My journey with stretching and breathing practices began in 1979 when I joined a meditation group in South Austin and started practicing yoga with my friend Riki Dunn at the YWCA. Through those early experiences, I discovered the powerful connection between breath, movement, and overall well-being. Regular stretching and conscious breathing helped reduce stress, ease physical discomfort, and support a healthier lifestyle.
Over the years, I have explored many different approaches to stretching and breathwork. One of my favorite weekly activities is attending Hatha yoga classes with Manu Verma at Hills Fitness Center. His classes combine breath, movement, sound, and meditation in a way that leaves me feeling refreshed, grounded, and deeply transformed.
I have also found great value in restorative yoga, a gentle practice that emphasizes stillness, mindful breathing, and prolonged stretching. This form of yoga provides an opportunity to reconnect with the body, calm the mind, and cultivate inner balance.
Beyond yoga, I have benefited from Somatic Experiencing sessions with psychotherapist Miriam Klotz, who trained under Dr. Peter A. Levine, founder of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute. Through body-centered awareness, breathwork, and guided imagery, I learned techniques that helped release stress, process emotions, and develop lasting self-care practices.
These experiences have enriched both my personal life and professional work. They have strengthened my ability to support others through physical discomfort and emotional challenges while helping me maintain balance, resilience, and joy in my own life.
Breathing can be practiced on its own, but it is also an essential component of effective stretching. Conscious breath anchors the mind, enhances body awareness, and allows muscles to relax more fully into each movement. Stretching and breathing work together, creating a foundation for greater flexibility, reduced tension, and improved well-being.
As we begin exploring specific stretching techniques, it is important to first understand the power of the breath—the bridge that connects the body, mind, and spirit.
There are myriad ways you can configure your career as an MTI. You can work part-time or full-time, you can use your experiences as an MTI as a stepping-stone to another career, you can focus on being an MTI as a second career, you can blend teaching with your current vibrant massage therapy practice, or you can supplement your retirement income by becoming an MTI. There are opportunities to work as an independent massage therapy instructor like I do, you can work as an instructor at an established massage therapy school, and/or you can work for a nationwide company that provides massage therapy classes throughout the U.S.
Once you have been approved as an MTI and you have your MTI license and any other licenses and certifications you may need in order to teach, focus on setting goals for each of the massage therapy courses you wish to teach. Then choose the content and format that will make each course work for you and your students. If you choose a career as an independent MTI, you can utilize the information you gain in your MTI course to begin designing the content of your course notebook and structure. Remember to avoid using other people’s copyrighted material without permission and acknowledgment. If you choose to work as an MTI in a massage school environment, the school administrators will typically provide course notebooks and supporting media for the classroom. You should also think about how you will use technology in the classroom. Practice teaching your newly designed massage course to colleagues and friends and ask for feedback. It is not only an excellent idea to practice teaching, but it is also an NCBTMB requirement, as stated on their website, “Before submitting an application to NCBTMB for approval, you must have taught the course at least one time within the last year to a group of five or more participants. You must provide the participants with an evaluation requesting feedback on the course, instruction and material.” You could even videotape yourself practice teaching so you can study the pros and cons of your teaching style. An additional way to learn to teach would be to partner with another instructor during the beginning of your career or to serve as an assistant in a classroom.
Teach what you truly love and what you are qualified to teach. Think about how good it feels to have a positive influence in the lives of those around you. Create a structure for your classes in an environment that participants will enjoy. Utilize the information and resources presented in your MTI course material to create the ideal classroom environment. Make sure the classroom is well lit, properly ventilated, clean, comfortable, and that there are appropriate restroom facilities. Decide whether or not you are going to provide massage tables. Make sure to have a balanced percentage of hands-on experiential training and cognitive information. My preferred balance is 80% experiential and 20% cognitive.
Once you have developed your course material, if you are an independent MTI,, focus on setting prices, registering participants, and preparing rosters and certificates of attendance. Set up a spreadsheet to track your income and expenses on a daily basis so you can carefully monitor your progress. It is also important to remember that the first three to five years of any business, including massage therapy education, are building years as you lay the foundation for your ongoing success. Keep the appropriate tax records for the IRS. Also maintain student records, rosters and course evaluations for NCBTMB and your state massage board. Please be sure to comply with all of your state board rules and regulations.
Develop marketing strategies by taking some marketing classes, reading books that offer tips for successful marketing and utilizing the services of mentors and consultants. The Ariana Institute’s MTI course includes information on marketing your courses as an independent MTI; however, not all MTI courses provide this component in their curriculum. Next, determine what marketing techniques work best for your business and budget. Think of ways to develop compelling descriptive titles for your courses to capture the attention of your students. Believe that you can be successful and surround yourself with competent people who support you in achieving your goals and dreams.
We will next explore ways of finding and creating opportunities to advance your career as an MTI.
Opportunities For Massage Instructors
Search engines come in handy for researching opportunities for massage therapy instructors. If you want to work at a massage school, simply search the name of the city where you want to teach and then enter “massage school” and find out the name of the director of the school and contact that person to see if there are any positions available for MTIs. You could also offer to teach one-time continuing education classes in your area of specialty as well as seeing about becoming a part of the part-time or full-time faculty. Create a proposal for the CE classes you want to teach at the schools and submit it to the school administrators along with your resume and cover letter. Go to events and CE classes at the schools where you are interested in teaching so that you become known in their environment.
If you are interested in teaching for a national massage company that hires instructors, you could do some online research for names and contact information and then follow-up to see if they are hiring. You could take some courses offered by that company and talk to the instructor to see what his or her teaching experiences with that company have been like.
Another approach to utilizing your MTI certification would be to establish yourself as an independent MTI and CE provider. Design and develop your own course curriculum and market your class to the local community. Once you have achieved your desired level of success, consider expanding your market.
You can develop name recognition by offering to teach classes for local massage groups, such as massage Meetups and local AMTA chapters. On a larger scale, you can submit proposals for state and national conventions, for example, AMTA national conventions and The World Massage Festival.
Consider writing a book on the massage technique that you want to teach. This can help you market yourself as an educator. This can be done for every course, or bundle of courses that you offer.
In today’s technological world, another good marketing avenue is to create instructional videos for your courses and (1) publish them on the web, (2) send them to prospective students, (3) place them on your website, (4) include the URLs for these videos in the books that you publish, and (5) include the URLs in your course notebooks.
Resources for Advanced Information
The Ariana Institute’s Massage Therapy Instructor Course
Now that we have explored many options on the MTI path, I’ll leave you with a few thoughts and insights. One of the most important things you can do is to impart the knowledge and wisdom that you have gained over the years. Teaching can be a rewarding and enriching process that benefits the teacher, the student and the recipients of massage. Take time to look inside and see what you can do to let your light shine and manifest your dreams into reality. As Nelson Mandela shared so eloquently, What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
There are myriad ways you can configure your career as an MTI. You can work part-time or full-time, you can use your experiences as an MTI as a stepping-stone to another career, you can focus on being an MTI as a second career, you can blend teaching with your current vibrant massage therapy practice, or you can supplement your retirement income by becoming an MTI. There are opportunities to work as an independent massage therapy instructor like I do, you can work as an instructor at an established massage therapy school, and/or you can work for a nationwide company that provides massage therapy classes throughout the U.S.Continue reading “Exploring the Path of a Massage Therapy Instructor”
The Ariana Institute’s Marketing and Practice Building for Massage Therapists Manual is part of a series of massage manuals that are designed to help deepen the knowledge of current massage therapists and introduce new massage therapists to the world of massage and bodywork. The Marketing and Practice Building for Massage TherapistsManual features topics that are also available as NCBTMB approved online CE courses through the Ariana Institute at www.arianainstitute.com/ce-online/, including:
The Ariana Institute’s Marketing and Practice Building for Massage Therapists Manualis part of a series of massage manuals that are designed to help deepen the knowledge of current massage therapists and introduce new massage therapists to the world of massage and bodywork. The Marketing and Practice Building for Massage TherapistsManual features topics that are also available as NCBTMB approved online CE courses through the Ariana Institute at www.arianainstitute.com/ce-online/, including:
The Ariana Institute for Wellness Education offers an outstanding resource for those interested in further developing their massage therapy practices, featuring topics that include Marketing, Practice Building, and Ethics for massage therapists. The Ariana Institute’s Marketing and Practice Building for Massage Therapists Manual is part of a series of massage manuals that are designed to help deepen the knowledge and understanding of current massage therapists and introduce new, upcoming massage therapists to the world of massage and bodywork. To order your copies of the Ariana Institute’s Marketing and Practice Building for Massage Therapists Manual visit www.amazon.com/author/arianavincent.
This manual incorporates comprehensive resources to encourage a thorough understanding of professionalism, marketing, and business strategies for the massage therapist. The Ariana Institute’s therapy manual series has been over 16 years in the making and is a monumental achievement for the Ariana Institute. The Marketing and Practice Building for Massage Therapists Manual is a perfect source of insight and inspiration for massage therapists and those seeking to deepen their understanding in order to build and sustain a career in massage therapy and bodywork! Continue reading “The Ariana Institute’s Marketing and Practice Building for Massage Therapists Manual and CE Courses”
What opportunities lie ahead for massage therapy instructors? The first step to answering this question is to go within and determine the type of environment that best suits your personality patterns, conforms with your personal and professional goals, and that you would find the most soul-satisfying. Many Massage Therapy Instructors aspire to offer CE courses in one of three ways: (1) independently, (2) by working for a national company that offers CE courses, and/or (3) by offering CE courses in a formal massage school environment.
Take time to create a clear vision of what you want and need based on your values.
Think about tangible and tasteful ways to cultivate referrals, increase your presence in your client’s lives, and fill your practice, all the while staying true to your values and principles
Examine how attitudes about money, value, socioeconomic class, and the age-old clash between commerce and healing, can affect your ability to truly useful to those you serve.
Welcome to Ariana Vincent’s Blog for Ariana Institute!
Ariana Vincent directs the Ariana Institute in Austin, Texas, which offers continuing professional development for massage therapists. Ariana is a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist and Massage Therapy Instructor who has practiced massage therapy and bodywork for thirty years. Her highest aspiration, personally and professionally, is to facilitate the integration of mind, body, and spirit, and to ultimately allow a state of balance to effortlessly and peacefully become an integral part of everyday life.
In future blogs, you might expect to receive information regarding the topics listed below as well as additional topics related to massage therapy, health, stress-reduction, wellness, and complementary alternative medicine.
