03/21/2024
So many people ask me why I became a massage therapist and my answer is usually… “by accident”. If you had asked me even 5 years ago if I would be massaging, the answer would be NO WAY!!!
So how did I get into massage? I danced from a toddler through college and taught dance for several years. And if you knew me…I was ALWAYS hurt. Towards the end of my college years my feet always hurt, even if I hadn’t danced. After years of trying new sneakers, wearing preventative braces/taping, testing out different topicals…nothing seemed to make the pain go away, or stay away.
I had always loved anatomy and nothing makes me happier than helping people, so I decided to make a career change (for my bodies’ sake) and go back to school for physical therapy... or so I thought. In the meantime I was in PT myself. Talking to my PT, he said “have you ever thought about LMT”. At the time, I had no idea what an LMT even was (licensed massage therapist). He told me to go to and just tour it. Well….that same day I made the call. One week later at my tour, they gave me an onsite interview and I was accepted into their program. Skeptical, I started school 2 months later.
I wish I could say I was “instantly in love” with the work…but the truth is…it was HARD. 9 months, 3 days a week, 8 hours a day. Plus internships and clinic hours. Exams and evals. Remembering sequences and re-learning anatomy… so many times I questioned why I was going through it all. But then we got to working on people with “issues”. I will never forget how amazed my friends and family were that I could make their pain decrease or even go away. That feeling was something I never wanted to give up.
So the real answer of why I became a massage therapist? You. I want to make YOU feel better, live better, be better. -Ashley
