
How and Why I Became a Massage Therapist
Many people ask me how I decided to become a masseur or Massage Therapist, as this profession is called in most Western countries. So, I will try to describe my story with massage as briefly as I can, now that I have a blog.
Like most of my friends and my generation, I would say, when I graduated from high school, I had no idea what field I wanted to pursue for my studies. The only thing I was interested in was music and going out with friends or alone. Due to the mindset of my parents and the era back then, that I should have a University degree, I decided to go to New York to study, as I had relatives there. Naturally, with the mindset I had back then, I chose the most unsuitable field for my personality: Mechanical Engineering (on the advice of Greek expatriate students). A sign that I was in the wrong field was that the only subjects I enjoyed were psychology and Yoga with meditation (I was the only one from the Mechanical Engineering department attending Yoga at the university).
I often thought about massage, especially when I was stressed, but circumstances had never favored me expressing that until then. After several years of hard work and sweat at university, and just before graduating, an incident may have been the start of a major change in my life. It was an advertisement that caught my attention on the bulletin board of a restaurant with macrobiotic cuisine I often visited. Although I had often thought about trying massage, when I saw this advertisement, a drawing of two hands and beautifully written "Deep Massage" with pieces of paper at the bottom with the therapist's phone number, something in me triggered intense interest. I took one of the slips with her phone number.
It took me a month to call her for information, and another month to book an appointment for a massage, as she didn’t have any available time (I was calling at the last minute for an appointment, as a typical Greek). Although it was quite expensive for that time, $75 for one hour.
Finally, I went, and it was the best thing I could imagine! It was an incredibly refreshing experience, even transformative, I would say. I felt all the systems of my body were in synchronization, and a vast sense of well-being. For several hours after the massage, I continued to feel this sense of well-being and calmness, even though I was walking around in the traffic of downtown New York. I thought that someone being able to make you feel this good must have the best job in the world, something I’ve thought many times since and still think. I was 28 years old then, and as I got older, I appreciated this profession for other reasons, such as relief from pain, etc.
Although I got my degree (Bachelor of Engineering) a few months later, the seed had been planted from that first massage I received, and it was just a matter of time before the course of my life changed. At first, I didn’t see it as a profession, but I felt that massage was something I definitely needed to learn, even as a hobby, and wherever it would take me. Without much thought, I immediately enrolled in the only massage school in New York at the time, Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences. A new world had opened up for me, and I was thirsty to explore and get to know it. My life and daily routine completely changed; everything happened in the most natural way, and I didn’t even realize how quickly time passed as I finished college and got a job at a Spa before I even graduated. I took the position of one of my teachers who had just left the Spa. For the first time in my life, I didn’t doubt for a moment that I was on the right professional path.
I worked at this Spa (Carapan Urban Spa) two days a week for 8 years. It was one of the most wonderful places I’ve ever worked, both because of the atmosphere that inspired me and the fact that the owner appreciated our work (he was also a Massage Therapist). Periodically, I worked at other large and small Spas. I realized that I liked helping people relieve pain and feel good. I wanted to share and pass on to the world, which desperately needs it, that relief and sense of well-being I felt when receiving a massage. I also wanted to inform people about the value of massage. I was so enthusiastic (which fortunately hasn’t left me to this day) that whenever I was in a group, no matter what the conversation was about, I would always turn it towards massage, which helped me easily find clients, although I might have become tiresome at times.
About a year after my first massage, and after I had some training and experience in it, I searched for that therapist who gave me my first massage, but she had probably changed her phone number, and I couldn’t find her... for better or for worse. She stayed engraved in my memory as one of the best moments of my life. I realized that as therapists, we can sometimes influence and change the lives of others through massage and touch, without knowing it, and perhaps without ever learning it.
Savvas Xenos
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