In years past, receiving massage training from a master teacher and mentor meant being in the same place as this teacher and essentially working as an apprentice for him or her. Of course, this is still an option for those manual therapists who happen to live in the same place as their ideal massage mentor or are willing to move in order to learn from him or her on a regular basis. Another option, which is somewhat along these same lines but less involved, is traveling in order to earn an in-person massage CEU from the educator you most admire. In this way, professional massage therapists and bodyworkers can train in the modality they feel most passionate about, with the teacher who is best known for imparting the necessary skills and information, and then come back home to their own practices, families and friends.
However, even this option can be a bit much for those manual therapists who may not have the free time or funds to commute a great distance in order to learn from a certain teacher in a face to face environment. It is wonderful to be able to attend a massage continuing education seminar in person, but when getting the time off and gathering the necessary savings happens to be too challenging, there is another worthy option for practitioners who are eager to learn from the best—earning a massage online CEU. Given the popularity of the face to face seminars provided by leading massage practitioners and educators, the ability to enroll in a massage online CEU also means that there is an alternative route to learning when the seminar you wanted to attend has already filled up.
Before you make any assumptions about the quality of a massage online CEU program in comparison to the standard classroom or seminar experience, remember that modern technology has created all kinds of platforms for delivering information from a distance. A well done online massage therapy continuing education class may not put you in the same room with the instructor you most admire, but it will give you immediate access to his or her teachings—the same lessons you would learn in person. With advances in technology, massage therapy online continuing education can include features such as live streaming videos, video archives, live streaming lectures, lecture archives, chat forums, animations to help you get a better grasp on complex concepts and so much more.
In fact, there are several facets of earning a massage online CEU that could be considered above and beyond traditional classroom learning. For example, depending on the massage online CEU program in which you are enrolled, there is a good chance you will have access to the lesson archives. This means that you can go back and watch any videos or listen to any lectures as much as you want—pausing, rewinding and repeating as necessary. This kind of easy access to the course material developed and presented by leaders in the field of massage continuing education can be of great value to professional massage therapists and bodyworkers, as they can return to the material again and again.
For those manual therapists who are interested in learning from massage pioneer Erik Dalton—developer of Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques (MAT) and founder of the Freedom From Pain Institute—enrolling in one of Dalton’s massage online CEU programs can be a great way to go. Given the demand for space within the face to face seminars hosted by Dalton and his senior teachers, the ability to begin learning MAT or advance your current MAT skills by enrolling in a massage online CEU program is an incredibly useful and convenient option.
Whether you choose to reserve a spot in an upcoming seminar, sign up for a home study continuing education course or get on board for a CE program that takes place totally online, finding a way to learn from elite educators such as Erik Dalton can be a powerful step toward creating the career of your dreams. Those who do begin the continuing education journey toward mastering MAT will be on a path that can move them away from the mainstream relaxation model of massage and closer to the lucrative world of manual therapy for pain management.
