What Finally Made Me Take Massage Therapy Seriously

How Sarga Bodywork changed my level of engagement, excellence, and presence in the work

I was licensed in massage therapy in 1998.

But if I’m being completely honest, I do not think I truly took massage therapy seriously as a career with real potential until much later.

That may sound strange coming from someone who now teaches continuing education, takes hundreds of hours of training, and cares deeply about excellence in this profession — but it’s true.

For a long time, massage therapy was something I did well, but not something I had fully claimed.

I always worked in corporations too, often in upper management, running businesses and being in environments that looked and felt more like what I considered a “real job.”

Somewhere along the way, I think I internalized the idea that those were the serious roles, and massage therapy was something lighter. Something I enjoyed. Something I was good at. But not necessarily something I saw as a true professional path worth fully investing myself in.

I did good work. I cared about people. I know I helped clients. But I would not say I was pursuing excellence.

And if I’m really telling the truth, I was not the most serious student either.

I have always had a hard time not having a good time. I tend to be lighthearted by nature. So even when I was in massage school, I did well enough, graduated, and moved forward — but I was not applying myself with the kind of devotion or intensity I later discovered was possible in me.

Then I found Sarga Bodywork.

And honestly, even that started in a very familiar way for me.

I saw it and thought: Oh, that looks beautiful. That looks fun. I want to do that.

That was my entry point.

It was not, “This will revolutionize my understanding of fascia. ”It was not, “This is going to challenge me into a new level of embodiment. ”It was not even, “I need to protect my hands.”

It was more like: That is gorgeous. I’m in.

And, if I’m being honest, I skimmed right past the fitness and conditioning requirements with my usual confidence.

I think my internal attitude was something like: Yeah, yeah, okay. It’ll be fine. I’m going to have fun. I’ll do great. (A LOT OF STUDENTS ALSO DO THIS!!)

That confidence had carried me through a lot in life.

But this was different.

Sarga challenged me in a way I had not really experienced before — physically, mentally, and professionally.

It required actual engagement.

Not just charm. Not just natural confidence. Not just “I’ll figure it out.” Not just enjoying the aesthetic of something beautiful.

It asked more of me than that - And that changed me.

For the first time in my career, I felt fully challenged into presence.

I had to pay attention differently. I had to become more embodied. I had to take my conditioning seriously. I had to stop assuming I could casually float my way through and instead meet the work with real commitment.

I also began to feel things in the body differently.

I remember the fascination of beginning to sense the wave of the fascia in a way I had never truly appreciated before. Something became more alive in my anatomy brain.

What had once been background information started becoming deeply interesting. I got curious in a much more serious way.

I became nerdy.

Not performatively. Not because I thought I should - But because I was genuinely captivated.

Suddenly, I wanted to learn more and more about the body, about fascia, about skill, about what created better outcomes, better touch, better listening, better work.

That was new for me.

Sarga lit a fire that reached far beyond Sarga itself.

Since then, I have taken hundreds of hours of continuing education every year. Not just in Sarga, but across bodywork and movement-related learning that helps me become a better practitioner and teacher.

And the effect has been bigger than technique alone.

I became more engaged in my practice. More present with clients. More excited about learning. More invested in improving. More willing to be challenged. More willing to rise.

That shift also changed my practice in a practical sense. I started succeeding more. I became more connected to the work, more fully engaged in what I was doing, and more committed to my own professional growth.

It did not make everything easy.

There are still challenges, of course.

But the difference is that now I feel deeply in relationship with the work. I care about becoming better. I care about continuing to learn. I care about becoming a stronger teacher, a more skillful practitioner, and a more embodied person inside the profession.

And when I see students underestimate the conditioning requirements, or come in assuming they can rely mostly on confidence and vibe, I understand them.

Because I was them.

I know what it is like to be drawn in by the beauty, the fun, the idea of it — without fully realizing what the work is going to ask of you.

But I also know how powerful it can be when something finally challenges you enough to wake you up.

Sometimes that challenge is exactly what opens the door to a deeper level of excellence.

For me, that happened about 20 years after I was licensed.

My real passion for bodywork did not fully ignite in 1998 when I got my license.

It ignited in 2018, when I found Sarga Bodywork.

That was the turning point.

What began as, “Oh, that looks pretty and fun,” became a profound shift in how I related to my body, my profession, my education, and my own potential.

Sarga did not just teach me a new modality.

It called me into a new level of seriousness. A new level of embodiment. A new level of engagement. A new level of excellence.

And I am deeply grateful for that.

Because sometimes what changes us is not what we expect.

Sometimes we are drawn in by beauty - And then, if we let it, the beauty asks more of us.

Sometimes the thing we signed up for lightly becomes the thing that calls us to rise.

That is what happened to me.

And in many ways, I think that is when my real journey in massage therapy truly began.