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East West College of the Healing Arts

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So far East West College of the Healing Arts has created 187 blog entries.

Oregon Legislative Update: Senate Bill 298 Signed into Law, Increasing Instruction Hours for Oregon LMT Licensure

2015-07-16T20:40:43-07:00July 16th, 2015|

In June 2015, the Oregon legislature passed Senate Bill 298, a new law related to massage therapy. The primary purpose of the bill was to increase the number of certified class hours required for Oregon licensure from 500 to 625.

The legislature passed this requirement to increase “portability and reciprocity” of Oregon massage therapy licenses. Prior to bill 298, Oregon required relatively few educational hours for massage licensing. Some states required the same number of hours. For example, every massage school in Michigan must deliver 500 hours of instruction, as the state license requires this minimum. Likewise with many other states’ massage […]

Massage in Grade Schools: Could it Help Fight Bullying?

2015-07-09T20:40:04-07:00July 9th, 2015|

In our massage training school, we teach adults how to treat and heal patients of all ages. Like students in all west coast massage schools, East West College students typically begin their massage training after high school. However, the success of in-school programs across the globe suggests that primary students can enjoy many benefits from learning about and practicing massage. Schools around the world are using student-to-student massage programs to reduce bullying, improve peer relationships, and increase focus. Read on to learn how international organizations are bringing massage to schools.

Primary Massage Training: School Programs from Around the World

Massage in Schools

The Massage […]

Cupping Therapy 101: How it Works, What Benefits it Brings

2015-06-25T20:29:57-07:00June 25th, 2015|

Quick: Picture students partaking in a class at a massage training school. You likely envision people using their thumbs, fingers, and elbows to press into muscles. Or perhaps, if you’ve ever experienced Thai Massage, you might see the therapists-in-training using their full bodies on clients, pulling and pressing while in yoga-like postures. For most massage modalities, this understanding of pressing into tissue to relieve pain and tension is correct. Cupping is an exception.

While most manual therapies use downward pressure to alleviate muscle adhesions, cupping uses suction to pull tissues up. As an analogy, think of a dirty rug. […]

Massage Therapy: Flexible work in High Demand

2015-06-18T19:48:32-07:00June 18th, 2015|

Wondering if you should become a massage therapist? If the answer is yes, now is a great time to make your move. The industry is growing quickly, proving careers in massage therapy to be quite valuable. Beyond the strong work outlook, therapists enjoy flexible work hours in a variety of settings—all while doing a job that really makes a difference by helping people feel good.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, massage therapy work is projected to grow 23% 2012-2015, a rate that is light years ahead of the average occupation. East West College of the […]

Massage Therapy Modalities: Structural Bodywork

2015-06-11T20:27:07-07:00June 11th, 2015|

In our series on massage modalities, we’ve covered Thai massage, trigger point therapy, and Tui Na. Today we’re looking at a different form of massage: Structural Bodywork. At its crux, structural bodywork explores and offsets imbalances within the body.

The mother of structural bodywork is Ida Rolf. Ida Rolf was a biochemist, yoga teacher, manual therapist, and sensorimotor educator who had a holistic vision of health. Her focus as a healer was to improve overall biochemical functioning, rather than treating certain systems. Rolf’s creation, Structural Integration, improves health by improving the human body’s structure in relation to gravity.
Within this […]

The Benefits of Volunteering Your Massage Therapy Services

2015-06-04T20:25:37-07:00June 4th, 2015|

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.” LMTs have many opportunities to volunteer, from providing hospice massage to providing massage therapy for homeless youths. But why would you want to practice your craft for free, when you can get paid for it? Well, that’s a totally legitimate question. Read on to discover some of the many benefits massage therapists can enjoy from volunteer work.

Portland Massage Therapy School’s Top Benefits of Volunteering:

Volunteering Zaps Stagnation.

Every profession includes boredom from […]

Reflexology: Intro to this Massage Modality

2015-05-28T20:24:07-07:00May 28th, 2015|

Reflexology is an ancient manual healing method in which acupressure points on the feet, hands, and/or ears are compressed to alleviate pain and treat medical problems. Although there is little academic evidence that reflexology treats specific medical conditions beyond a placebo response, this ancient practice has been relieving pain and other stress-related conditions for thousands of years. Remember, a placebo brings healing about half of the time; 1 out of every 2 patients on a placebo see positive health results. As in many CAM therapies, many accredited massage schools offer reflexology courses because this healing modality […]

Why and How to Create a Massage Client Referral Program

2015-05-21T20:22:04-07:00May 21st, 2015|

Do you feel like your massage therapy career has plateaued? Are you looking for new clients to bring fresh life to your practice? Consider establishing a client referral program. Referral programs allow benefits for both the client and the massage therapist. For the therapist, it is an opportunity to enhance one’s income while growing a client base. Referral programs can bring the massage therapist thousands of dollars in new business. For the client, it is an opportunity to receive discounted or free massages through referrals, and to accumulate more massages at a discounted rate.

Client […]

Client Populations: Working with Elderly Patients


2015-05-14T20:20:57-07:00May 14th, 2015|

Massage careers can take practitioners all over the world, to all manner of settings. However, when envisioning a post-massage certification career path, the common image is that of a healthy middle-aged person receiving a basic Swedish massage. Reality is much larger in scope. In this series we will be discussing how to work with different client populations- in all ages and stages of life. We kick things off with a discussion of geriatric massage, including its challenges, effective techniques, and benefits.

Challenges Massaging Elderly Clients

Elderly clients can often be intimidating to massage, due to their unique health conditions and physical needs. Older […]

How to Center Yourself Before Giving a Massage

2015-05-07T20:18:51-07:00May 7th, 2015|

Think back to when you were first dreaming of a career in massage. Perhaps you were contemplating getting a massage certificate, or eagerly flipping through pamphlets from massage schools in NYC or Oregon, dreaming of your future. One question that you may have asked yourself during this process—and a question massage therapists may ask throughout their career—is what constitutes the ideal massage?  Is it the perfect shiatsu technique, or being up-to-date on the latest trends? The ideal massage is not merely about a certain technique; it is rather grounded in how you show up in the space when giving a massage.

The […]

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