How many times in life do you get a dress rehearsal before you have to do the real thing? They say life is about diving in head first, taking a leap of faith and just doing it. That may work for some people but it doesn’t work for everyone.  After all, you wouldn’t buy a car without getting a feel for how it handles and seeing yourself in the driver’s seat, would you?

We want to help you make the best decision when it comes to choosing the right school and the right career path. We want you to have the chance to experience NHI before you decide become a student.

You keep hearing that it is an amazing journey from beginning to end and the testimonials give you a sense of how this program impacts a student’s life, but what is it really like to be a student at NHI?  After all, going to school is a big commitment and an investment in your future. Well, what if you could attend a class for the day with no commitment?  Could you imagine yourself as a massage therapist?

Well, this is your turn to experience it. We are giving you the opportunity to observe and participate in a class at a campus near you. We know you will love what you see. After all, we want to help you have work you love.

There are many ways to find out when the next Class Observation will be!

-Tell our Admissions Team that you are interested in learning more about classes at NHI!

-Like our NHI Facebook Page and your campus Facebook Page to receive invites in your news feed!

-Keep an eye on our Campus Events Calendar!

She’s done it again!  Cynthia Ribeiro is giving away all of the secrets of massage therapy!  To read the full article, “DIY Face Massage” in the Chicago Tribune, click the logo:

At first, it may seem counter-intuitive to teach your clients self-massage techniques that they can do without the therapist there to assist them.  You might be scared that they will become satisfied with the techniques that they can practice themselves.   Any great massage therapist understands that their mission is to create the greatest change and sense of wellbeing in their patients and this in turn will keep them coming back. 

Self-Massage techniques can not possibly provide the same benefits as a full massage session, but they are a great way for clients to relieve temporary headaches, stress and pain, and for them to maintain a holistic sense of well-being.  After all, graduates of National Holistic Institute are not only massage therapists, but also health educators! 

If you or someone you know is struggling with headaches, sinus allergies, or stress and tension throughout the body, here are some simple self-massage techniques from AMTA presiden-elect and NHI Advanced Program Instructor, Cynthia Ribiero that will provide fast acting relief until that next massage is booked…

During all of the following techniques, apply light to moderate pressure to avoid aggravating any issue. You should feel a “good” pain; if it hurts too much, back off.
 

For temporal headaches: Press four fingers against the temporal muscle and move them back and forth, up and down or in a circular motion.
 

For frontal and sinus headaches: Put three fingers of each hand above the eyebrow line and press left to right, to the hairline, without gliding.

For tension headaches, tired eyes and sinuses: Press your thumbs up against the underside of the brow bone in the eye socket.

For stress and tension throughout the body (if you have time for only one exercise, this is the one to do): Using your three middle fingers arranged in a triangle, apply pressure just above the bridge of your nose, known as the “third eye.”

For sinus headaches and allergies: With your index and middle fingers, press along, above and below your cheekbones.

For more on Cynthia’s endless log of massage therapy knowlege, check out our post about her work formulating the Massage Therapy Book of Knowlege (MTBOK) here.

Aromatherapy is defined as a form of alternative medicine using various essential oils to alter a person’s mind, health, and cognitive mood. But, how exactly does it work? 

Sit back in your chair and picture a few fond childhood memories. Maybe it’s baking some treats with a sibling or playing in the grass with old friends or running through a cornstalk maze during a crisp fall day. Imagine the details of each sense – particularly – your sense of smell.

Fast forward to today. What do you feel when you smell something like those baked treats, or the grass, or that familiar fall day smell that you know so well each year? Comfort. Happiness. Nostalgia. Peace. Your mood is altered. The presence of stress is cancelled out by this smell-induced reaction.

Our sense of smell is called the Olfactory sense. Our Olfactory sense is intertwined by something called the Limbic System which supports smell, long-term memories, behavior, and emotions. There are special neurons that are meant to pick up different scents and translate them to the brain which in turn reacts with different parts of our body to create the proper response.

In Aromatherapy we work with essential oils. They are derived from various organic and natural materials and on a cellular level they are incredibly complex. Lavender is the most common essential oil in our modern day. When inhaled, it can create a response of relaxation, calmness, and reduced stress. These are just some of the benefits of Lavender.

Starting today, I would recommend carrying around a small bottle of Lavender oil. Whenever you are stuck in line, stuck in traffic, feeling down at work, or feeling stressed with the kids, just pull it out and smell your way through the day.  With your lavender in hand, relax and breathe deeply (see our “Breathe” blog post to learn how this alone can help with stress reduction). Take a note on how you feel after a day…a week…a month. 

Ultimately, we all know we need to take care of ourselves. This is a simple and quick way that we can do this. It is one step closer to a calmer, more peaceful “You”. If aromatherapy is your first step towards a healthier, happier “You” then I consider this article a complete success.

Reflecting long-standing traditions in American education, September is the classic time to go back to school.  With classes starting throughout the year at National Holistic Institute, it is never to late to take the next step with your education.

As a long-term teacher at NHI, I have had the experience of watching many, many people re-adjust to being back in an educational environment.
For some students, their last school experience might have been very recent, but for others there might have been years, even decades, since they were a full-time student.

Sometimes the transition is easy, and of course sometimes it is more difficult – but nearly always worth it!

I wanted to understand the factors that might spur someone to set the familiar patterns of their life aside to seek the personal growth, financial success, and emotional satisfaction that learning a new skill set can engender. So I asked around a bit, and here’s some of what I found:

“Show me the money!”

For many, the incentive to re-engage their educational process is based on a financial decision – they need to be able to make money, and fast. As my massage teacher pointed out, you can be in and then out of massage school in less than a year, and in terms of overhead, setting up a massage business is cheaper than running a hotdog stand!

“I hate my boss!”

One massage therapist I know decided to begin her training when she found herself with a young child, and she saw massage therapy as one of the quickest routes to successful self-employment. Another therapist of my acquaintance was retiring from a previous career in his fifties, and knew his pension would only carry him so far. Massage offered him a way to build on his work as a personal trainer and educate his clients about how to take better care of their bodies.

“I want to make a difference!”

Of course, for many people, pursuing an education in massage therapy and health education is about following a dream, or connecting with a career that fuels their passion for life. Massage can be a financially lucrative job, for sure – and the chance to get paid well while helping others feel better really feels better than that previous, less emotionally satisfying career.

Having been out of school for a while, some of my older students sometimes express a worry that they won’t be able to adjust or keep up. And some of my younger students – many straight out of high school – worry about being able to stay focused while their not-in-school friends goof around.  Both of these types of students find their worries quickly alleviated. The NHI curriculum emphasizes hands-on skills, AVK (Audio/Visual/Kinesthetic) learning, and a highly structured environment. This combines with our robust Student Services Department in the form of Labs, Tutors, and Mentors focusing on individual learning styles to provide a solid foundation so that all students, young or old, fresh out of high school or returning after years away, can enjoy coming Back to School.

To find out if National Holistic Institute is the experience you are looking for, go to www.nhi.edu and click “Contact” in the top right.  You can talk to one of our friendly admissions representatives, take a tour of the campus and even sit in on one of our classes with no pressure!

Introducing…

John “The NHI Guy” Caguin will be starring in a new video series, showcasing massage therapy techniques, massage school facts and tips, and other NHI related videos.  To make sure you receieve updates when new videos are released, subscribe to the NHI Youtube Channel and subscribe to the NHI Blog.

For the first video, we thought it would be appropriate to show you something that will help no matter what type of massage you are giving.  Proper body mechanics can keep you from becoming fatigued or injured as a massage therapist and also increase the effectiveness of the massage so that your client is 100% satisfied.

Even if you aren’t an expert in massage therapy, these tips will give you more confidence and strength while providing massage.

Without further ado, let me introduce The NHI Guy!

+

Desiree Pooley and Laura Trumble from the National Holistic Institute of Petaluma recently devoted their massage therapy skillset to provide complimentary chair massage at the Redwood Empire School Insurance Group in Windsor, CA.   Despite some unexpected twists, the experience was beneficial for all parties involved.  Desiree provides a summary of the event:

On site massage was awesome!  Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely some challenges but they made it all the more rewarding.  The adventure began with some confusing directions… actually they were so simple, we were the ones to complicate them Once we arrived, we unloaded the car and made sure we were presentable; NHI shirts tucked in, name tags on, no lunch stuck in our teeth, you know… the basics.  We were all prepared to give our introductions but didn’t have a chance.  As soon as we walked in the door we were greeted with big smiles and sighs of “Oh thank goodness you’re here!”  We set up our chairs, which was a challenge all on its own, set up the table area with all the NHI goodies, tried to play our lovely cd on a broken cd player which we fixed and checked the time to find out all 4 clocks in the room were waaaaayyyy wrong!  Now some may think this is a bad start, but it was great!  Maybe we’re just crazy but either way it gave us some real life experience on all the things to be prepared for and taught us how to adapt in any situation.  Bottom line - we were there, our clients were there, and that’s all we needed to provide some relaxing chair massage :) Each client was so excited to see us and bummed to get out of that chair!  So many thank you’s and smiles, meeting many different people and hearing their stories about their health, job and life in general… it was so amazing to be a part of the on site massage team that day.  I am very excited to do as much on site massage as possible and learn from every site, every client, every time.

The group was so pleased with the work that our two wonderful therapists did that they asked us back on contract for regular visits as part of their Wellness Program!

Desiree Pooley is a student at NHI Petaluma and is a therapist at Tranquility Massage and Wellness.

Over the weekend of August 20th, National Holistic Institute’s own Julie Porter and Esko Homsi assisted new AMTA President Elect Cynthia Ribeiro with a class on shoulder rehabilitation and massage at the Prescott Resort and Conference Center in Prescott Arizona.

The event was an AMTA sponsored, 10 hour, continuing education class offered to the AMTA’s Arizona chapter members. The class consisted of trigger point work, several muscles involved with shoulder anatomy, assessment, and ample bodywork time.

Cynthia shined, as usual, commanding instant respect upon a room of 80 or so members. She was very animated going over a broad range of information in a matter of hours. Julie and Esko were there assisting with both body mechanics and clearing up questions on the comprehensive knowledge for students needing some more clarity on the information.

“A lot of the students had a plethora of knowledge reflected in their work this weekend, but at the same time it made me realize how advantageous our program is to most programs around the country. The overall quality of work from body mechanics, to understanding the anatomy, to application of techniques is really put into a complete picture for the students here at NHI. It’s clear that they receive a more complete puzzle than some throughout the country.” ~Esko

“Cynthia, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your expert teaching this weekend in Prescott. You are the most fun and well versed instructor I have ever had. Even though you had to go quickly to cover the information you had two excellent assistants to help answer my questions and to help the two day class go smoothly.” ~AMTA member

Though the workshop was an AMTA event, the Advanced Program and NHI was well represented, by both Cynthia and her assistants. Overall, it was a huge success and will lead to more opportunities for NHI to appear at national massage therapy events for NHI in the years to come.

I have two passions that I earnestly pursue, and they universally transcend common barriers. They are massage therapy and music. I became interested in massage therapy during my tenure in the restaurant industry via waiting tables.  A simple shoulder rub and the compliments that ensued soon piqued my curiosity about where massage could take me. It is always a gratifying experience to bring relief to someone in need.  I however placed massage on the back-burner for quite a while to pursue music; particularly singing.

After a decade or so without truly rewarding jobs or the connections I needed in the career in music, I returned to massage in order to at pursue an occupation that I enjoyed. NHI was the answer for me in more ways than one. Not only did I garner the skills and education needed to legitimize this vocation, my current position practicing massage therapy has now enabled me to open my own doors regarding music. I never doubted that I would sing, but I did not think that massage would accelerate my musical aspirations.

Being an independent contractor allows me to select positions that not only suit my skill set but also my scheduling needs around music. I have the option of both self employment and / or traditional work structure, allowing me to focus my time and energy on multiple passions.  I will be performing in the downtown Oakland area on Sunday August 28th in my 1^st recorded concert. If you would like to see the show, follow the link below. Friday the 26^th is the last day you may purchase the tickets online. http://rwjazz.eventbrite.com/

May your pursuit of massage therapy bring you as much joy as it has brought to me.
-Reggie Wright
NHI Graduate, 2011

National Holistic Institute and Biofreeze proudly announce that Lya Daggett, a senior student at the NHI Sacramento campus, has won the 2011 NHI/Biofreeze AMTA Convention Scholarship, honoring 2010 AMTA/Jerome Perlinski Teacher of the Year and NHI staffer Melissa Wheeler.

Lya will receive complimentary registration, airfare, and hotel for the 2011 American Massage Therapy Association National Convention in Portland, Oregon, this October compliments of NHI and generous underwriting from Biofreeze. While at the convention, Lya will attend numerous continuing education classes as well as special events as a representative and honoree of NHI and Biofreeze.

Many inspirational and compelling applicants submitted essays and letters of recommendation. The scholarship committee expressed desire to send them all. However, with above 95% attendance, over 3.8 GPA, a creatively written essay, and two glowing letters of recommendation, Lya demonstrated herself as a standout student and massage therapist.

In her scholarship essay she writes, “The dream of Massage Therapist has been with me since I was a child.” Lya is especially excited about attending the AMTA National Convention for the first time. “Attending the AMTA National Convention will enrich my massage career in many ways that I know, and many more that I won’t realize until I’m back in Sacramento sharing what I learned with my NHI student family.”

Lya plans to bring as much of the convention experience back with her for those who cannot make the trip by “providing written and verbal information/discussion to my classmates as well as some hands on demonstration. I would also be delighted to lead a discussion group for any interested students.” Lya graduates as a professional Massage Therapist and Health Educator with 720 hours of training from NHI this November. Her training has also enabled her to become certified by the California Massage Therapy Council.

The NHI/Biofreeze AMTA Convention Scholarship is open to seniors and graduates of all 6 NHI campuses and was the brainchild of NHI veteran teacher Melissa Wheeler. After being named the 2010 AMTA/Jerome Perlinski Teacher of the Year, Melissa envisioned a way others could experience the same sort of inspiration provided to her by attending massage conventions throughout her career. She knew many students and graduates beginning their careers did not have the means to attend and, thus, the idea of a scholarship was born. With a multi-year financial commitment from Biofreeze, NHI and Melissa Wheeler hope this annual scholarship will help Lya Dagget and other future massage therapists have work they love!

The California Massage Therapy Council has existed for just 2 short years. Within that time over 20,000 massage therapists have reaped the benefits the CAMTC certification has offered. The best benefit in my opinion is the flexibility to work in more than one city or county and not have to get multiple permits to do so.

At one time I would have had to get 3 permits to work in 3 cities that were 5 minutes from my door step. The cost would have been in the thousands, and would cut into my profit margin severely.  Since I’ve been CAMTC certified I have gladly only paid for my certification and business license and been perfectly happy spending the extra money on myself!

So why am I writing about this now? It’s time to recertify! I just received my notice in the mail. In the 2 years since I received my certification over 30,000 therapists have applied for CAMTC certification.

Another reason is that Assembly Bill 619 just passed and was signed into law by the Governor of California. There are several changes implemented with this bill, but one of most importance to CAMTC certified therapists is that you are now required to use the name on your certificate and your certification number on any and all advertisements you use. You must also display your name and certification number at your place of business.

For more information on AB 619 go to www.amta-ca.org and click on the State Legislation tab. If you are interested in recertification or want to get more information on being CAMTC certified; go to www.camtc.org . Now I’m off to fill out my application and continue to utilize the benefits of my CAMTC certification!

John Lambert, CAMTC #278