When I left massage therapy school in 2010, I was 24 years old and knew one thing - that this path I had chosen to make some extra money (while the recession was being unkind to recent college grads) turned out to be the most healing and gratifying decision of my life.
The image and implication that most people conjure when thinking of massage therapy are that of a spa setting, a person bathing in their indulgence. This pervasive mindset painted how I saw massage before entering the Lancaster School of Massage. What I experienced during my time there changed nearly everything in my life.
Massage therapy is a felt sense therapy. Meaning it gives us a very tangible experience of ourselves in the moment, without judgment. It shows us that we are capable of feeling good. After massage school, I felt safe in my body, comfortable in a way I didn’t think I had experienced before. And a funny thing happened after that. I began to know myself, stand up for myself, and articulate my feelings, ideas, and passions. I could do this because I knew another way to feel good, and it lived inside me. It was me.
Christine Hellberg, Owner, LMT
Creating a place for Clinical Massage Therapy in a Peaceful Environment
When I left school, I knew that I didn’t want to play into the narrative that was out there about massage. I wanted people to experience what I did - self-empowerment through touch, acceptance, and a supportive therapeutic presence.
At every turn, I was met by peoples’ resistance driven mostly by ideas that massage is a luxury, not a therapy. This resistance drove me to deeply investigate how to communicate what happened to me and give hope to people who felt the medical system had nothing left for them.
I traveled to study with some of the best massage and bodywork practitioners to learn techniques, attitudes, a deeper understanding of anatomy, and therapeutic presence.
Since 2010 I have absorbed more than 2,500 hours of training in myriad disciplines. In 2013 I was asked to join the faculty of the highly-respected Lancaster School of Massage, and I began to refine my communication and mentoring skills related to the benefits of skillful massage therapy so that I could better pass this on to new students, hopefully sparking a new belief in what this craft could achieve.
I began educating my clients more, engaging with them on a deeper level – their level, and amazing results started occurring. People who had given up on the belief that they would ever get out of pain started sleeping through the night, playing with their kids again, and eventually not needing my services. People were getting well. Not just physically but emotionally because they had felt at ease throughout their whole being for perhaps the first time in their lives.
For the last few years, I have become a resource for many massage therapists in my area. Many people refer their most difficult clients to me. This is not limited to fellow massage therapists! It includes doctors, physical therapists, and acupuncturists. Massage therapy works! I have had the privilege to witness my clients experience much bigger transformations than I did.
But I only have so many hours in a day, and what I do is individual and private. I was beginning to see a limit to my impact. From this place, a passion and an idea arose. Could I teach others this way of meeting clients and patients? Could I have a business bigger than myself? I wanted to do it right. I wanted to put together a group of educated and passionate therapists- therapists who wanted to work as a team and wanted to build something special and sustainable.
In 2022, I added therapists to Bright Mountain Bodywork. Slowly, as I am learning this new role as manager and leader of therapists, I am building procedures and providing them with ongoing mentoring to help them be as successful as me. I don’t need more clients. But more clients need to experience the potential of this therapy and the best way I know how to do that is to build a good team and a framework for educating and supporting that team so they’re set up to succeed.
This little business is growing bigger and mightier every month and it’s bringing a bigger following of committed clients and changed people. It has been a labor of love that has fed me these last 10 years. I love what it is and I am excited about what it can become.
Bring on the challenges!