New Mexico Massage School
6 Month Awareness Based Massage Certification Program starts September 29th, 2008.
Massage Therapy Certification in New Mexico
Pre-Orientation for potential students June 21st.
Why Choose Our School?
- The location - The Ruidoso/Alto area is high in the mountains and pine trees. It is a relatively small town that affords a quiet and peaceful environment ideal for awakening the healing, sensitive energy within you. The school itself is located on 40 acres of pine trees, wide open spaces, and wildlife that has been used as sacred space for 15 years.
- The focus - As you will read further below, our emphasis is on teaching you how to be truly present for your clients. Paired with precise knowledge of the human body and techniques, this will help you stand apart in the industry.
- The Cost - Our cost is competitive with schools in our area. In fact, among privately owned massage schools in New Mexico, we are one of the most affordably priced. (See Program Details).
Our Teaching Emphasis
Presence. Learning techniques well will help you better serve the clients you work on in your massage therapy practice. And you will learn countless effective techniques for treating your clients' problems. But will you be a good therapist?
*The* most important thing you can bring to the table when you give a massage is your presence. I don't simply mean "physically being there." When I use the word "presence" it means you bring your spirit, your consciousness, into present interaction with the client's spirit and consciousness. You are not daydreaming, feeling bored, or just there to make a buck. You bring your whole being into conscious participation in the massage, focusing on the tissue at hand, and the whole being and history of that person that made them into who they are today that they had to come to you for help in relieving their tension or pain with a massage.
Being present at any time is not an easy task for most of us. We like to withdraw to our own private universe or talk and talk and talk and never talk about anything real. We all have a thousand different techniques for *not* being present, for hiding and pretending nothing is wrong.
Mountain Meadow Massage School focuses on this all important issue. We spend lots of time learning techniques, anatomy, and other details. But we also spend ample time practicing being present, and learning what all the things are that *keep* us from being present. So that when finally the client has a moment of vulnerablity and openness, we don't rush past it, or grind harder into their muscles, and let the opportunity pass to find real healing, which does not come in the body, but in the heart.
Mountain Meadow Massage School in Ruidoso, New Mexico
Mission
- To train students to become quality massage therapists with the following abilities:
-To perform excellent technical massage therapy, treating injuries and imbalances;
-To treat their clients as whole human beings; and
-To touch with presence and awareness.
- To provide a space and tools for self exploration, growth, personal transformation and awareness.
- To acknowledge the unity between Body, Mind, Emotions, and Spirit, and teach and give massage in a way that encompasses all aspects of that unity.
- To teach with academic rigor all subjects offered, and encourage critical thinking in academic matters.
Our Philosophy
Mountain Meadow Massage School believes that body and mind are intimately connected and in fact, one thing. The body is a reflection of the mind, and the mind can be deeply affected by what is done with and to the body. Through treating the body, the mind is also affected, and when we affect the mind, the body reveals this in various ways."The unity principle states that the universe is fundamentally a web of relationships in which all aspects and components are inseparable from the whole and do not exist in isolation" - Ron Kurtz - Body Centered Psychotherapy
Emotions and memories are stored in the body. When we touch another human being, in massage or otherwise, we are also touching their emotions and memories. Here at Mountain Meadow Massage School we strive to cultivate and convey a sense of reverence and honor when touching the human body. For another to let you touch them they must be vulnerable, and therefore we treat this as a great privilege, and never touch idly or without thought.
"The basic work of health professionals in general...is to become full human beings and to inspire full human-beingness in other people who feel starved about their lives." - Chogyam Trungpa, Becoming a Full Human Being
This is why personal growth and transformation is woven into every aspect of our program. In order to touch with true awareness and presence, the therapist must be present and aware first of him or herself. By coming into contact and dialogue with ourselves, we prepare to really contact another. Many types of massage focus on the body as an object to be manipulated and fixed. The massage we teach here at Mountain Meadow Massage School, no matter how technically and medically apt always sees the body as an extension of the mind and emotions. When you are touching someone's tight shoulders, you are feeling directly their suffering and stress. Touching with this level of presence and attention makes every technique more integral and ultimately effective.
“Through gentle presence and conscious touch we evoke Awarenesss and Awareness Heals.”
