In 2005 I was desperate to get out of Corporate America. The politics and games were ridiculous. I decided that I wanted to get my PhD, but that I hadn’t been in school for a while so I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. Then the bright idea came to me to go to massage school, learn how to “give back rubs,” get my brain going again, then be able to make money on the side while I was in Graduate school. I looked into it, and not only did all roads lead me to go Massage school, but to go to Sarasota School of Massage Therapy. In late 2006 I became part of, one of the last 18 month programs at the school; they are now 7 or 12 month programs. As cliche as it sounds, it was the best decision I ever made. The program allowed me to start and end with same classmates allowing us to form bonds that encourage each other to do our best and keep pushing forward. We all had full-time jobs, so this was a huge benefit. We followed a curriculum where the information was given from the foundation up. This helped each of us to grow mentally, emotionally, and professionally. We learned that Massage is way more than just “giving back rubs.” It is a physical process in which we help people to recover from a multitude of mental and bodily obstacles. In the end, I became a Licensed Massage Therapist without the need to pursue my PhD. I graduated and was licensed in 2008, and have been a practicing therapist ever since. Now, I am also an Instructor at SSMT.
Adrian Morell, LMT, SSMT Class 26
