A minimum required standard to obtain a massage license is quite a different matter from a voluntary certification evidencing higher-level skills. Licensing standards should be set at a level sufficient to assure safe practice, but low enough to avoid screening out those individuals who choose to perform basic work

Massage's history is rooted in technique and body knowledge, but is also about heart, healing intention and connection between therapist and client. A tension - sometimes constructive, other times uncomfortable - has been prevalent in the field between one impulse toward structure and recognition and another toward freedom and flexibility to be responsive to individual circumstances

You should watch what you say to people.

When life caves in, you do not need reasons -- you need comfort. You do not need some answers -- you need someone. And Jesus does not come to us with an explanation -- He comes to us with His presence.

The single largest frustration in the massage field is the waste of resources and training resulting from high attrition among those who start practicing massage therapy. While some affected individuals may have made an ill-suited vocational choice and others underestimated the profession's physical demands, most appear to stumble in assembling the self-confidence and persistent salesmanship necessary to develop a professional practice

Experiencing a massage therapy session is its own best advertisement for changing perceptions. A recent national consumer survey found Americans had overwhelmingly positive feelings about their massage experience. Ninety-four percent express favorable feelings. Fully 85 percent expressed very favorable feelings about their most recent massage, with 37 percent rating it a perfect ten-out-of-ten. What is striking is that there are very few detractors. Most of those who haven't yet received a massage simply haven't felt a need for it

A minimum required standard to obtain a massage license is quite a different matter from a voluntary certification evidencing higher-level skills. Licensing standards should be set at a level sufficient to assure safe practice, but low enough to avoid screening out those individuals who choose to perform basic work