Adrian School of Massage

    I am, sadly, like the majority of the population; I can appreciate the beauty in others in all of their forms while finding nothing but flaws in my own body. I have always struggled with my weight, I have varicose veins, polycystic ovarian syndrome has left me with a plethora of embarrassing symptoms and now, two babies later and just weeks away from turning 30, things are already not where they used to be!     Despite my own body constantly letting me down, I have always been interested in the human body. How is'ts put together and functions. While I had an amazing biology and anatomy teacher in high school that ignited that initial fire, obviously the anatomy and physiology course in massage school is much more in depth. We have been working our way through the levels of organization from chemical and cellular to tissues and membranes. The integumentary system, skeletal, muscular, nervous and endocrine systems just to name a few.     If you take eve...

    Sometimes referred to as therapeutic or relaxation massage, Swedish massage is defined  as : Classical Western massage, generally performed in the direction of the heart. Sometimes with active or passage movement of the joints. It is used especially for relaxation, relief of muscular tension and improvement of circulation and range of motio n.     Through out our education at the Adrian School of Massage we will learn many different techniques, Swedish is where we are beginning. Our instructor is the adorable Erica Jackowski. She is a big personality in a tiny package and SO much fun. She leads our hands on classes. As mentioned before, our classmates are our guinea pigs. You partner up and half of the class is spent with you practicing the new strokes and the other half is spent on the table receiving. Not a bad gig folks. To make it even better, you occasionally will be the demo body and Erica herself with work her magic on you in demonstration. **pi...

    Ok, we have already learned that in my personal journey I am a mom about to turn 30 and like  82% of massage therapists  this will be my "second career". So like many of my classmates I work all day, keep up my wife and mom duties and just added student to my to-do list. I knew it would be hectic at times but I thankful have a wonderful support system and always try to plan ahead.    Well two months into school it happened....my son had some medical issues pop up and he needed him mommy. He didn't know or care that I had a test that week. Honestly I didn't either at that point. I had to miss my first class. I stayed in contact with the instructor and she not only was very understanding she asked if there was anything they could do to help, offering to bring meals to our home knowing my full attention was now on my son. This is the family feeling I'm talking about people. I can't think of one instructor during my time at university that would have made ...

    Long before my first day at massage school, I gave my first massage. I was probably 7 or 8 years old and whether my mom was just feeding my ego or being genuine (I guess we will never know ;-) she led me to believe I had just given her the best massage of her life. Through the years I would rub my moms shoulders or head if she had a headache, other family and friends, my boyfriends shoulders, classmates during sporting events while assisting our athletic trainer, eventually 8-10 minutes of massage on patients at the physical therapy office I worked at. I was often complimented on my gift of finding knots and digging them out. The problem was after that 10 minutes my thumbs were wrecked! I would then have to massage my own hands to relieve the ache and I remember that was the first time I thought, "How in the world do massage therapists do and hour or more at a time and multiple times a day?"     Let me tell you a secret, massage therapists will rarely touch you ...

    While many people have rubbed a loved ones feet or shoulders at some point, learning massage therapy is a process and we have a lot to learn . With that being said, guess who the guinea pigs are gonna be....your classmates! You know, the people you just met a week ago.    In most classes or even meetings and conferences,, you play ice breaker games. Massage school was no different. What is different is you don't usually spend the next class putting your hands on your almost naked classmate. As a massage therapist this will be a part of your practice, being comfortable and confident with the human body in all of its forms. Putting my hands on a new body isn't uncomfortable for me. However, letting someone I've just met put their hands on me, is a different story.     This did provide a nice opportunity though to get into the clients perspective. While many of our clients (especially in the beginning of our career) will be friends and family supporting ...

    I always made good grades all through high school and college. I work hard, do the home work, and take extra credit opportunities, but I have never been a good test taker. I get test anxiety and this first test for massage school is no exception. I have to say, massage therapists are required to know much more than I feel the general population gives them credit for.     We have had the opportunity to spend time with the class that began 5 months ahead of us and they have kindly suggested/warned how much information we will learn and be tested on in the coming months. To be honest they scared the heck out of me! How could someone so sweet and as kind as Christy be so devious during test writing ;-) I joke of course. I'm aware that giving us this information and expecting us to retain it is in our best interest for lincensure and our future careers. As we are often reminded by our loving instructor, "it is all done in SO much love"     The class before...

You all remember all the way back to elementary school when we learned about the five W's          * Who          * What          * Where          * When          * Why     Have you also noticed that the five W's followed us all the way through middle school, high school and into college. A lot of assignments needed us to answer these important questions. Massage school is no different. The first thing we need to do is learn the history of the industry and the important people who paved the way for therapeutic massage and the industry as we know it today. SUPER EXCITING right? I know what you're thinking, I was thinking the same thing. Great, a bunch of names and dates we have to memorize and never use again. Well I'm here to tell you, it actually is REALLY cool! I was genuinely excited and intrigued by the history of massage. I wont give it all aw...