Because I come from the USA where our licensing by state is different from New Zealand (where there is licensing for massage therapists at all) I feel the need to explain that I am a massage therapist, not a beauty therapist, even though I do Usana facials.
I have beauty therapists as clients. Although massage therapy is something they do, they may prefer to do facials, pedicures, and make-up. These services are far less hard on the practitioner’s body and they are far more lucrative as services for the energy expended.
Beauty therapists in New Zealand get a beauty therapy diploma or if they study overseas they may get an aesthetician diploma. Some beauty therapists, such as the person who has the home business called Anu Spa on Waiheke get spa therapy diplomas. These qualifications are not the same as one would get from attending a specifically-oriented massage therapy school.
In the USA to do facials one needs to have an aesthetician license from a state government in the state one wishes to practice. Here I have learned the Usana facial as it is beneficial for skin health and that is the only facial that I do — I do not promote myself as a beauty therapist doing a variety of facials, although I am proficient with Usana health and beauty products which nourish and feed the skin. Usana is a world-wide reknown health company based in Utah in the USA.
Massage tberapists go to massage school and aestheticians go to aesthetician school in the USA. Neither does the other person’s job.
In New Zealand where there is no licensing for massage therapists anyone can advertise that they do massage. Many people who go to “spas” or beauty offices for massages in cities are not going to specific massage therapists. They are going to beauty therapists or people who did not go to much schooling in massage at all. For the most part massage therapists who are good in New Zealand work for themselves because employers pay peanuts. The pay may be so low because there is no professional licensing of massage therapists or educational requirements for massage therapists in New Zealand.
A massage therapist from Hawaii like me accepts Hawaii state health insurance for at-work injuries, car accident injuries, and some other injuries — all with a medical doctor’s or a chiropractic doctor’s prescription. Therefore for the most part the massage therapist’s work is considered therapeutic and not an opportunity to be pampered with a style of treatment. Although massage therapy may feel like pampering, it is designed to be healthful– which means working out the kinks in your muscles and your aches and pains and stress, and increasing your circulation, which involves an understanding of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, and both observational and intuitive understanding of the client and the client’s energy.
It is the consciousness of the massage therapist that makes a lot of difference in the treatment you get. Do they like to do massage, or is it just something in their repertoire that they know how to do but would prefer not to do as it is hard on their hands, backs, wrists and feet? Is the massage therapist someone who lives the natural health philosophy — not smoking or doing any recreational drugs, limiting prescription medicine to the minimum, exercising, eating natural foods and supplements, and knowledgeable about other health practitioners in various alternative modalities to which they can refer on people? Are they committed to the natural healing way of living and is this the right livelihood they are practicing in their work? Or are they just selling you their service for a pretty penny without regard to quality, safety, or customer service — or sending you a lowly-paid employee they are exploiting who is not committed to the natural health way of life or who in some centers (such as Waiwera Hot Springs in my experience) will bug you for a tip telling you how poorly they are paid when you have overpaid for the service already?
I guarantee you my commitment to natural health, to a natural way of living, to serving you as my right livelihood, to being knowledgeable about other health practitioners and services you might benefit from (that do not commission me). I became a massage therapist because I was told I have healing power in my hands. I have ten years of university, two bachelors degrees, a master’s without a thesis, and a post graduate diploma — most in the psychology and counseling fields. In the USA I would have to have a Phd to practice counseling professionally.
In Hawaii many people who practice massage therapy have a BA or a MA in a field other than massage therapy. We don’t go right out of high school into massage therapy. Massage therapy is a right livelihood we find as we grow older and want to serve the planet, doing helpful service with our lives.
My massage therapy education is from what we have in the USA for this — a vocational school — and from apprenticeship, which is the Hawaii way. Beyond this I have attended numerous classes since I attended massage school and apprenticed on Maui 1986 and 1987.
The day I got my health license from Hawaii, after passing a state exam one can only take after the correct education and apprenticeship, I started working for a major hotel in Wailea, Maui. While I built my own business I worked for the Stouffer hotel chain, the Westin, the Hyatt, and the Four Seasons. The Hyatt and Four Seasons Spas on Maui have won national awards. In the USA licensed massage therapists are paid highly by New Zealand and Australian standards and given respect as health professionals in these hotels. Australia is moving towards the USA state licensing format and many private health plans in Australia partially pay for remedial massage therapy.
