Frank Merilliat, LMT
Last Friday I attended graduation of the January 2018 class. It is always a bit of a bittersweet experience for me. It is an ending and saying good-bye to people I have spent time with and experienced moments of challenge, growth and realness can be difficult for me. On the other hand, it is a beginning, new folks with skills, interest and desire to serve their clients to be and to put what they have learned to use out in the world at large. There is a lineage that goes on that is something special.
I have had the opportunity to attend over seventy graduations since my own at FSM and each one reminds me of how important the school experience was to me. I have graduated from high school, college and a postgraduate teaching program in my life and I have to say that FSM was the one I felt proud of and felt a sense of accomplishment. I spent six months in intimate contact with my fellow classmates, learned skill and technique to address issues I might confront in practice, learned how my body worked and focused on how communication could really make a difference in my own interactions with others. This was truly impactful and was actually what I hoped my time at school would provide. I had come to FSM to work on myself and it just happened it also provided me with a profession that I still enjoy twenty-five years later. What a bonus for time spent!!!
It is so exciting to watch our graduates move on into the next step in their lives. Some will go to work in spas; others will work in the medical field. Some will start private practice, others will travel and use their work as a way to travel and explore the world. Some will pursue other educational and professional opportunities that fit with what they experienced in school such as social work, counseling, educator, physical therapist, and chiropractor. Some simply just apply their learning to improve their personal relationships and family lives. I have seen all of these possibilities accomplished by our graduates after finishing the program.
I know what I hope that the FSM experience has done is excite a sense of curiosity and interest in how things could be. One of our mottos is to enhance personal growth and awareness through the vehicle of touch. Another is to teach peace one person at a time. I love this and how it has the potential to make our world a better, more enjoyable place. Everyone needs to have the opportunity to feel good, empowered and feel that they can participate in their life. This is part of the lineage that we can put into our relationships, communities and by extension, the greater world. These possibilities are well worth exploring. What a wonderful thing!!!
I am thankful for all who came before and provided knowledge, space and passion for this work we all do. I am thankful for those who will continue the work and contribute to its growth. I know when I teach a group my great hope is that I will be able to take a class from one or more of my students. That the student will outgrow the teacher and we will advance our knowledge and abilities together. After all the work we do is a process that is ongoing and constantly building. That’s pretty cool if you ask me!!!!
So yes, the beat goes on, a class graduates and we continue with the next. The old class moves on, the new class becomes the current class and when the next class starts, we now have an old class again and the next new class. Students move on and become instructors, we saw that with Lana at this graduation. Each group supporting the other in the learning process and the lineage goes on. I have great gratitude to be part of this process these past years!!!
If you would like to explore some of the lineage available, come join Deane Juhan as he presents his take on the teachings of Milton Trager and how he has carried it further for his Sept. 21-23 Resistance/Release Work class. Or maybe you might want to explore the Oct. 20-21 Essential Anatomy and Techniques of Chair Massage and/or The Art of Presence: Accessing the Parasympathetic. Check these out on the FSM website under continuing education/workshops. I do hope we continue to grow together.
