Career Center

Six Specialties for Massage Therapists

Beginning your massage school training? Many a massage therapist will tell you that you’re never done growing. Therapists continue their learning after completing an initial massage school program by taking additional workshops as they develop specialties. Many learn from client feedback that they’re particularly strong or intuitive in a niche of body work.

Here are six massage techniques that you can develop over time as you build your practice:

Deep Tissue Massage
Massage therapists may use deep tissue techniques for work on chronic muscle issues, helping patients overcome tightness or injuries. Can be effective in treating tendonitis or arthritis. The technique requires that clients are already relaxed from surface massage so that sub-layers of fascia and inflamed muscles can be worked.

Shiatsu
Shiatsu is a technique developed in Japan using direct pressure from the finger (elbow or knee) into acupressure points to assist healing along energy meridians. Can assist in long-term healing, although clients may experience pain during the procedure and soreness afterwards.

Reflexology
This Chinese modality is used to stimulate acupressure points in the feet and hands to stimulate energy, healing, and balance. The technique is very popular because patients find the process soothing and relaxing.

Hot Stone Massage
The addition of hot stones on tense muscles or key meridian points can transform a traditional Swedish massage into an effective experience for people who want relief without undergoing a deep or intense massage. The technique is gaining in popularity.

Sports Massage
Sports massage is as easily a preventative procedure as a restorative one. It can be employed before an athletic event to help warm up athletes to improve their performance or afterwards, to speed recovery. It is also effective to treat chronic muscle soreness from injuries.

Aromatherapy Massage
The use of natural, scented plant oils in body work can be effective in treating stress or muscle complications that involve emotional trauma. Lavender oils are common essential oils, although Ayervedic practitioners believe in the use of sesame oil.

The Top Cisco Systems Exams

Obtaining Cisco Systems certifications can go a long way in advancing your networking career. You earn the certifications in a number of broad fields or in specializations by passing a sequence of examinations. The certifications are valid for three years for associate and professional exams, two years for specialist exams. The shorter validity dates on specialist exams are to foster ongoing growth in the field, pushing professionals to continually update their credentials.

The major exam fields…

Top Spa and Beauty Trends for 2008

Whether you’re training as a skin-care specialist or a salon owner, the trends in skincare treatments this year incorporate medical and holistic solutions that address aging, sun and pollution damage, and seasonal changes. Customers will be drawn to medical-grade dermatology treatments and products that are increasingly offered at spas and as over-the-counter remedies. Herbal and plant extract–as well as medical-made consumer products–will be in demand.

Top ten trends this year include:

Stress Relief
Salon owners will add scalp…

Three Key Resources for Wedding Planners

Wedding planners are the ultimate jugglers. They meet with couples and parents to counsel on budgets and provide a huge range of options (from ceremonies, music, flowers, photographers, menus, gowns, to musicians, limos, favors, and cakes). Learning to put it all together is more than simply academic step work–it’s an artistic endeavor completed under the duress of family emotions and tight deadlines.

Once your initial training is complete, you’ll face the task of building clientele through…

Key Considerations in Motorcycle Repair Training

You probably enjoy working on bikes or you wouldn’t have enrolled in a motorcycle technician training course. Chances are also good that you have your own machine and have tinkered on it for years, either repairing the engine and other parts or tweaking settings so it runs like a champ. But there’s a huge difference between working on your own bike and working for a repair shop. For one thing, you’ll have to fix things…

Five Top Websites for ESL Students

Teaching English abroad is not only a great way to see the world, it’s a great opportunity to discover who you are. When you work in a foreign country, you learn how others see you and your country. You’ll also have a fantastic opportunity to learn new languages, study new cultures, see historical landmarks, and make new lifelong friends.

However, it’s not always easy to melt into your new home while still developing lessons, navigating cultural…

How to Shoot Children’s Photos, Painlessly

It takes all kinds to take pictures. If you’re in art or design school and plan on a career in photography you’ll enjoy many career options, including commercial photography, fashion, advertising, photojournalism, or portrait work. Portrait photography can be rewarding and enjoyable. There are family sittings, graduations, weddings, and shoots for babies and children.

Child photography brings its unique set of challenges. For one thing, the subjects are not always the most cooperative. They cry, wander…

Free Vector Graphics for Design Majors

Today’s professional graphic designers rely upon vector graphics to build the corporate logos that create successful brands. In your college courses, you’ll no doubt be exposed to software that can import and manipulate vector graphics. Unlike raster images created by dots, vector graphics use mathematical formulas to store shapes and lines, allowing the designer to resize images for practically every use–banners, illustrations, web comps, or logos.

It might surprise you to learn that working artists often…

Key Tools for Substance-Abuse Counselors

Among all the therapy professions, substance-abuse counselors comprise the fastest-rising group of workers in the field. According to the Department of Labor, the nation will add nearly 30,000 new drug and alcohol counselors, for a 34 percent increase in jobs during the 2006-2016 decade. Counselors are not only needed to work with individuals who suffer from substance abuse, but also to assist family members impacted by loss of a loved one to drugs or alcohol.

The…

Common Mistakes of Inexperienced Speakers

Even if you’re enrolled in an online degree program where you type to your instructors and classmates, you’ll need to brush up on your public speaking skills if you expect to thrive in the workplace. Public speaking classes were once a fundamental part of the general education curriculum.

Perhaps you’re not enrolled in a business program. But the chances are outstanding that you’re going to have to speak with co-workers, to recruiters at job interviews, or…

Vector Graphics Software for Designers

Whether you’re a designer, graphics artist, animator, multi-media web creator, or visual arts student, you’ll find it to your advantage to make good friends with vector graphics software. Your professors and instructors should introduce you to vector concepts and the computer programs that bring them to life.

There are two major graphics display formats used in the industries: vector and raster. Raster objects are created in pixels, the tiny dots that assemble the image. The disadvantage…

Successful Test-taking Strategies

Is your test-taking strategy working? Do you keep up with lessons or put out fires only when test deadlines loom? Do you stay awake the night before the exam, cramming notes (and an inordinate amount of coffee and junk food) into your system? Some students modify their study skills and testing stratagems during their learning careers. What once worked when you could devote your life to your classes may not be so effective when you’re…