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Are you feeling stuck in your current job or your current career and looking for a change? Maybe you're interested in the wellness industry.... well stick around and I will tell you all about the massage therapy profession and why it may be right for you.

 we can discuss some of the benefits of becoming a massage therapist and help you try and figure out could it be the right profession for you.

 well it's one of the best Healing Arts and helping Arts it's a helping profession for sure and you really are helping people on a much deeper level than so many other helping jobs or helping careers um you know no one's more hands on the body than we are and we know the wellness profession whole is really growing and booming so when we teach you massage therapy when you learn massage therapy skills techniques modalities and all about the profession you really can have an impact on a client's Wellness you can help bring them to Wellness and then help them maintain their Wellness you can help them recover from injury illness surgery cancer just to name a few you can help set them up to receive the benefits of surgery more easily and heal more quickly as one benefit of becoming a massage therapist there really is nobody more hands on the body than massage therapists are in our profession you can have a tremendously flexible work schedule you can design the work life balance that you need for the life that you have outside of work right after all we're all working so we can support ourselves to have the life and the lifestyle that we'd like when we're not working you know consider massage therapy I know for the most part it is a physical position for sure it is a physical job there are some physical demands but if you're taught correctly if you're taught good body mechanics if you are taught how you are really driving every treatment from your core and it's less about the hands a lot of people ask don't your hands get tired no your hands don't get tired if you're taught properly how to provide the best possible best quality service to the client using your core strength and your body mechanics to deliver the healing that we are delivering um there are licensing requirements no doubt the state of New Jersey is one of 44 or 45 states in the United States that do require a license to practice massage therapy so the licensing requirements are a minimum of 18 years of age to enter a certification program a minimum training of 500 hours of Education including 100 student clinic hours that are supposed to be supervised by a member of the staff of the school that you attend um the other licensing requirements are that you have to have a high school diploma or a GED in order to enter the program uh to become certified and then you do need to sit for the state licensing exam which is called the M blex similar to the nurse's licensing exam called the NCLEX so you do need to sit for that exam and a good massage and body work training program will train you really well so that you're able to pass that test and and then you apply for licensing so you do need to pass the emblex to get your license as a massage and Bodywork therapist um you know in order to maintain your license you need continuing education credits and that the requirement in New Jersey is 20 hours of continuing education every two years at this juncture 14 of those need to be live in person classes six can be taken online and three of those need to be ethics and the law of New Jersey so that you can maintain your license every two years um in November of the even years is the renewal period in New Jersey um you know what are some of the personal attributes to be successful for massage career well number one you have to really love working with people you have to really have it in your heart that you want to help people and um come from the intention of uh being a healing artist that's what I call us I say that we're healing artists and I love that and um most people that hear me say that feel the same way we do help people heal and we help them maintain their wellness and it's a beautiful thing you know you are working a limited number of hours Hands-On during the week it's not a 50 or 60 hour a week job like a corporate job would be or like retail work would be um you it's not sustainable we recommend um you know 25 massages a week is a good amount of services if you want to work full-time and that means 32 roughly about 32 scheduled hours on the clock a week for your clients that's about a good number of hours of sustainability for long-term sustainability of the career more than that you might burn out sooner and have a shorter lived career just like if you don't learn good body mechanics or apply what you learned in terms of body mechanics then you may not have as long a career so if you hear somebody that said oh I was a massage therapist you know for a year or two but it I I got hurt they likely were not taught or did not apply the proper body mechanics to sustain this career I know many many people who have been in this profession for many many years 25 30 years or longer and it is sustainable providing you use the proper body mechanics and the tools at your disposal to make your job easier you know there are so many different modalities of massage to choose from most massage therapists can get pretty good at doing maybe about six unless they're truly becoming Specialists like an MLD manual lymphatic drainage Specialist or maybe they become a craniosacral Specialists those are Specialties that some therapists will choose and then just do those uh individual modalities or things like Thai massage I know therapists that specialize in Thai massage that are also yoga teachers and it Blends really well with their teaching yoga so you can choose one path one modality to focus on or you can get really good at about six that you can maintain your educational requirements for um in terms of the steps that you would need to you know enroll in a massage career well explore definitely go and meet and visit some massage schools um and really investigate do they have a thorough program do they have a program that is teaching you Anatomy physiology pathology Kinesiology the theory and practice of Massage Therapy business ethics the law Career Development those are all critical to an entry-level massage therapist and the mlx the state licensing exam actually has percentage requirements of what should be taught in each of those subjects so be sure that the school that you're checking out complies with that you know massage therapists are empaths you know they're people who really love helping people and if that's your calling you know and you're being called to become a massage therapist maybe it's time for you to explore that how do you get started well research the schools that are available um you know and it doesn't have to be just in your neighborhood some of the best schools might be an hour distance from your home that's okay get the best education uh I know one of the things that we hear at our program from employers that hire our graduates is that our graduates are the most well trained most well-rounded most professional and don't need to be retaught anything they're ready to hit the ground running when they are hired and they build full books of business within a two or three short months of working at their new employer once they're licensed so we hear the opposite you know too and so just be cautious and careful about the schools that you're checking out look at you know look at the costs look at the curriculum look at the financial assistance that's available and there's so much financial assistance available these days that you could potentially enroll in a massage school and not have to pay any out of pocket and not necessarily have to apply for federal financial aid either and I know with our program there's so much money available from so many different sources that um you know it's not a necessity to be part of the title IV funding act and to offer federal financial aid because there's so many other options available so check those out as well um so if you're really thinking about massage therapy as a career and trying to decide if it's right for you you know uh we've had so many students over the years ranging from 18 to 65 enter our program and some of the 18 year olds who really didn't want a four-year college education or even a two-year college education um have gone on to put themselves through a four-year college education with their earnings as a massage therapist they didn't even have to take out a student loan they were able to finance their four-year college degrees while working as a massage therapist and some of those have even gone on to become physical therapists occupational therapists chiropractors acupuncturists so it could be a springboard to some of those other Healing Arts that maybe you have an idea that you want to go in that direction and you really don't want to go through that schooling yet this might inspire you to do that we've had massage therapists who have been personal trainers who wanted to add massage therapy to that we've had students who were yoga teachers who wanted to add massage therapy to what they were offering um you know life coaches uh nurses for instance people who wanted to leave retail after long you know long long hours for many years cutting their hours in half and doubling their income you know the income potential it is quite good you could work as little as you want and earn a part-time income or you could work full-time and as I said that's 25 to 30 hours of massage a week and we know many many many therapists that are earning 60 75 000 a year and a few who are earning above that because they are considered the best and they provide the best services and a variety of services so you can earn a lot of money you can work as little as you want or you can work a full-time career and what's really wonderful about our profession these days is that if you work full time for the franchises or massage envies and our hand in Stones there are a lot of health insurance benefits and other benefits that are offered to full-time massage therapists and in some cases they're paying for your license renewal in some cases they are paying for your continuing education classes they may be paying for your CPR renewal yes we need to be CPR certified um they're offering bonuses and upgrades and um you know or bonuses for upgrades I should say and your earnings potential is quite good um you can earn a really competitive lucrative living as a massage therapist um you know take the time to really look at your own personal strengths are you a compassionate person are you somebody who loves to work with people this is a job that's a quiet job it's a peaceful job it's a very Zen job you're in a 10 by 12 room with one other individual and it really is a body mind and soul connection and you're working to help work out the issues in their tissues and help them get to Wellness and maintain their Wellness so it really is very rewarding when that client comes out of the room and is thanking you profusely for how great they feel and they feel great for a week afterwards and thanking you profusely and they're rebooking to repeatedly come to you so that you can help them maintain their wellness it's a very rewarding career both on a heart and soul level as well as Financial so consider massage therapy you know if you have questions definitely reach out we're here to help guide you towards a career in massage therapy the profession is booming there are not enough massage therapists for the number of jobs that are available in New Jersey and throughout the country it's really the case in almost every state so feel free to like you know this video to subscribe to our YouTube channel to continue to watch more videos on more information about massage therapy massage therapy as a profession and whether it's right for you we're here to help guide you in that direction and we wish you the best in deciding if you want to answer the calling to be a massage therapist"