Begin a fulfilling career in massage therapy with the Pacific Center for Awareness & Bodywork in Hawaii. Learn about various massage modalities, the benefits of a massage therapy career, and how our trauma-informed, neuroscience-based training in Kauai can prepare you for licensure and professional success.

How does one get a massage therapy license?

As the current director of a massage therapy school in Hawaii and the former director of a massage therapy school in Oregon, I am intimately familiar with the ins and outs of this process.  My students come from all over the country, and so I’ve had to become familiar with the requirements in all of the states in order to create a program that meets or exceeds those requirements in most of those states.  Those details vary widely, but the following three steps provide the outline of the process for everyone.

Aceosage: This combination of massage, yoga, and acrobatics was developed by Benjamin Marantz. The client is placed in an inverted pose atop the acrosager’s feet, their head hanging freely. With no pressure on the neck or spine, the client’s more difficult points can be easily massaged.

At first glance, the question of how massage therapy works may seem like an easy one to answer, but the answer is not simple.  Massage works via multiple, complex routes in the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, and is impacted by physical, psychological, and social factors.

Studying massage therapy in Hawaii can offer several advantages to students who are interested in pursuing a career in massage therapy. Because Hawaii is located further from any continent than any other place in the world, and because of its subtropical climate and unique culture, it can often feel like being in a foreign country and thus has many of the same advantages of studying abroad.  Here are some potential benefits.

For most people, bodywork is about working on bodies, and muscles in particular.  And this is a peculiar thing, because if one asks the same people what their main reason for getting a massage is, the #1 answer is to relax or reduce stress, and their #2 answer is to relieve pain.  Relaxation, or stress reduction, is much more about the mind than it is the body, and while pain is a very complex topic, it, too, is also much more about the nervous system than it is about muscles.

Clearly bodywork has relevance far beyond the body and bleeds over into the realm of psychology whether it wants to or not.  In many bodywork sessions, clients find that emotions arise during the session that don’t normally arise outside of a bodywork session, and most clients leave a session with a feeling that isn’t fully captured by the word ‘relaxed’ but more often is better captured by a word such as ‘aliveness’ or ’embodiment’.  At PCAB, we think the feeling of aliveness or embodiment is a good thing to have more of.

Why Choose Accelerated Massage Therapy Programs? If you’re looking into massage therapy programs and would like to get your massage therapy license as soon as possible, then enrolling in an accelerated massage therapy program might be your best option.  The length of massage therapy programs in the US varies from about 6 months to about 2 years.  Some of the difference in program length is due to a wide variety of program hours, varying from 500 to 1000, but the main difference is that of full-time vs. part-time engagement.

Trauma-informed Care and Trauma-specific Treatment are two related, relatively new, and loosely-defined terms that are often confused. PCAB is a trauma-informed school that teaches trauma-informed bodywork, but it does not offer trauma-specific treatment, similar to how a company may abide by standards of equality and non-discrimination while its products or services are not directly related to such issues. Trauma-informed services or practices are often characterized by the 4 Rs: Realize, Recognize, Respond, and Resist Re-traumatization.

How do you choose a massage school that is right for you? There are over 300 massage schools in the United States, and they are vary from each other in many respects that are often not apparent.  So, let’s look at eight key decision points for choosing a massage school, starting with the simple and concrete items and ending with more abstract items.

Which states need CPR, First Aid, and background checks to get a massage therapy license?

Read each of the sections below to see which states require CPR, First Aid, and background checks to get a massage therapy license.   Go to our Ultimate Guide for Getting a Massage Therapy License to learn more.

Which states require CPR to get a massage therapy license?

Approximately half of the states that regulate massage include CPR in their licensing requirements.  The following list is as of May 2023.  Always check with your state’s licensing agency for the latest requirements.

Attend a Massage Therapy School

You can apply to a massage school in any state.  Most schools will require you to be 18 with a high school diploma or equivalent.  Because the licensing requirements vary widely between states, you should apply to a school that meets the requirements of the state that you plan to get licensed in.  An in-state school will always work, but for an out-of-state school you’ll want to make sure that the school not only meets the requirement for total program hours but also meets any requirements for specific topics within the program, such as anatomy, kinesiology, ethics, etc.  There is no need to attend an accredited school (except in RI).  State requirements (and massage school programs) vary from 500 total hours (including CA, CO, ID, MI, NC, NV, TN, TX) to 1000 total hours (NE, NY), but most are around 600-700 hours (including AK, AZ, OR, MA, NM, PA, WA).  If you think you’ll ever live in another state, it’s best to attend a program whose hours will be sufficient for most other states (think 750 hours) as it will be difficult to supplement hours later.  To find out requirements for any state, go directly to that state’s website rather than any 3rd party website that may have outdated or incomplete information.  For more info on choosing a massage school, check out The Ultimate Guide for Choosing a Massage School.

Bodywork and massage therapy are becoming increasingly popular forms of holistic health and wellness, and there are many great towns and cities throughout the United States where practitioners can thrive. Here are the top towns and cities in the USA to practice bodywork and massage therapy.

Here are the URLs for the massage licensing board for all 50 states:

As humans, and even as mammals, wanting connection with others is central to who we are.  To be seen, understood, accepted, heard, and touched…all of these are part of a core set of wishes that we are born to pursue without hesitation—our very survival depends on it.  

But at some point, this gleeful pursuit doesn’t go as we had hoped, and we begin to hedge our bets, hesitating in these pursuits or even creating subconscious psychological strategies that block our awareness of these wishes to varying degrees.  For many people, this leads to an adult life that is characterized by a simultaneous longing for connection juxtaposed with a potent aversion to it.  The longing is the original wish of our true selves, while the aversion is the protective strategy that emerges, and these two opposing forces create a tension or dilemma that becomes a central theme in that person’s experience.

Many massage clients and therapists have noticed that strong emotions can come up during a massage therapy session. In this article, we’ll briefly explore why this happens.

One common idea is that massage is “releasing emotions” or “releasing trauma”. This idea is incorrect because it assumes that emotions or trauma are stored in the body when in fact storage is always the domain of the nervous system. It’s never accurate to say that something was stored in the body. And with emotions, it’s not even accurate to say that they are stored. Emotions indeed require a body to exist in the first place, and they certainly have further impacts on the body over time, but they are not “stored”. They are always being generated in response to something (e.g. a thought, memory, or sensation) in the moment. Having addressed this common notion, we can move on to possible explanations:

How is posture relevant to health and wellbeing?   

Most massage therapists, and most people in general, have opinions about this.  In fact, most have been taught specific answers to this question.  And if asked “What do we need to discuss to properly address this topic?” most people would say words like muscles, fascia, and balance.

But I propose that if one truly wants to understand how posture is relevant to health and wellbeing, then what one needs to primarily grasp is the psychological question of what drives all behavior.  And if that seems far afield from muscles, fascia, and balance, it’s because it is.  

The term “trauma-informed” or “trauma-sensitive” is a recent term in our culture that has been rapidly growing in popularity.  This rapid growth reflects how our culture as a whole is becoming more aware of phenomena such as PTSD, complex PTSD, developmental trauma, and how Adverse Childhood Events (ACE) affect physical and psychological health as adults.  This is a positive step, but along with the popularity of the term also comes misconceptions, the most common misconception being that “trauma-informed” refers to “trauma treatment.”  But these two terms mean very different things.  Trauma treatment is something that only mental health professionals can provide, whereas providing trauma-informed services is something that every individual, institution, and business can (or should) do.

In this episode of the Transforming Trauma podcast, I discuss what it means (and why it's so important) for bodywork and bodywork education to be trauma-informed.