As a teacher of massage therapy I feel a great responsibility to assist my students to ignite their passion for learning new material and for helping them along their massage education journey. The way that I like to think about this is that behind the ‘door’ of my subject lies knowledge and material which will not only enhance the students understanding of the particular field but will also empower them to search further and find out more about that area of massage for themselves.
The teacher of the subject does not however hold all the answers, and neither should they or the interaction between student and teacher would indeed be a one way street. Rather it is the role of the teacher to pass out the ‘key’ to the knowledge door, it is a matter entirely up to the student whether or not they actually choose to open the door and pass through onto the next part of their learning or whether they decided that there is no reason to move forward because they feel that the particular teaching being offered will not be of interest or benefit to them.
The fulfillment as a teacher comes when a student who has chosen to use the key, unlock the door and absorb the knowledge, comes back to you after you have parted ways to share with you what their experiences with that new knowledge have been. In effect they are inviting you to take a peak through their particular door. One such door way was opened up for me just the other day by a past student. She studied manual lymph drainage with me and not only embraced the material but excelled in the practice of the technique to such a degree that she is now using it in a professional sports setting on a daily basis. She stopped me in the hallway to share her story and to tell me that the results of her work not only amazed her but all the other medical staff and clients of that particular department. She was so pleased, grateful and excited that she was able to learn and use this technique in her professional practice. As her teacher and now her peer the golden moment for me was in knowing that not only had I done my job by empowering and informing her, but that she had taken the learning and made it here own, forging ahead and creating a successful niche for herself. You could say that she didn’t just walk through that knowledge door, she ran! What better reward as a teacher than to see her smile, hear her story and know that by sharing my knowledge of a topic I was able to help her on her way. In a nutshell that is what makes teaching such an inspiring career choice for me.
