If you want to know How To Be A Massage Therapist, say no further, this article is for you.
There are steps and actions needed to carry out before attaining a profession, so is the career of becoming a massage therapist.
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Overview of How To Be A Massage Therapist
A massage therapist is interested in keeping clients relaxed and free from physical stress, and sometimes, emotional stress by skillfully applying pressure on the muscles and relaxing tension.
It is the job of the massage therapists to ease clients’ stress, make them feel relaxed, and make their emotions stable; all these are done skillfully through the application of pressure of the human body.
As long as people go about the hustle-bustle of the day and engage in various physical activities, a massage therapist will always be needed. What qualifies one as a massage therapist is the end result of healing, relaxed tension, and sometimes, happiness from the clients.
Guidelines on How To Be A Massage Therapist
The following are guidelines to journey you into becoming a professional Therapist:
Passion:
All embarking needs passion to tarry on successfully, before taking any step into becoming a massage therapist, the first thing is to ensure to check if you have the interest and passion of massaging a client’s body, that will keep you active towards taking procedures that will aid and fast track you becoming a professional massage therapist.
If otherwise, focus your energy on something else that catches your interest.
Get Formal Tutelage:
There is the common saying that you have to learn before you earn; to become a massage therapist, you have to properly learn in institutions that have conceptualized massage therapy.
The best school to learn from is the vocational institutions. When making your choice, ensure to go to a standard institution that meets the prerequisite of teaching one to become a professional.
When you enroll in a formal setting, you will learn more about massage therapy, you will be conversant with the various massage techniques that both heal and relax; you will also learn about the physical and emotional aspects of it, while at it, make sure to learn wholly.
Practice Consistently:
While garnering knowledge from the books and teachers, check to know that you have learned properly by practicing on real people, real-life gives another kind of experience. This can even help you to ascertain your niche in the field of massage therapy.
Massage therapy is beyond just applying pressure on the muscles, it involves medics, anatomy, physiology, and even emotional wellbeing. Not just that, when you practice in hospitals and spas, you will also learn good massage ethics, business ethics, proper hygiene, customer relations and, and unique massage techniques Therefore, practice Nonstop until you are confident about your knowledge.
Get Certified:
Getting a certification from your institution is proof of the knowledge acquired. Therefore, ensure you complete your training to get certified.
It takes about a year to learn to become a professional massage therapist, simply commit yourself so that you can get your certificate which will increase your grasp in the massage therapy business.
Also, it will speak for you about your expertise. Your certificate is what you will tend to your employers and when you want to attain your license. Hence, get certified.
Get Licensed:
A license gives you the chance to proceed and operate freely while in your profession, it goes to show that you have met the requirements and standards of the existing body.
To become a professional massage therapist, you need a license to allow you to operate freely. In the US, the license is administered twice to massage therapist, it is given after the interested therapist writes an examination and pass.
In the process of applying, there is a fee that must be paid to allow the smooth flow of the procedures. Things required are your certificate from a standard therapy school, a background check is carried out to ensure that details given are correct, and of course, you must be educated to at least the level of a high school diploma.
After meeting these requirements, your license to operate is then administered, which means you can operate freely as a massage therapist as you earn a living and make clients relaxed and healed.
Start Earning Your Cash:
After being licensed, the next procedure is to put all your efforts into learning, getting certified and licensed into use.
This can be done if you apply for a job as a massage therapist or you start your own business. When applying, you can apply either as a part-time or full-time worker, just ensure that you are both professional and ethical on your job, and your clients get the satisfaction that they need, you will keep earning good cash.
When working part-time, do not worry, you will earn as you work, that is, payment is according to sessions. You could apply in hospitals, gymnastic centers, resorts, and spas to render your service as you earn, and be ready to work both for home service and in-house service.
If you are the business kind of person, you can decide to start as a private massage therapist and seek to expand later on, as far as you are professional, and your clients are getting the satisfaction they need, either way, you will be earning from your professionalism as a massage therapist.
How Much Can You Earn As A Massage Therapist?
This question keeps running in the mind of intending massage therapists, everybody wants to make a good means of livelihood.
Getting your money as a massage therapist is assured as far as you satisfy the clients professionally and ethically because the demand for massage therapists is high.
A US report has it that massage therapy is the fifth-best health care support job with over $55,000 income per annum.
As people move around, jostling from one activity to the other, the body will definitely need soothing from a massage therapist.
However, some factors determine how much one can earn, sometimes pay differs for the following reasons:
- Location: The location of your business also determines the amount of income to be earned. As part of the business ethics, ensure that you are visible to the clients that will need your services and can pay well. Generally, an individual is capable of earning 25,000 dollars and even more when you add up the tips and quality of clients.
- Professionalism: Your level of professionalism and ethics will determine the level of your payment, that is why it is rewarding to invest in learning to be a professional. If your clients are satisfied, they will pay you what you charge and they will keep coming; just ensure you give them a good lasting impression.
- How Many Experiences: This can only be gotten through constant practice and time. The More experienced you are will determine your way of dispensing your job as a massage therapist. If you are more experienced and even surpass the expectation of your clients be sure to get paid your charge and maybe get a tip for a job well done. For instance, one with three years of experience will definitely get higher pay than an intern who is still a newbie. That’s why while learning, be sure you practice rigorously.
- Duration of Working Hours: Most times, clients of massage therapists pay for their services according to the duration of services, hence, the higher your working hours, the more money you earn, this is determinant on your choice of duration your clients need or the choice of duration to work. That’s why even part-time massage therapist still earns decent income.
Is Being A Massage Therapist Worth It?
Being a massage therapist is worthwhile if you have a passion for it or dedicate yourself to growing your interest and time in it.
It is actually therapeutic even to the massage therapist to see a physically or emotionally unstable person get relaxed and ha sealed just within a short period of giving out expertise to them. If you must become a massage therapist, ensure to be a professional one, yourself et an education from a vocational institution dedicate time to schooling.
While at it, ensure to concentrate and become an excellent one. While in school get as much experience as you can, the real-life situation enlightens you and affirms the theoretical aspect of your learning, It also makes you see massage therapy beyond the books.
Get your certificate so that you can tender proof of your knowledge and expertise. If you intend to practice thereafter, get a license so that you can operate real life within the confines of the law.
The reason for licensing is to ensure that qualified therapist is in the society to give good services to people, massage therapy is a para-health sector, and it has to be taken seriously too.
Getting payment as a therapist isn’t a problem as the demand is always there. The US Bureau of labor has it that the employment growth of massage therapists will rise by 22% in 2024, so if you have an interest in becoming a therapist, now is the time to start.
I am confident that this write-up will guide you right on How To Be A Massage Therapist. We are open to suggestions and recommendations, kindly air your view in the comment box below.
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Chibueze Uchegbu is a certified medical physiologist with a great passion for healthy living.