This week starts a series of weekly articles into the business of massage therapy. Basically how to get work, keep work, increase your skills, how to dress, etc. Hopefully the information will be useful to those therapists still in school, just graduated and even experienced therapists. Our first topic: Knowledge.
In massage we will discuss two types of knowledge; specialized and on the job.
Specialized knowledge must be sought after and absorbed to be effective. Specialized knowledge is learned from mentors, teachers and from the volumes of printed material shared from our ancestors wisdom and experience.
This type of knowledge involves hard work and personal study into topics that will take you back in history. Specialized knowledge is the key to understanding that all things come from one source and you can tap into that source at any time. Some examples in massage are; Tui Na, Thai massage, nerve points (trigger points), acupressure, different modalities, reflexology and Rolfing.
Now this is about understanding and how to be focused in your work. Specialized knowledge brings things into focus because of the hours of dedication you have put into your craft. A general unfocused treatment is very superficial.
The second type is on the job training. The experience you receive while working is very valuable. Your specialized knowledge will be your guide while on the job and will help you when others haven't a clue as to what to do. I have worked in many different places doing massage. This allowed me to "feel" many different body types to understand that everyone is different and will respond or not to different kinds of techniques.
Please note that this type of knowledge must be experienced in different work environments. Each spa, chiropractor's office, etc has a certain kind of person that will go to that particular place. By being in one place you see one type but many places will give you hundreds of people to learn from. That's what on the job knowledge is; learning from the people and everything that makes an individual.
Remember the mother of knowledge is repetition. Keep working, learning and growing.
Knowledge will keep you ahead of the game and a leader in your field.
Next week, Professional Development 2.
