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Lauterstein-Conway School of Massage Therapy review

February 17, 2006

I began my massage career in Austin, Texas in the early 1990s. After deciding that I wanted to learn massage therapy, I quizzed a few therapists whose massages I had enjoyed about the instruction they had received and was directed to free orientation sessions offered by two different massage schools in town. The first was run by one massage therapist at her residence. I was impressed by her professionalism and knowledge and liked the cosy atmosphere of the school, but eventually decided that I would get more out of a course taught by a variety of instructors. I ended up at The Lauterstein-Conway School of Massage Therapy, which not only had several teachers and an excellent reputation, but was in my neighbourhood. The school is still open, too, after all these years.

I signed up for the $1700, 250-hour course that met the basic requirements for a Texas massage therapist�s license at that time. Students were required to furnish their own massage table and linens before the course ended, which was the only additional cost. As we practiced the fundamentals of Swedish massage, we also learned anatomy and physiology and how to incorporate stretches and breathe work into a massage routine. The course included a hydrotherapy weekend at the country home of one of the instructors, business instruction, and tips on establishing a massage practice. I was quite glad that the course offered advice about how to deal with clients� emotional and medical issues. I still think that for a beginners massage course, this one was very thorough.

One feature I especially liked about TLC�s set-up was that day and evening sections ran concurrently, and students were free to switch back and forth and attend at whichever time was most convenient. Even students who didn�t switch got the advantage of an expanded pool of practice partners. I was amused that one of the students was from Scandinavia and ended up learning Swedish massage in Texas.

I can recall only two unpleasant experiences there. During one anatomy lesson, our instructor projected full-color autopsy photos on a huge screen without warning us first. And later, for my first practice massage on a non-student, I was assigned a smoker and was dismayed to discover the intensity of the stale smoke odour that emanated from his pores after a few minutes of massage. It was a useful lesson, though.

I imagine the best part of any massage course is the students practicing on each other. We all spent five pretty mellow months. When I started giving professional massages, it took a while to get over the fact that I didn�t get a turn--just my fee.

Making money doing massage was easy enough because I always intended it to be a source of extra income, not my sole livelihood. I began massaging friends, then friends of friends, and so on, and never needed or wanted a studio. Making a living solely from massage requires dedication and a much more businesslike approach, which in my case would have drained the fun out of it. I also discovered that giving too many massages got boring very quickly, and so aimed to do just enough to achieve a satisfying balance between hours spent using mental energy at my desk job and hours spent using physical energy giving massage. Occasionally, balance was achieved.

Diane
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