But why?
This is something I commonly get asked by patients and others, “why did you choose massage therapy.” And there are a few different reasons that led me here.
Around the age of 11 or 12, I went to my first massage therapy appointment. My parents were big into fitness. My dad was a fitness instructor for years and once a month, on a Monday night after my dad taught bootcamp, we would go see his RMT. She was a fabulous and funky woman who practiced massage therapy, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture since the early 90s. To me, she was fascinating. One of those people who had that extra sense—she could just glance over you and pull out all the places you needed healing. Her intuition was radiant, she had boundless knowledge of the body and was apt to share. Never having children, she took me under her wing as I aged through my teens and was a huge mentor in health and wellness for me. Also through this time, I was battling disordered eating. From a young age, I struggled with body dysmorphia and was influenced by the diet culture of the 90s and early 2000s where thin was everything. This left me lost and confused, but at the same time curious. Disordered eating seems to be familial in my situation, but it was something unspoken of at the time. I was active and anorexic from the age of 11. This RMT mentor I had really helped me through this time too. She was gentle and knowledgeable about the body and it felt like great guidance through such an uncomfortable time. From education around my body and safe physical touch, this was a huge part of my healing. My body persevered, and I was able to regain weight and strength once I hit about 15. I had rapid growth physically during this time and still suffered from body dysmorphia but my eating was less disordered and I was functioning more like a regular teen.
Fast forward to 18-year-old Amanda, she wanted to travel. And I did. I was not ready to be bound by school. I needed to learn more about myself and the world. I wanted to work and play. So I travelled through Australia for 6 months, then came home to make some money and took off again to Southeast Asia for 3 months. Here I got a little more curious about what postsecondary looked like and “what I wanted to do with my life”. I knew that education was in my future but I had no idea what or where I would be studying. I had a burning desire for the human body and was drawn to more yogic practices. I played sports, danced and went to the gym a lot growing up, but with my disordered eating, I had a mixed relationship with my body and this idea of health. At first, the science side of me led me to nursing, so I took a few first-year courses while I was on the waitlist for the full program at my local college. One of the courses I took was an alternative health class where other manual therapies and modalities were explored and this led me right back to my old Massage Therapist from my early teens. The ideas of our more “western” style medicine didn’t settle right with all of my morals. I didn’t see myself practicing in the same way that our amazing nurses do. They play such an important role in our overall health, but I had that instinct that it wasn’t for me.
After many walks and chats with my RMT mentor, she had me interested and I applied to the RMT program. I was accepted into our local Massage College and was on my journey of education. At first, I struggled, the program was difficult and I wasn’t sure it was “for me”. I stuck it out, and though it sounds cheesy, I am so grateful I had the grit to do so.
Seven years into this career, I have fallen more and more in love with it. And it continues to make me curious. I love working with my own hands and body, but I want to stretch this more and reach more people. As the science around manual therapy, pain science and our bodies progress, I want to dive in deeper, learn and linger a little more and help people in a variety of ways.
In a recent session with a coach, my WHY really hit me. I spent years raging against my own body. Through disordered eating and over-exercising, I was living in discomfort but trying to make sense of it. Being unsettled in my own body for years has been a huge driving factor in helping others through their discomfort. It is one of the things that keeps me in this career and is the momentum behind wanting more out of it. Now that is not to say I have it ALL figured out. Though the body dysmorphia is mostly gone, I still catch myself with intrusive, unhelpful thoughts. Massage therapy was a major help to me in various stages of my life and it continues to be.
So here I am, thinking about the next chapter, wondering how I can grow and learn more about my own body and others to progress and help us all in and out of pain, and all aspects of life.