The Massage Industry
The schools have the responsibility of creating a safe, ethical, and effective workforce. The state boards exist to help protect the public by investigating allegations of misconduct and pursuing disciplinary measures when appropriate. They are also responsible for license approval, renewal, and revocation. The associations are supposed to represent the professional interests of its members. They achieve this with lobbyists, insurance coverage, and professional guidance.
The machine was designed well. The people who dedicated their lives trail blazing it’s design accomplished a great achievement with its creation.
The Broken Machine
Many years have passed since its initial inception, entropy has set in, and this amazing machine has begun to decay. Why has this happened? A part of me believes it is because our profession was not taught how to upkeep its mechanisms. If we look at what we are taught it is easy to see this information is rarely offered to us. For example, how many massage therapists know how the industry is organized, its power structure, their own state’s regulatory policies, the role of the massage board, or the function of the professional associations? Out of all the massage therapists I have met very few actually know the answers to those questions. Truth be told I did not know the answer myself until I crossed paths with the USOLMT in 2021. But just because it appears to be crumbling doesn’t mean it hasn’t always been crumbling. Additionally, just because the schools are often ineffective it doesn’t make them solely responsible for everything that is happening to our industry.
Sure, the schools are responsible for providing us with an education, but as it is stated everywhere massage schools are supposed to provide us with the minimum to practice massage. If we empathize with the people who designed the infrastructure of our industry, would you consider the above-mentioned machine an essential aspect of practicing massage professionally?
In all honesty I don’t think they did. I think they were just trying to do whatever they could to protect something they loved. In Missouri during the 1990’s massage was under attack and a lot of livelihoods were on the line. They did what they needed to ensure they could provide for their families. As massage therapists we do not typically come from backgrounds with a lot of formal education, and the founders of our industry were trailblazing something that had not existed before. Many of the schools were created by therapists who wanted to see our profession survive and had to somehow build programs with far more requirements than before.
Misunderstandings of Massage Therapists, and Myself
In the past I would have described the schools as a cancer, and the mega chains as their necrotic waste. This was during a time when my existence was pushed forward by the winds of entropy. I moved with the fiery force of a jet engine because my heart had been hurt by too many forces to feel the ambient love of the universe. Now as I reflect on the lessons I have learned, and the experiences granted to me, I have a new take. If you would like to taste the flavor of my spicy heart read through the strike-out lines of the following sentences.
Many massage therapists speak poorly of their state board, believing they have the power to influence how laws and regulations are written. If they were provided an effective education, they would know it is the state legislature that makes these decisions. They would have been provided the knowledge on how to navigate these waters and affect actual change. What role does the associations have in our profession? Most massage therapists think their sole function is to provide us with insurance and run events.
The massage schools have collectively failed our profession in a fundamental way. Many are a blight on our society, and the cancer of our industry, and they are one of the reasons our industry is dying.
Many are quick to complain about the mega chains, and they rightfully should. They are a major problem, but they are not the reason our microcosm is crumbling. They are simply the rot caused by the failure of our education system.
What about the professional organizations, what are they doing? They have lobbyists who attempt to influence the industry on the upper echelons on the state and federal level. From time to time I see an article about this or that, but for the most part I find myself unimpressed. Most of this activity is out of sight, and we have little to no influence over any actions taken on our behalf. On the local level, we are tricked into believing the volunteer state chapters have a modicum of influence, but the reality is they have none. Essentially the state volunteer boards are a live action roleplay. The members of these groups are effectively acting as event coordinators. They pretty much plan a few massage meetups with continuing education, but others create a pretty bland event.
The schools are a cancer, and the mega chains are its necrotic waste. Though the educations system caused the catastrophe simply slicing them out is not enough. We must remove the margins as well and drain the septic juice by joining together to force out the mega chains from our industry.
In the past I would have used some strong words as you can see, but these days I think it can all be achieved with less intensity. At the end of the day what do massage therapists need? When we boil it down it is community, culture, and the tools to achieve our dreams. In all reality it doesn’t take much. We can accomplish this without fire and brimstone. Instead of waging a war we can embrace peace like we have never had before, together we can lay the foundations for the future.
If you believe the schools are bad now, just wait and see what happens when the mega chains begin starting their own schools. In their death throes they will cause cataclysmic damage. They will replace the broken schools by becoming a cancer greater than anything we have ever known in our profession. Their bar of quality is as low as it can go. What happens when they begin their own schools? I think it will lead to an era of unbelievably bad practitioners. When this happens there will be a tidal wave of terrible, and everything our predecessors worked for will be destroyed.
In some ways I still agree with my old boldness and the statements above, but the reality is the issues are far more complex than blaming this person or that group. We are all a part of the problem. Collectively we have chosen to sit and wait till others to fix everything. We complain when we have no dishes to eat off of, and no clothing to wear, but ultimately if we would have done our chores, we wouldn’t have the problems our industry is facing.
Now is the time to take the plunge and unite against this plague. The journey will feel impossible, it will hurt, and you will want to cry, but we must become the medicine that cures the disease. We must become the chemotherapy of the massage industry.
In the abstract the above strike-out words are exciting, but in truth what do they do? It presents a problem with the hope that we will come together as one group to make some grant stand. This isn’t realistic. As massage therapists we are effectively a herd of lone wolves. We want to do our own thing, and that is fine, but a call to action, especially one as vague as this will always yield a no sum gain.
So, what do we do?
Instead of being angry, and wishing the world was better we must individually offer goodness to the world for the sake of goodness. If something isn’t working the way we want it to, then we, as in I (or you) have to make the sacrifice to make it change.
It doesn’t matter if everyone else isn’t doing their job, if you want something done, do it yourself. Really this sums up the real problem of our industry anyways. Many massage therapists feel they deserve more than they have earned, they want what others have worked for, and they want it now. I see this time and again. People are prone to embrace their ego, and in our industry, it is the root problem of our profession.
The machine may be broken, but it doesn’t matter. We don’t need a machine to make our dreams come true. So then, what must we do?
As I mentioned earlier, we need great leaders who lead by example. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. We all have flaws and make mistakes. Everyone does dumb stuff, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking the reins when no one else will. The people who have made the most mistakes are often the best to lead. They know the acidic burn of regret, what it feels like to fail, and cry at the end of the night.
We also need great followers. As massage therapists we are a roving herd of wolves, but when we come together into packs, we can tackle huge tasks. As followers we can uplift our leaders, be by their side when the tides attempt to knock them into the sand or drown them in the sea. As a leader I need my team. Without them who would I be? What purpose would I have?
We need each other. This is one of the most obvious and greatest lessons of life. When others hurt, we want to help them, and when we hurt, we hope someone is there to offer us a helping hand.
We need to learn from our mistakes and offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us. We need to look to the people who taught us poorly and grant them the gifts of assistance. How in the world can anyone get better if no one is offering suggestions for them to improve?
If we want our industry to open the doorway to our dreams, we must make a doorway for others too.
