By Dar Mikula
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” – From “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Suess
One of the many blessings of my job is that I get to reach out to graduates and find out
how they are doing once they’ve graduated. In my recent cycle of calls, my attention was drawn to the diversity of paths each one of us is on, even though we all share the same qualification as “licensed massage therapists”. In talking with graduates of our October 2014 massage program, I learned the stories of two fascinating women, both of whom share the same name and both graduates of the same program. Here is the story of the variance and intrigue of the two directions they went in after completing their training here.
Christina Strizelka is half the age of her classmate Chrystina Katz (she uses this unique spelling of her first name). And while the fiftysomething Chrystina headed west and into mountain resort work, the younger one hit the seas and traveled around the world. Christina does bodywork on charter guests on luxury yachts, while Chrystina is completing a year of living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, doing mostly sports massage on athletes and outdoor enthusiasts.
In their applications for massage school, both highlighted a desire to help people. Chrystina was doing volunteer visits for Hospice of Marion County, and learned that larger hospice organizations actually employ massage therapists. A self-described “spiritual seeker”, she also wanted to legally practice Reiki and knew she needed a license in order to touch people for compensation under our Florida statutes. Coming to the Florida School of Massage became a no-brainer. She now includes Reiki and chakra balancing in her practice today.
Christina Strizelka
Christina had been doing stewardess and deckhand work on the yachts for about a year, yet still wanted to do more to help people. She sought out massage school as a way to do just that, while also expanding her income opportunities on the boats. Currently, Christina is in Savannah, waiting on the summer yachting season in the Mediterranean to start. Dually licensed in Georgia and Florida as a massage therapist, Christina stayed busy this winter working on victims of domestic abuse at Safe Shelter. She is also honored to be working with the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Program at Fort Stewart, bringing massage to various events for Active Duty veterans and their families. But that was after she spent last summer yachting to Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Spain, and the Caribbean – doing massage sessions with charter guests and the crew.
Chrystina Katz
Chrystina, who travels the country in her RV, is parked for the winter in Jackson Hole, where she works at the Four Seasons Hotel and Spa. She says her additional learning opportunities with the school – which included a marathon event with Jackie Ferber, Crossfit events with Cristian Arroyo, and an internship with Vincent Cambrea at Go Primal — really gave her a specific set of skills and confidence to work with the outdoor sports community in and around the Grand Tetons. Come the end of ski season, Chrystina said she is still deciding where she wants to travel to next.
“One of the beauties of having a massage license is going where I want when I want,” Chrystina said. She is multi-licensed in Florida, Montana, and Idaho, with her next goal to obtain massage licenses in Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.
The Grand Teton Mountain Range – Chrystina’s backyard playground.
Up in Savannah, Christina is pursuing continued education in personal training. She says, “Around the world, there’s not much in the way of massage educational or credential standards, so the more advanced certifications you can get right now, the better. So having a massage education and a license helped me get jobs.” She also said a recent continuing education class for “PTSD and Massage” helped her to help those afflicted by trauma and abuse.
Christina’s massage room on the yacht.
Christina said she has her own little massage room on the yacht. “One of the fun challenges,” she now says in retrospect, “was figuring out how to make it so the table wouldn’t move and finding the perfect shoes to work in so I wouldn’t slide around if the boat was rocking!”
These are just two of the many incredible stories I’ve heard from our graduates. Got one of your own to share? Email me at dar@floridaschoolofmassage.com.
