I have been in Vermont since August 2021, and I am currently working for a resort spa just to learn how a spa business is run here. The spa I work for is not a typical one since it belongs to a resort, so it has a sauna, a steam room and hot tubs and a heated swimming pool. The spa owner has a few favourite massage therapists who live nearby and are most qualified to dedicate most of their schedule to the spa. The spa also hires at least a therapist on call for last-minute bookings. In addition to massage services, the spa also offers beauty services provided by an aesthetician. Some spas recruits manicurists to extend their services to customers who wish to have their nails done, but mine doesn’t. A proper spa business will never go without add-on services and beauty products since that’s where the owner makes the most money. Most products at the spa can be found on the internet at a third or half of the price offered at the venue. The cash-cow of the spa is its store products hand made by a specific massage therapist and of course which is used during a massage session for a subliminal message. Since it’s home made, it is exclusive, and clients have already experienced it; they can testify for it, and they are willing to pay for it at whatever it is priced at. I wonder if it is the reason why my boss, who is a certified massage therapist cum lecturer quit her practice and is focusing on running a business now. One thing none of the spas or massage therapists I have done research on fail to offer is gift certificates, and these are usually delivered electronically.
Almost all spa menu include therapeutic and relaxation massages. A 60 minute relaxing or Swedish massage can range from $65 to $75 if it is offered directly by a massage therapist and not through a spa. However, if it is done through a business, it will be from $95/h to well over $150/h excluding 20% gratuity. Just for your information, big hotels and resorts always charge gratuity or “tip” and this tip goes to massage therapists since they get paid $40/h and with gratuity, their rate is $70/h. Before a massage, clients are expected to sign a waiver form which makes sure that clients understand that none of the massages are meant for medical purposes (including a therapeutic ones!!!). We all agree that relaxing massages promote health and well-being and can reverse some effects in certain conditions. According to a dictionary, “Therapeutic” means “curative”; if the waiver forms denies its “curative, healing effects”, why is it there on the menu??? Why is it required of a massage therapist to pay for malpractice insurance if it is right from the beginning clients have to sign a form consenting to “massages offered here are meant for relaxation purposes only”?
Out of curiosity, I googled how many massage therapists are nationally board certified in Vermont administered by The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB); it turns out there are only 18 of them in VT. In order to become a nationally board certified masseuse, one has to take the MBLEX exam and pay $195 for it. Board Certificates must re-certify every two years and are required to earn 24 credits (usually priced at $25 per credit) of continuing education (CE) from a NCBTMB Approved Provider.
In order to be a NCBTMB Approved Provider, an individual or an organisation has to design their own course (outline, description, outcomes), test their course to at least 5 participants and have their feedback forms, pay $225 as an individual and $450 as an organisation and additional $25 per course they create. A NCBTMB Approved Provider needs to renew their license every 3 years and pay the same fees all over again. So one can be certified at one time but doesn’t renew his or her license, that is to pay the application fee and and for the course created by fellow masseuses; he or she is no longer board certified; does it make him or her a lesser massage therapist? Also, if a masseuse claims that he or she is certified, it simply means he or she has at least 500 hours of training as listed below.
AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association) has been around longer than NCBTMB; it is like teachers’ union for teachers. All massage therapists need to do is to pay a fee for different categories to access support including making their own website, job search, discounts on massage products, business cards, card swipe, liability insurance and it’s a great way to connect with other massage therapists and introduce themselves. AMTA doesn’t certify masseuses or add credits to a masseuse just because he or she is a member of this association. The requirement for a membership is that member has graduated or is going to graduate from a 500 in-class hours minimum with supervision from a certified massage therapist. These hours include 125 hours devoted to anatomy, physiology & kinesiology, 40 hours spent on pathology, 10 hours set aside for business & ethics and 200 hours accrued through hands-on training under supervision of a certified therapist. If you cross check the AMTA massage therapist list with the NCBTMB list in the same state, the former shrinks significantly. The current membership fee is $235 annually for professionals. If a massage therapist averages 60 clients per month, each client will shoulder $1 of the license, CE cost, not to mention travel time, oil or/ and scented substances, overheads, labor cost and probably study time.
AMTA and NCBTMB aim to promote the best and high quality practices to the public but the public here is quite limited; only those who can afford $70/h or higher for 1 hour of relaxing massage. Considering the minimum wage in VT is $11.75, it’s like 7 or 8 hours of work (after tax) just to have a massage. This is where massages in the East and the West are different. In Thailand, Vietnam, China, Laos, Indonesia and India, there are some rules and regulations about massage, but most of the time, the market governs itself. Even the poor and middle-incomers can afford a massage. If it’s great, they will come back and if it’s not amazing, there is nothing to lose but time. Massage is all about intuition, connection and the ability to pick up how clients’ feel at the moment. At least, where I am working now, I know that certified massage therapists don’t follow exactly what they are told in school or in textbooks. I would expect them to sit down and walk clients through what they are about to do and ask them about their medical history to make sure there is no contraindication. I asked a few of them how many massages they can give a day. One with 20 years experience under her belt told me 5-6 one hour massages a day is her good limit; if pushed, she can give 8 per day; she even worked longer than that when she was younger. When asked if she often received massages from other therapists; she just smiled. The others admitted that they hadn’t had one for a long time. When I was in Vietnam, I wouldn’t work more than 3.5 hours a day, and that’s normally a couple package. I generally never give more than 2 Sheila’s Approach massages or more than 1 nuru per day. For the last two years before I left, after giving a massage or a package, I went out to receive a massage although I was never completely satisfied with their work but “something is better than nothing”. Clients don’t know the difference in the quality of massage if it’s their first time, but as a masseuse, I know that for certain massages, in order to do my best, one or two hours of work per day is enough. For me, massaging is not about making money, it’s about feeling rewarding, helpful, respected and elated afterwards. I would walk away feeling drained but happy knowing that in a few minutes or hours, I would receive messages telling me how clients’ body and mind feel and how grateful they are to me.
Now the law of Vermont dictates that as an independent masseuse, one has to disclose his or her massage education, display one’s license number and instructions of how to file a complaint against him or her. I took a look around the area to see if any massage therapists are registered with the Office of Professional Regulation and if they indeed follow the rules. Apparently, I could count the number of registered massage therapists on the fingers of one hand, and none of these show their license number or guidelines as how to make a complaint. Also according to the Vermont statue, one doesn’t need a licence to practise massages if one is a massage student who is enrolled in a massage program or apprenticeship. In fact, there are a few spas in VT that offers students’ massages at a greatly discounted price of $30- 40 per hour. If you would like a massage in Vermont, especially in Dover, Brattleboro and Wilmington and you don’t mind paying an inflated price for a massage, you have all the information you need to look up the therapist, but if you don’t care about the background of the masseuse, why would you pay $150 or so just for a relaxation massage???
If I am to teach Sheila’s Approach Massage, I can only do that through mirroring or videotaping since the law doesn’t allow the masseuse to do anything erotically directly on the client. Americans seem so uptight although everywhere I go, I see old couples hand in hand. They must either have had a great sex life already or be ignorant of great orgasm, tingling sensations and desire to explore the body further and attempt at the unthinkable, unheard and unprecedented. Sometimes “ignorance is bliss” just as one of my clients from Israel told me “I feel both frustrated and happy. I am happy because I get to experience great feelings and know how to make women extremely happy now. I am frustrated for not knowing you sooner; I wasted all my youth. Now that I am married, I can only make one woman happy”. It’s never too late to be explorative; it’s only regretful if you know about it and don’t act on it. I wish you would never come across this article. If you have, do something today. Read through my blog and see if you can apply something to change your sex life and discover your sensuality.