Soma Massage Blog

Massage School Can Be Hard, And We’re Trying To Help

There are many reasons to attend massage school. Maybe you’re fresh out of high school and looking for a meaningful direction in life. Maybe you just lost your job and you’re looking for a new direction for a second career. Maybe all the kids have left the house and you’ve been dreaming of enrolling for years. Maybe you have other reasons all your own.

Why do we bring this up?

Maybe it’s just to say that we understand.

We understand, and we want to help you make the transition from your former life into your new massage therapist life as painless as possible.

We understand that not every student was created the same. Some students have a college background and soak up all the new information like a sponge, whereas others may have never studied in their prior academic career. Some students excel in large group settings, whereas others may fall behind out of fear or shyness. Some students have excellent communication skills and know how to behave in a professional manner, and some students have never had to behave in that way before.

If you’re falling behind, we have free tutoring sessions available Monday through Thursday after school. We asked one of our tutors to write a little piece about being a tutor. Here's what he wrote.

The American Massage Therapy Association is partnering up with Soma to help ease your burden in many ways, too. Free student membership to all current students, which includes free access to all the Trail Guide flashcards. On top of that, the AMTA is offering $1,000 scholarships to Soma students four times a year. Monikka was our latest recipient. See more pics here.

And if you’re feeling financially stressed as a student, Soma has also partnered with Food For Thought to provide part time employment for our students. With flexible schedules that can fit around your classes, Food For Thought might be the perfect way to earn some extra income while preparing for your new career. Here we see a representative from Food For Thought handing out applications to Soma students.

On top of all that we have career services, which includes our Job Board for graduates and resume reviews by the president herself.

We have free massages for students and graduates in our clinic.

We have monthly MBLEx review classes hosted by Julio to make sure you get licensed.

We understand you’re looking for more than just a massage school. You’re looking for a community. We hope you’ve found it with us.

AMTA Scholarship Winner

The American Massage Therapy Association has teamed up with Soma with a plan to help ease the financial burdens of a few lucky students by periodically giving out $1,000 scholarships throughout the year. Our most recent winner is Monikka Townsend, who, as you can see from the pictures, was quite overwhelmed with emotion (there weren't many dry eyes in the room).

Congrats to Monikka!

The big winner with her check.

Still blissfully unaware that she was chosen.

And then... Niagra Falls.

Here Monikka is being told it costs $996 to buy a pen large enough to endorse this check.

A Soma Tutor’s Story

At The Soma Institute we realize some students have different needs, and with that in mind we provide free tutoring to our students Monday through Thursday evenings after the day classes. We asked one of our tutors, Jason Cooper, to write up a little piece about his experiences as a tutor. This is what he wrote:

A feeling the many among us must know very well, the feeling of being stuck. I felt this way many of times while figuring out exactly how I wanted to make a living while also contributing to the world, this a feeling and a helplessness I know many others struggle with as well. I could go on for hours about the way that my time at the Soma Institute changed my life for the better just as a student. Above all my time learning to become a clinical massage therapist helped me to push through this feeling of being in a rut, and this not simply being related to skills learned and career development. It is because of this; being in an environment where people share a
common goal and are there to help one another along their way; which lead myself to become a student tutor at The Soma Institute.

Being a student tutor lead to being a tutor as a paid position, which eventually lead to becoming a teacher’s assistant as well. My experience as a tutor has helped me to see that while we all may have one common goal in mind, there are many among us who have a unique set of challenges which need overcoming. As a massage
therapist and somebody believes in this practice as a healing art it is very important to remember this for the sake of becoming a more empathetic therapist in your everyday practice.
It is incredibly important to see the students who have their own challenges as on the same level as yourself, because at the end of the day those who come to tutoring to receive extra help have the same desires and drive to help others as yourself. A wide variety of students come to receive extra help in tutoring. There are students who may be more hands on learners and therefore need more help with the multiple choice scantron format which Soma uses for testing. Courses such as Physiology and Pathology might just need
to be explained to certain students not just in the classroom environment. I am also very encouraged to see those students who come just to use the space in order to sharpen their skills and get extra practice; this several members of my class did just this past Thursday in order to practice for their upcoming chair massage event next month. Students also come to tutoring just to have a quiet space where they can focus on whatever subject they may be
studying at the time. When students are at tutoring they can receive a variety of help from myself and the other tutors who may be there on any given night, I feel this is a unique opportunity for a prospective massage therapist to learn from somebody who themselves is a recent student and is still continuing their education themselves. This I really hope students know when they come to tutoring, tutors are themselves still learning and trying to get better and might not have every answer, however this is an opportunity for us both to learn more and find our own tools for problem solving. Above all, I want every single Soma student to know that tutoring is always open and even if they have one small question they can still utilize the resource of tutoring.

From stockbroker to massage therapist

from the Daily Telegraph

THREE years ago, Stanhope Gardens single father of four Paul Lawrence was looking for a lifestyle change.

“Most of my life I have been a stockbroker and for a short period I got into real estate, but I could not wait to be my own boss,” Mr Lawrence said.

That was when he had his “light bulb moment” and decided to turn his hobby in massage therapy into a home-based business.

Paul Lawrence Massage Therapy specialises in the relief of neck and back pain, headaches and migraines, sciatica, lymphatic drainage and muscle soreness.

“The hardest thing about starting a business from home for me was getting the clients to come here,” he said. “You have to provide a product that is better then one you would find in a shopping centre.”

Alternative medicine to treat pain and other ailments on the rise locally

from rrstar.com

Maria Furgat wants people to know there are options when it comes to treating everything from pain to the common cold.

Furgat joined the team at Circles of Wellness, 3626 E. State St., Rockford, a few months back. She specializes in acupuncture, cupping and herbal remedies after earning her bachelor's degree in nutritional counseling and master's degree in Chinese medicine from the Midwest College of Oriental Medicine in Chicago.

"I always say try it," Furgat said. "I'm not saying it's the best thing for everyone, but they need to know there are options out there. You don't have to stick to the same routines."