Massage Therapy
Massage Career
There are several benefits to pursuing a career in massage therapy, including:
Flexibility: Massage therapy careers offer flexible work hours and the ability to work independently or in a spa or clinic setting.
Personal fulfillment: Massage therapists have the opportunity to help people reduce stress and improve their overall wellness.
Job growth: The demand for massage therapy services is expected to increase as more people seek alternative forms of health and wellness treatment and more insurance companies cover massage services. Massage therapist job opportunities have risen since the pandemic.
Competitive earnings: Massage therapists can earn a good income, with the potential for higher earnings with experience and specialization.
Professional development: Massage therapists have opportunities for continuing education and professional development to enhance their skills and stay current in the field.
Overall, a career in massage therapy can offer a rewarding and fulfilling work-life balance for individuals who are passionate about helping others and promoting wellness. Few professions are as easy to travel with, pay as much per hour, provide as much scheduling flexibility, and result in as many happy clients.
Massage Styles and Modalities
There are literally hundreds of massage therapy modalities in existence, and most massage schools teach primarily swedish-style massage. PCAB offers professional instruction in standard bodywork modalities such as Swedish, Lomilomi, Shiatsu, and Thai massage, and our focus is primarily on slow-movement, deep-listening therapies that are based on the latest (neuro)science of touch and interoception. The “best” style of massage is the one that is the most effective for meeting the client’s biological and psychological needs as well as fitting your preferences for the types of issues you want to focus on, how you prefer to move during a massage, and what your career goals are. Ultimately, there are only so many ways to touch the body, so while we teach separate modalities, our emphasis is to make you skillful in a broad variety of touch styles so that you can apply them in a customized manner that is most appropriate for exploring your client’s goals.
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Swedish massage is the standard style of massage practiced in North America, and it’s the style that has been most studied. Swedish massage was developed with anatomy and physiology in mind, so each stroke is designed, in theory, in terms of how it will affect the muscular system, the nervous system, and the circulatory and lymphatic systems. Sometimes it is referred to as Relaxation massage or spa massage because it tends to be practiced in a manner that maximizes relaxation.
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Lomi Lomi is a traditional Hawaiian healing massage rooted in the philosophy of ho‘oponopono (restoring harmony) and the belief that physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are deeply interconnected. Passed down through generations of Hawaiian healers, Lomi Lomi is more than a technique — it is a sacred practice that honors the body as a vessel of spirit and life force.
Lomi Lomi is characterized by fluid, rhythmic strokes, often using the forearms, hands, and full body weight in long, sweeping motions that mimic the waves of the ocean. These movements help to release tension, support circulation and lymph flow, and restore energetic balance. Practitioners often move with intention and breath, cultivating a space of Aloha (compassionate presence) and deep connection.
Traditionally performed in the context of ceremony and prayer, Lomi Lomi may include chants (oli), pule (prayer), breathwork, and energy clearing, aligning body and spirit. Modern Lomi Lomi styles vary depending on lineage — such as Aunty Margaret Machado’s or Uncle Abraham Kawai‘i’s — but all carry the spirit of aloha and reverence for the interconnectedness of life.
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Thai Massage is a centuries-old healing art from Thailand that blends acupressure, assisted stretching, energy work, and mindfulness. Rooted in Buddhist medicine and influenced by Ayurvedic and Chinese traditions, Thai Massage is often called "Nuad Boran" — meaning "ancient healing touch."
Performed fully clothed on a floor mat, Thai Massage is a dynamic, full-body treatment in which the practitioner uses hands, thumbs, elbows, knees, and feet to apply rhythmic pressure along the body’s Sen lines — energy pathways similar to meridians or nadis — while guiding the client through passive yoga-like stretches. The combination of compression, traction, joint mobilization, and mindful breath fosters increased mobility, energy flow, and nervous system balance.
Rather than working on isolated areas, Thai Massage treats the whole person, supporting circulation, flexibility, muscular release, and emotional well-being. Traditionally, it is offered as a meditative, relational practice grounded in metta — loving-kindness — where both giver and receiver cultivate presence and compassion.
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Neuromuscular Therapy, also known as Trigger Point, is a modality that focuses on the relationship between the nervous system and the muscles and is practiced by applying static, perpendicular pressure to specific points on the body. The static holding is in contrast to the fluid movement of Swedish massage. The NMT points are conceptually unrelated to acupuncture/acupressure points, but the technique is similar.
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Shiatsu is a Japanese form of bodywork rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and informed by modern anatomy and physiology. The word "Shiatsu" means "finger pressure" — but practitioners may also use palms, elbows, knees, and even feet to apply rhythmic, sustained pressure along the body’s meridians, or energy pathways, to support the balanced flow of Qi (life energy).
Practiced on a floor mat or massage table with the client fully clothed, Shiatsu incorporates compression, stretching, joint mobilization, and focused touch to address both physical and energetic imbalances. Its aim is to restore harmony in the body’s organ systems, relieve tension, regulate the nervous system, and promote deep relaxation and vitality.
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Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on manual therapy that supports the body’s natural ability to heal and regulate itself. It works with the craniosacral system — the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord — to release restrictions and restore balance in the central nervous system.
Using light touch, typically no more than the weight of a nickel, the practitioner palpates subtle rhythms and tensions within the body to identify and ease patterns of restriction. CST can have far-reaching effects on the nervous system, musculoskeletal function, and emotional well-being, making it especially valuable for individuals dealing with trauma, chronic pain, stress-related conditions, headaches, TMJ dysfunction, and more.
Developed from the osteopathic work of Dr. William Sutherland and expanded by Dr. John Upledger, CST bridges structural and subtle therapeutic approaches. It is often described as deeply calming, with clients frequently entering meditative or parasympathetic states that support regulation, integration, and repair.
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Connective Tissue Massage (CTM) is a specialized form of manual therapy that focuses on releasing adhesions, thickening, and holding patterns within the body’s fascia — the continuous, three-dimensional web of connective tissue that surrounds and integrates muscles, bones, nerves, and organs.
Developed in the early 20th century by German physiotherapist Elisabeth Dicke, CTM was originally used to affect autonomic nervous system function and improve organ health via reflexive skin and fascial techniques. Unlike Swedish massage, CTM uses slow, precise, and sustained strokes applied to the superficial layers of connective tissue, often creating a strong pulling or shearing sensation. These strokes aim to stimulate local circulation, reorganize tissue structure, and improve mobility and postural alignment.
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Fascia is a type of connective tissue that forms a continuous sheath around the body between the skin and the muscle while also wrapping and permeating each muscle. For the last few decades, it was widely believed that fascia played a critical role in posture and that it was malleable through touch. Research in the 21st century has thoroughly debunked these ideas and other tissue-based, operator-based, “fix-the-client” models. In its place has arisen neurocentric, client-centered, inter-operator models that focus on neural patterns of sensory awareness and movement instead of fascia. PCAB is one of the few places in the country that has adopted this new approach.
Massage Licensing
The vast majority of US States and Canadian provinces require that massage therapists be licensed in order to practice massage therapy as a paid profession, and the requirements for each state are different. Most states require a minimum of 500 hours of training. One highly respected guideline (the Entry-Level Massage Education Blueprint) recommends a core curriculum of 625 hours. The average massage therapy training in the US is between 642 and 697 hours.
Most states (except Hawaii) that license massage therapists require a passing score on the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Exam (MBLEx) or one of two exams formerly (no longer) provided by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB), and maintaining a license in most of those states requires continuing education hours. This exam only needs to be passed once, and then the passing score can be used for licensing in all states that require it. PCAB graduates have a consistently higher pass rate than the national average. For 2021 and 2022, PCAB graduates had a 100% pass rate, compared to the 70% national average during that period. One can signup for the MBLEx exam on the website for the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards.
In Hawaii, which does it differently than most states, one needs 570 hours of coursework in massage in order to qualify to sit for Hawaii’s own exam. Once this exam is passed, one only needs to pay the license renewal fee and submit 12 hours of CE credits every two years. Massage trainings in Hawaii are approved through one of two routes: either Apprentice Programs approved by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (most common) or Massage Schools through the Hawaii Department of Education (which is what PCAB utilizes). Only those approved by the DOE are allowed to call themselves schools, and these programs are the ones most similar to programs on the mainland since most of the hours are in a classroom setting, not in an apprenticeship setting (which is unique to Hawaii). Note that many states (including CA and WA) do not accept hours from apprentice programs, so if one wants to be licensed outside of Hawaii, one needs to attend a DOE-licensed school such as PCAB.
The program at PCAB meets or exceeds the hour requirements for most states (except NE and NY). This means that the hours acquired at PCAB can be transferred to your state so you can qualify for licensing in those states. Most of our students who are now licensed massage therapists are from the states of HI, AK, WA, OR, CA, CO, NM, TX, MA, PA, NC, and FL–hotlinks take you to the state’s massage licensing webpage. See the table to the right for a quick reference for licensing in some states.
If you have any questions about licensing, please contact us.
Please be sure to also check out our pages on
Massage Resources (websites, books, articles, etc.)
Written by Mark Olson, Ph.D. LMT, the former director of the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork.
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