Getting continuing education is a wonderful way for professional massage therapists and bodyworkers to stay current not only with the latest techniques and findings in the field of touch therapy, but also with the various ways in which they can work to improve their practices. These are two big reasons for massage therapists and bodyworkers to invest in continuing education on a regular basis.
Of course, for many touch therapists, enrolling in continuing education classes is a requirement for renewing and maintaining one’s license to practice. Depending on where you live and work, you may need to earn a certain number of continuing education credits per a specific time period to keep your license to practice massage therapy or bodywork.
However, even if you happen to live in a place where it is up to the practitioner to decide if he or she would like to receive continuing education, the big benefits should motivate you to sign up for these classes. After all, keeping current with your field of practice and constantly working to improve are two obvious keys to success in nearly any industry.
Exploring the benefits of continuing education a bit more, we will begin by focusing on the fact that the right continuing education classes can equip you with the most up-to-date knowledge and skills, which often translates to better sessions for your clients and a bigger bottom line for you. The topic of these continuing education classes can span the spectrum, from the latest findings on body mechanics and methods of client assessment to a new technique to help ease migraine headaches or alleviate upper back and neck pain.
The point is the continuing education class should be able to teach you something new, bringing your skills and knowledge up to date in some specific aspect of practice. You can then apply what you learned in the continuing education class and begin to reap the rewards of the second big continuing education benefit—improving your practice in a variety of ways.
With your fresh skills and knowledge, you should be able to bolster any weak spots in your daily work as a massage therapist or bodyworker. For instance, a refresher course on the latest findings on body mechanics for massage therapists could help you have more energy for your daily sessions, and it might also allow you to provide more effective touch therapy. Without a doubt, those could be two very big improvements.
As another example, a continuing education class addressing a new technique for migraine sufferers might allow you to pull in a new population of clients coming to see you because you have been trained in this technique. The improvement here might be a larger client base, more money earned and the feeling of satisfaction that comes from helping clients.
The more academic or book-based forms of continuing education also can hold the same benefits for professional massage therapists and bodyworkers. For instance, a continuing education class that helps you organize and understand proper accounting for your practice could result in a major improvement.