Yoga Insurance Plus Q+A: Exploring the balance between yoga instruction and massage therapy

Yoga Insurance Plus interviewed Gwen Lawrence, licensed massage therapist and yoga instructor, about the synergy between the two disciplines, and the realities of balancing multiple careers. End Quote

Florence, SC (1888PressRelease) November 15, 2011 - 1. Did you first become a massage therapist or a yoga instructor?
I first became a licensed massage therapist.

2. How did this come about and what were your motivations?
I was finishing up college as a Major in Art and Minor in Dance, and as graduation grew closer, I felt that something was missing. I serendipitously found out massage was a therapeutic career and not a taboo, shameful practice; it is a very respectable way to earn a career and help people. This fit in with my interest in art, as I had found out through taking many drawing courses that I had an insatiable yearning to learn about anatomy and physiology. It fell right into the dance interest, too. At the time, my now husband was an aspiring MLB player so I would go to school to pursue a massage therapy career helping professional athletes. Of course, my peers laughed at my dream, but that just fueled my desire to succeed

3. Which is most satisfying to you, as a massage therapist or yoga instructor, in terms of working with clients and in terms of monetizing your efforts?
I have never been the type of person that could work for somebody and supplement their income, so Massage was also a great way for me to stay independent, and have the most control over what I earned. I learned a lot about how to run my own business, manage and acquire clientele and keep them, as well as being able to call my own hours and start a family while still being able to be home with them. It is truly a difficult choice for me to pick what I loved better. Both massage and yoga came to me at the time in my life when they were most appropriate. I could not have been the solid Yoga Coach that I am without my deep knowledge of the body how it works, how it hurts, etc…it gave me a unique gift of confidence when it comes to hands on adjustments with my yoga students. I now share all this knowledge through my yoga school teacher training, Laws of Yoga. So each career fed the success of the other.

I do have to add as far as monetizing my career, yoga is easier only because when doing massage, people would want ONLY you, as they have built their trust in you and you cannot massage more than one person at a time. Also, you can really only do 5-6 effective massages a day without over exerting yourself. With yoga, you are only limited to class size, and the capacity of the room you are teaching in, so you can get larger numbers and therefore a more lucrative career, IF that is your goal. It seems when you love what you do money is not the motivator is it the magnitude at which you can effect people.

4. What type of yoga do you teach?
I do not necessarily align myself with a tradition. I learn from all the greats and pull what makes sense to me and what I feel I can teach best with the greatest results. If I have to term it I would say a power Vinyasa with an emphasis on form.

5. What massage techniques do you use?
Over the years I did lymph drainage techniques, but mostly deep tissue as that seemed to be the demand and what gave the bet results with my athlete clientele. I have worked with a PT, a Chiropractor and on many doctors referrals, even with many pregnant women and people rehabbing from injury or surgery.

6. In terms of marketing is yoga easier to attract students or massage easier to attract clients?
I think it is easier to market yourself as a massage therapist, especially when you are just starting and you do not have references or a reputation to carry you. Who doesn't love a good massage? However - with yoga and trying to attain and build a new clientele - you have to sell them on the benefits, get them to commit to some sort of regularity and convince them why they need it. With massage there is nothing to lose, and you rarely get a horrible massage.

7. Do you network with other health-care professionals? If so, who?
Since I am a working Mom of three I have always been a one woman show, due to the needs of catering to my own scheduling so I do not really have a network.

8. Do you recommend that a massage therapist learn to be a yoga instructor?
I recommend people follow their heart and dream and be true to their decisions for a career path. However, they are very synergistic careers. Only 5% of Yoga instructors make it their full time career, so if you are looking for a complimentary job, Massage Therapy would be great. I also warn that you MUST be a people person, able to hear people out and truly listen, willing to study hard and never stop learning new techniques, work long hours and tiring days and do not expect a decent income until you have put 5 true solid years of dedicated practice for both careers. In the yoga, world you are considered as knowledgeable as the years of practice …so if you have been practicing for 5 years you are considered a 5 year old in yoga terms, and we all know how much a 5 year old really knows. They are both rewarding yet humbling careers.

9. Do you recommend that yoga instructors learn to be a massage therapists?
I think it doesn't matter which way it goes, but I think having a massage license before a yoga certification seems to be a better way to go as you would embark upon the Yoga teaching with an enormously sound anatomy background. In my opinion, many teacher trainings are too lax on the anatomy part of the training, leaving the teachers and their students at a disadvantage.

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