nearly all of those are taught in massage school.

     Most states in the US have continuing education requirements. Unfortunately, due to the current structure most massage employers expect you do only use their protocols. If a massage therapist is in the industry long enough, they're going to need to expand on those more common modalities or styles or learn a wider variety than what is out there.

     So, what happens when they do learn something new? Well, they can't use it at work if the business is strict with their service menu. They'll either rarely if ever use it or they will need to branch out on their own. What if you already want to branch out, but don't really know what's out there? That's what this book is for. I am making it my personal mission to explore the vast and sometimes complex world of massage & bodywork and format it into as comprehensive a compilation as I can manage.

This is going to be a long project.

Want to get involved in creating the massage guide?

Reach out if you would like to collaborate on a topic within your niche. I'm looking for research material, experts to interview, photo and videos related to your massage or bodywork modality.