Trauma Informed Massage Therapy Training in Hawaii

Our trauma-informed bodywork training infuses bodywork education with the latest in somatic psychology and affective neuroscience. The next 6-month, 764-hour program is Jan-June 2025.
Apply for 2025!

The PCAB Approach

Our mission is to cultivate the personal and professional development of skillful, embodied massage therapists by providing a rich, quality bodywork education that applies the latest knowledge and skills from manual therapy, psychology, and neuroscience to the offering of compassionate, presence-centered care.

We believe that the combination of skillful listening touch and therapeutic relational skills can facilitate remarkable healing that leads to greater joy and wellbeing.

What We Emphasize

Embodiment & Somatics
Affective Neuroscience
Practitioner Cultivation
Presence & Deep Listening
Trauma-informed Practice
Client-centered Treatment
Therapeutic Relationship

Student Testimonials

My experience…has been transformational.  More than any other course I’ve taken, this one has a structure that allows us as students to not only learn advanced bodywork practices, but to also make a deep self inquiry in a safe and nurturing environment.  I came out of the program happier and feeling more alive and feeling ready to pursue my professional career in massage.
Demian McKinley
During my study time for half a year, I not only gained new techniques and tools to serve my clients, I also learned how to combine and integrate everything else I studied before in one session with a holistic approach. It was the ultimate experience and place of rebirth for that time.  After my first week at this school, I knew this was exactly what I searched for a long time. Many times I was told that I have “unrealistic” visions, therefore to study here was truly a revelation and confirmation that it truly is possible.
Yves Nager
This six month program exceeded any expectations I had. I can honestly say I am a new person inside and out.  More alive and present than ever.
Rose Miller
Besides the rich learning of bodywork, I have been busted open emotionally, felt shifts in perspective, awareness beyond my ego, and healed some deep issues within my soul.  I feel blessed to have followed my heart to the magic of Kauai and this program.
Wanda Troy, 2008
Before I decided to go to PCAB, I watched 2 years worth of students and was highly impressed with the transformational changes I saw in them as they went through the program. It seemed like whatever they loved they became better at, be it bodywork, dance, or any other heart calling.  Clearly, something was going right in there, so I decided to go too. Now I am a professional massage therapist as well as a happier, healthier human being. In addition to working at a spa, where my client feedback is outstanding, I also own a massage therapy business that sends work to some of the best therapists on the island, many of whom (I can’t help but notice) are also graduates of the PCAB program.
Debbie Cole
My education at PCAB prepared me to step into a role I’ve long been moving towards.  It helped shape my own healing process, simply by bringing the energy of truth, awareness, and love into my heart.  The transformations that have come from that simple medicine are monumental.  For anyone who has searched for a curriculum that explores the realm of combining bodywork with a larger process of healing and freedom- look no further.  You will find yourself at home on the beautiful and nourishing island of Kauai, and you will find yourself learning what you’ve always wanted to learn at the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork.
Karuna Reeves
Awareness practices are the gift of my education here. These tools cracked my “reality” open just enough for me to be un-blinded. I walk away with massage skills beyond what I knew were possible and a taste of infinite possibilities.
Molly Morehouse, Kauai, HI
Everything I should have learned in grade school about how to live in the world, plus high-level bodywork training.
Shiva Reinhardt, Kauai, HI
I would recommend this experience to anyone. In fact, I would love to have the opportunity to experience this magic time again. Thanks so much [to] all who contributed.
James Livingston, Kauai, HI
An incredible journey It’s been. Fully transformational and healing. I felt really balanced and clear during this training. I opened up more than I had expected and learned incredibly valuable skills and tools for succeeding in this life.
Kenneth S. Solin, LMT, Kauai, HI
Changes I’ve noticed? Tons! Emotional, physical, psychological, and most of all spiritual. More freedom. More self-confidence. More comfort -ability to look people in the eyes. A new sense of identity! A feeling of having strengthened myself and my awareness so much that it doesn’t matter if I ever even gave another massage. I loved this course, much more than a course, more like a passage or a rite towards inner peace and personal freedom in this life.
Teje Cuellar, Maui, HI
I’ve experienced in my body changes that I wanted to have inside. I just feel more clear about the connections between body and mind.
Isabella Santos, Maui, HI
So much more than a course in bodywork. A great opportunity to heal yourself as well as others in your life. Phenomenally powerful tools aid in the healing of our world.
Natalie Simpson, Maui, HI
After studying and practicing massage for 8 years, and then taking [this] class, I am blown away! This class is everything that I have always wanted to learn, wrapped up into one spectacular, incredibly informative class. The Bodywork… is the most effective that I have ever experienced. I am watching my classmates and myself transform before my eyes, and not just physically. We are all becoming more of ourselves. Plain and simple, I have uncovered layers of my being, emotionally, mentally and physically and also have a thorough understanding of what I believe to be the best Bodywork available. [The staff] are amazing – extremely present and very aware. I feel honored to have been able to spend such quality time in their presence.
Nadia Elmagrabi, Detroit, MI
Physically, I feel more structurally aligned with gravity. I am using less effort to do everything, therefore having a more efficient approach to movement and being. Consciously, I am aware of my thoughts. I’m not perfect, but the awareness is there and is growing stronger day by day. The self is amazing. Emotionally, I am more at peace in feeling my emotions without shutting them down. It is a beautiful experience day to day in the newfound realm of emotions. Professionally, this Bodywork is amazing! It has the potential to take anyone anywhere. It’s up to the student/client!

Valerie Dabach, Santa Monica, CA
This is not just the best massage school, it is life training.
Chad Bennis, Bowling Green, KY
This school has had an enormous impact on me. So much more than just a massage school. It is truly a center for awareness. I have experienced a very accelerated growth process. So here, I begin the awakening. It is like I am being given the tools to really find what’s inside….helping us all to heal ourselves so that we can really help to heal others. All I can say is, THIS IS IT!
Joyanna Jech, Olympia, WA
Now my bodywork comes more from a place of presence and focused intention, that center of the self. I now can connect deeply and easily into that place, the place of unity. I feel I learned something about how we choose our experience and how to choose joy and happiness as a means to appreciate my life.
Kalinda Scholl, Kauai, HI
This stuff really helps. It works, and is worthy of my full attention. I am very impressed with the work, physically and emotionally. This deep tissue work not only helps realign the structure of the body, it also reaches into the soul and brings up issues that also need healing on that level.
Marguerite Pennington, LMT, Ministerial Counselor, Kauai, HI
I have found within myself a place of peace and loving acceptance from where healing can begin. For if a client is to receive that into their heart and being, it has to be present in the therapist.
Peter Chandler, Kauai, HI
[This] work…encouraged in me, the self trust and strength to be fully present and heartful in my work.
Deban Piper, Gainesville, FL
It brought awareness, openness, and understanding to begin the healing process in my mind and body. I am very pleased with the process, which changed my posture. I am more aware, less selfish, more loving and have a greater understanding and love for myself and body. This has been a profound and awakening time. I feel renewed and reborn.
David Grover, Kauai, HI
Best points: Deep awareness of instructors & their willingness to pass that self & other awareness on. Taking time to experience presence. Humor. Knowledge. I had heard (from others) that I would go to another level of understanding—yet I never realized how many tools I’d be given, how beautiful the experience, nor how free to be present with self & others I would be. NEVER will I forget the insight & unconditional love.
Jhauna Lacy, CMT, St. Louis, MO
Receiving the sessions increased my personal body awareness by a thousand fold. It gave me a concrete base to work from. It gave me an amazing appreciation for my own body and all those around me. I believe wholeheartedly that this is one of the greatest experiences of my entire life. This is something that I am not afraid to mention to anyone who cares to ask. It was a turning point in my life. Within this amazingly nurturing group, I had my first truly enlightening experience – over and over!! There were days I didn’t think I could possibly learn more, but I did. My own internal growth occurred at such a rapid pace that I had to surrender to the divine and simply hang on. I can never begin to thank you enough for things that are not even explainable.
Timothy Lafferty, LMT, Paonia, CO