Massage Therapy School

Behind the scenes: What it’s really like to be a massage therapist

Becca C., who lives and works in Richmond, Virginia, loves her job. She has a flexible schedule, gets to work with all sorts of people and makes great money. But it wasn’t always this way. She used to have a stressful job in news that kept her working late nearly every night and didn’t pay well. So what changed? Becca went to massage therapy school.

Becca C. says she first got the idea to become a massage therapist when she ran across an ad in the paper. She wanted a less stressful career in a fun environment that would eventually allow her to work for herself. She decided to call up her local massage therapy school and ask a few questions. She was looking for classes that would allow her to keep her full-time job while she went to school. Like many adults, Becca needed a flexible class schedule. The school she spoke with seemed to fit her needs perfectly, and after she took a tour she decided to enroll in massage therapy school.

We sat down with Becca C. for a one-on-one discussion to learn more about what going to massage therapy school is really like.

What subjects did you study in massage therapy school?

Becca: I took a number of different classes, from the history of massage to anatomy. I had to take pathology classes, a medical terminology class and even a business class.

Why so many medical classes?

Becca: It’s very important that you learn the body from head to toe. You’ll be working on all sorts of people who may have serious medical conditions and you’ll need to know what could be potentially harmful. Massage therapy can be dangerous if done incorrectly or on the wrong person.

How much of massage therapy school was hands on?

Becca: It was a pretty even mix. Some of the classes I took were hands-on massage classes. In them I would learn more about the different types of massage – like deep tissue massage, aromatherapy massage and hot stone massage. Then we’d learn how to do them properly. We also had to practice massage outside of class. The more you practice, the better you get.

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