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Hi I'm Mark Freeman!


Most massage therapist aren't necessarily the most traditional folks you meet in life.  Even if they've started out from some defined archetypal path, at some point they've taken a turn to arrive at being a Massage Therapist.  Ask your therapist how they got their start in massage and I'll bet you'll get a good story!

I grew up in Portland, Oregon in a working class family, playing organized sports, and boy-scouting with my younger brother.  I attended a technical high school where I majored in radio broadcasting, went on to university and eventually landed a job in corporate America.  This all seems run-of-the-mill working class until I sprinkle in some of the details!  Through Scouting, at age 13 I took my first 100 plus mile backpacking trip.  I had two more before age 18, and on these trips in addition to the miles, mountains climbed, long introspective meditations, and life threatening weather survived, I learned a lot about how the body works.  On my first trip I suffered a bit of heat exhaustion and was treated with simple cooling techniques .

Fast forward to my first corporate job out of college and I'm reporting to senior management on a project that is expected to save the company over a Million dollars a year.  Thinking I'm a smart guy, I do a little data analysis and find that the projected savings number is mistakenly inflated by about 15% (15% of a million is $150K!).  How can I possibly be the brand new college hire that walks in and tells them they're wrong by a number multiple times my annual salary!?  I learn very quickly about the importance of deep breathing exercises to calm down and relieve stress.

During a trip for a competitive dragon boat racing, I became my team's warm up leader and post race stretch master.  Understanding the stresses on our bodies during the race helped me to know what muscle groups were performing and needed priming or cooling down.  Another backpacking trip to climb the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania taught me first hand the dangers of HACE or High Altitude Cerebral Edema symptoms.  What finally brought me full circle into massage therapy wasn't exactly my curiosity of the kinesthetics of the bones and muscles, or chemical processes the bring nutrients to the tissues, but it was more energetic.

After a decade of diminishing satisfaction in my career, I wondered why I felt so unhappy every day in the office.  What is it that I was allowing to hold me back from being happy everyday and to enjoy being my best self?  The very personal realization I came to was that I needed a direct connection to an other person in the work that I do.  I realized that I need to know that I can bring all of my focus, studied knowledge, intuition, and energy to supporting and guiding others. Looking to make a shift to using more of the natural skills that make me who I am, I decided to study body work therapies.  After a few shorts weeks at massage school I decided that there will be no shortage of opportunity to be my best self helping others to recover being their best selves as a massage therapist.  I've been licensed since 2015 and have loved every minute of this new path!

When you have a moment ask your therapist how they decided to become a massage therapist, I'm sure you'll hear an unexpected and beautiful story.

Follow me on twitter @markcfreeman on Facebook, or Instagram.  Email me at mark@markcfreeman.com with any questions about bodywork techniques, modalities, or if there are any blog topics you want to know more about!

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Location: Miami, FL, USA

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