About Michael Expertise I have been a professional massage therapist since 1986 and a Reiki II practitioner since 1998. I am providing massage services to spas in the Palm Springs, CA area and to private clientele daily. My specialties are Swedish massage, Deep Tissue, Lymph Drainage massage, Therapeutic massage, Reflexology and Reiki energy balancing. I will provide opinions and suggestions in response to questions, but I will not diagnose any conditions. Thank you for considering me as an expert in my field for your situation. BTW, as of June 1, 2006, I am celebrating 20 years in the massage therapy field.
Experience B.A. from San Francisco State University, Massage Certification from National Holistic Institute, Emeryville, CA, updated training from Alexandria School of Scientific Therapeutics, Alexandria, IN. Also member in good standing of AMTA.
Question I am 60 years old lady from India.I wish to study massage Thyrapy and practice once I am fully trained on this subject. I am slightly overweight and get exhausted after working for sometime.
What is your advice to me?
Answer Thank you for your question, Geeta. This is probably one of the easiest questions I have received in a long time.
In my opinion, there is only one factor that you need to consider BEFORE starting a massage therapy course: Can you afford the overall COST of the course in case, in the long run, you decide that it does NOT work for you? It will probably run you at least $5,000 to accumulate at least 500 classroom hours.
Your age should not be a major consideration in taking a course, unless you have some physical disabilities which would not permit you doing the physical moves required. Also, if you are easily intimidated by other more youthful fellow students, you would need to be prepared to overcome that during classes.
Otherwise, just as with any other physical activity at first, you will need to start out slow and your conditioning, strength, and experience will follow. Your intuition and common sense will ultimately be your guides as to whether or not you have chosen the correct field for yourself.
