Continuing Education for the Massage Professional & Community

This in-person course provides embodied, hands-on experience in delivering effective bodywork techniques on a floor mat while maintaining optimum presence and body mechanics to prevent repetitive strain injury for the therapist and yield positive outcomes for the recipient. 

Where applicable, we will safely adapt techniques for therapeutic massage work done on the table. 

Working from the premise that we are better equipped to facilitate for others that which we experientially understand ourselves, students will receive the work via a treatment, watch each approach and technique, and then practice those techniques on others, under supervision in class. The three days will teach treatment approaches and techniques for the lower limbs and pelvis; the abdomen / thorax; and the upper back/chest, neck/head, and upper limbs. Each day will begin with movement and sensing practices prior to the bodywork portion that ground us in our own body and build proficiency in reducing pain and promoting ease of movement. Each lesson begins with a hands-on exploration of the anatomy pertinent to the techniques covered in that lesson, along with Thai, Chinese, Ayurvedic, and myofascial meridians, and the elements of each system*. The throughline of the course is the spine, dermatomes, and applied knowledge of agonist/antagonist muscle actions and how we can best use all of these to support positive treatment outcomes for both recipient and therapist. Participants will develop fluency in seeing and using the universals across different medicinal systems to craft an effective  therapeutic treatment, and be able to chart clinically for use in communication with other health professionals. 

Class size is limited to 8 people. If we have more registrants than that, we will add another section and dates.

Upon receiving your registration, you will receive a link to pay, a schedule with an outline of each day, and a code to schedule your 2-hour treatment. Experiencing the work that you will be practicing is one of the best ways to learn. Ideally, schedule your treatment before the course. 

This course is taught by Johanna Vargas and Gwen Mitchell.

*I am sharing with you the aspects of Thai medicinal theory, Chinese medicinal theory and the many technologies used in Ayurveda and yoga that I have studied and continue to study and practice for over three decades, some since childhood, in many different settings, under many teachers. You will be getting a hands-on distillation of key concepts. I will include resources for further study if you choose to dive deep. The most important teachers will always be the present moment and the body with which you are immediately working.