CEUs at Sea

James Waslaski’s 13th annual Pain Management Seminar at Sea Conference was highlighted by a keynote address by Performance Health/Hygenic Corp. CEO and President Marshall Dahneke.

Dahneke told a gathering of more than 50 massage therapists that the “journey to achieving our full potential” requires “becoming other-centered.”

“Those in the massage industry truly exemplify my definition of ‘other-centered’, in which service to others is key,” said Dahneke. “Massage therapy is all about improving the quality of life—providing comfort, facilitating transitions, offering hope, simply doing what’s right for others.  Success in reaching our full potential requires conviction and commitment.  It’s not just business, it’s personal.”

The January  one-week cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas, which made stops in the Caribbean, included  classes by Waslaski, LMT, and Ruth Werner, L.M.T.,  resulting in 18 continuing education units (CEUs).

“I created the cruise seminar for two main purposes,” says Waslaski, who in 2008 was inducted into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame. “Usually when massage therapists attend conferences to obtain 18 CEUs, it can cost around $1,300 when you include travel, hotel stays, seminar fees, and food. Our Seminar at Sea Conference provides the same number of CEUs for generally half the price and, for the snow-bound, it’s a welcome sun-filled excursion. Secondly, on a cruise you have access to instructors on a one-on-one basis while having lunch or dinner, going on group excursions together, or walking on deck. Also, there is relaxed networking with fellow L.M.T.s, industry pioneers, and cutting edge business leaders.

“Our particular cruise brings the who’s who of the industry together. Past presenters have included Massage Hall of Fame Inductees such as Tiffany Fields, Ph.D. Aaron Mattes, George Kousaleos, Erik Dalton, Ph.D., Paul St. John, Lynda Solien Wolfe, Steve Capellini, Cliff Korn and a number of other industry pioneers. This collaboration of experts has helped shift the industry to a more effective blending of clinical or medical massage disciplines in the best interest of clients with complicated pain conditions.”

Waslaski’s seminar presentations included: “The Application of Clinical Studies and Soft Tissue Research to address Multiple Crush Phenomenon.”

Werner, president of the Massage Therapy Foundation, presented: “Making the Vital Study of Clinical Pathologies Fun” and “Creating High Quality Case Reports to Submit as the Backbone of Massage Therapy Research.”

In addition to hands-on education and access to all the cruise activities, including Las Vegas-level entertainment at night, the therapists and their guest had the opportunity to visit the Majken Broby Children’s Home in Roatan, Honduras. Since 1981, the home takes care of children from broken homes, or homes in which parents simply lack the resources to raise and support their children.

Visiting the Majken Broby Children’s Home, says Dahneke underscored his message that we achieve “a more rewarding” life when we are of use and service to others.

But Dahneke also told the massage therapists, in his keynote address, that their service increases when their businesses are run efficiently and profitably.

“I always have sought to work in a field and a company that brings health and wellness to others,” he said. “That is “Performance Health/Hygenic’s basis for existence. But it is necessary for me and all the others at our company to use good marketing techniques, efficient management, financial and cost/ benefit acumen, and organized hard effort to permit our company to continue to be of service to the massage therapist community. Good intentions and excellent motivation are only the beginning of running a successful enterprise.”

Stanford Erickson, editorial director, MASSAGE Magazine