Graduation Time

A big congratulations to Charity our latest graduate! Another gifted CMT hits the road, running. All us from the school wish her the best with life as well as her new career.

Puerto Viejo

This weekend was a good weekend for a nice break in Puerto Viejo. Our students have really enjoyed staying at Rockin J's over there. It is a really cool hammock and tent hostel. Includes a kitchen and tons of really cool people.

Nicaragua

When in Costa Rica for massage school we would highly recommend for all our students to take a quick trip to Nicaragua. It is awesome for a quick, fun trip and we love heading there every 90 days. The surfing beaches, laid back towns and cool people are a must!

This and That about Costa Rica

I love Costa Rica! It is the best place on earth to open a study abroad Massage School.

Weird & wonderful facts about Costa Rica

The Tico guide for beginners

Costa Ricans are proud of their national identity. While on the surface they may seem similar to other Latin cultures, they actually have their own special idiosyncrasies.

Food & drink

• The first weird and wonderful fact is that Ticos (local slang for Costa Ricans) often give coffee to their babies and children!
• Great Costa Rican foods include: gallo pinto ("painted rooster"), which is rice mixed with black beans and often eggs;
  
  Olla carne, which is beef and rice in a delicious broth with many kinds of exotic root vegetables and chorreadas, sweet corn pancakes with sour cream.
• Traditional ice creams come in interesting flavours like wild blackberry, peanut, coconut, green mango and even sour cream.

People

• It might shock you to see a lot of Costa Ricans carrying around machetes. This common purpose tool is used for absolutely everything in rural areas and it should not worry you!
• Most adult Costa Ricans under 30 use the internet, and over 50,000 Costa Ricans use the social networking site hi5.com alone.
• The National Learning Institute (INA) provides free classes to Costa Ricans in all types of job skills, and many other organizations exist (e.g. IMAS or INS) to offer social welfare to poorer people. Somehow the country manages to provide these services while still maintaining taxes at a much lower rate than in the US!

Language

• Younger males often pepper their speech with the word " mae," which is derived from a word for "stupid." A typical statement might be, "Mae, mira que estos maes están jodiendo, mae." Literally, "Stupid, look how these stupid guys are bothering people, stupid."
• The government hopes to make English a "national second language," as in European countries. Over 100,000 Costa Ricans already work in jobs, such as in hotels or tech support call centres, where English is the main language.
• There is in fact a whole region of Costa Rica, the Atlantic province Limón, where English is a common language. This is thanks to the Jamaican ancestors of many Limonenses who settled there to work on the railroad and banana plantations. There are also large numbers of Nicaraguan immigrants and smaller populations of Colombians, Dominicans and others.

Getting around

• Nearly all Catholic churches in the country face west. This can be very handy as directions are usually given using compass directions, for example: "100 metres east of the university."
• Every town has its own plaza, or little park, in front of a Catholic church. Bigger cities have many such parks, and in most towns a soccer field is close by.
• There are usually no street names in Costa Rica so people get used to giving directions in relation to landmarks. In rural areas people will describe their official, legal address in ways such as "pink house just north of the big tree," or even "200 metres south of where the cow is tied up."

Trivia

• At 7am every morning, all Costa Rican radio stations play the national anthem. Many also play it again at night.
• The preferred music of older Costa Ricans is Cumbia. Younger Costa Ricans often favor Reggaetón dance tunes, although there are a great variety of tastes represented.
• Costa Ricans have a fondness for 80s action movies. Films starring Chuck Norris or Jean-Claude Van Damme get frequent showing on local TV.
• On Costa Rica's various patriotic days, young schoolboys dress up with traditional hats, shirts, red scarves and painted on moustaches. Girls sport traditional braids and coloured skirts. Oxen are also featured prominently.
• Costa Rica ranks at the top of lists for the world's best surfing, sports-fishing, dive spots and great mountain hiking. Costa Rica is considered the top spot for expat retirement, but the relocation process can be confusing.

By Paul Marin
Monte Alto Real Estate Company:www.montealtorealestate.com
At Monte Alto Real Estate we do all the paperwork, all you need to do is choose your favourite property. Our new residential project offers premium properties at below market prices.

New Room

We have been renovating the school room and it is looking great. I am very excited to see it when we get done. We have made many modifications since our last session, because we were able to see what we needed to change. It will be perfect when we get it done, just in time for the Costa Rica summer, or dry season.

Sometimes there is no replacement for a good old fashioned Swedish Massage! When the students at our massage school begin clinicals they have been well trained in Swedish Massage. The clients that frequent our clinic have come to appreciate the massages they give them. Relaxing is the biggest compliment our students receive.

Swedish Massage

Therapeutic massage has been a popular form of health treatment for ages. While there are many styles of massage therapy, Swedish massage is the standard of massage treatment offered in spas and sports facilities all over the country. Swedish massage can help to relax, rejuvenate, and nurture your mind and body.

What is Swedish Massage?

One of the most popular styles of massage available today is Swedish massage. In 1812 at the University of Stockholm, a Swedish physiologist named Pehr Henrik Ling created the foundation of this style of treatment to promote health by increasing blood circulation and stimulating the body’s healing abilities. It is now known that Ling’s greatest influence came from a Chinese friend who was a master of Martial Arts and Chinese Tui Na massage. While this influence of Chinese Tui Na massage therapy is evident in Swedish massage techniques, the direct lineage is rarely mentioned. A Dutch practitioner named Johan Georg Mezger later developed a reduced set of Ling’s techniques to form our modern style of Swedish massage; it is Mezger who adopted the French names commonly used to denote the basic strokes.

Swedish massage is the most common style of massage in the Western world. It is a full body massage, and is performed on a nude client who is draped with a sheet to provide covering. Oil, cream, or lotion is applied to the skin to reduce friction and allow the smooth strokes that are characteristic of Swedish massage. Essential oils may be combined with massage oils to create an additional aromatherapy affect during the treatment.

What are the Techniques of Swedish Massage?

There are five main techniques used in Swedish massage:

• Effleurage: these are long guiding strokes over the surface of the body, used to warm up the body before deeper techniques are utilized. When massaging the limbs, the strokes are made toward the torso to help guide blood back to the heart. This is the most relaxing technique of Swedish massage.
• Petrissage: these are kneading motions that tenderize muscles with rolling and squeezing movements. This technique can be useful for extracting toxins trapped within muscles and other soft tissue by enhancing circulation deep within the muscles.
• Friction: deep pressure concentrated on single fingers or a thumb and used in a transverse or circular movement to break apart adhesions between muscle fibers.
• Tapotement: rhythmic percussive techniques used to relax muscles that are in spasm. There are many different hand shapes used in this invigorating technique over the entire body.
• Vibration: oscillatory shaking movements applied to the limbs or an organ that reverberates through the entire body to loosen adhered joints and muscles.

Most massage therapists incorporate a variety of technique into their massage sessions. This expansion has lead to several derivatives of Swedish massage, most importantly sports massage. Sports or deep tissue massage uses slower stokes with stronger pressure to manipulate deeper layers of tissues within the body. These techniques are often less comfortable than the standard Swedish movements. However, positive therapeutic results can be achieved with these techniques by breaking up scar tissue and adhesions in muscles and connective tissues.

Benefits of Swedish Massage

Swedish massage can be very beneficial for the mind and body:

• Swedish massage promotes relaxation: The soft flowing movements of Swedish massage can gently guide your mind and body into a state of deep relaxation, stripping away levels of tension and agitation from your mind. These changes to your mental state can help you better manage stress, fatigue, anxiety, and depression.
• Swedish massage relieves muscular tension, stiffness, and pain: Whether from neglect or overuse, Swedish massage can relieve muscular discomfort. This improved muscle tone will allow greater flexibility, improved athletic performance, and faster healing of injuries.
• Swedish massage improves circulation: The better your blood flows through its vessels, the better your body functions. Improved circulation from Swedish massage can assist in the healing of injuries, the removal of toxins from your muscles, and clearing up swelling or edema in the limbs.
• Swedish massage improves your immune system: The combined effect of decreased stress and muscular tension with efficient blood circulation is a stronger immune system. The additional stimulation upon the skin by the flowing techniques of Swedish massage stimulates the skin’s natural resistances to infection.

Swedish massage can be a method for both relaxation and improving your health. Seek a properly trained massage therapist to experience a revitalized mind and body today!

(This article was taken from alt MD, Smart Alternatives.)

NEVER OUT OF WORK

Did you know that as a massage therapist you would never be out of work? Just where and to whom would they outsource massage to? A robot or what? And they could not outsource your job to another country, now that would not work very well would it? I believe it is a good time for anyone to go to massage school and begin their new career!

NEW LOGO

Our new super marketer is on the move. We have finally gotten our new logo completed and are about to post our new web site! To say I should have done this three years ago is an understatement that I will just leave to another day.

When we opened the school we knew we had the best program out there. What we did not know, I mean absolutely nothing about, was marketing. In other words, sure we have the best massage therapy program going, but if people can't hear about it it is for naught.

Enter our new marketer. She has done this for years and took right off with the school. She had great ideas and improvements that our students will benefit from for years to come. Hopefully the word will get out about the best kept secret in Costa Rica, there is the premier massage school hidden in the hills of Central Costa Rica!

BUSINESS IDEAS

The following article was out of the Massage Magazine and was a great one for business needs. At our massage school
we spend lots of time working on business ideas to will help our students prepare to run their own businesses.

by Dennis Lisaius

If sports massage is your calling, how do you find those elusive athletic clients? Network!

Networking is nothing more than building relationships. It’s a way of reaching out to individuals and groups. With effective networking, athletes will be aware of you and your credible skills, and they will feel safe in your hands.

1. Decide on your target sport. The athletic world is diverse. Are you interested in golf? Beach volleyball? Running?

2. Know your sport well. Athletes trust someone who “gets” their sport. Know the jargon, big stars and major events of your target sport.

3. Find the teams and clubs for your sport. Nearly every sport has a local club or association. (If not, focus

4. Join and support them. If runners are your target, join their club. Attend their meetings and events. Clubs appreciate help, so you can volunteer. Participate!

5. Offer free post-event massages. After an event, give free 15-minute massages to athletes in your club. They will love you for it!

6. Know the “gatekeepers." Make friends with the club president and leading athletes. Their opinion can make a big difference in the size of your client list.

7. Be generous. Give more than you expect in return. Be liberal with free massages, especially for gatekeepers and star athletes. The law of karma really works.

Dennis Lisaius is a certified sports massage therapist from Santa Monica, California, as well as a triathlete, runner and cyclist. He is the founder of LA Sports Massage in Marina del Rey, California (http://lasportsmassage.com), which provides SPORT Therapy—a fusion of techniques from sports, deep tissue, Active Release Techniques, trigger point, Structural Integration and facilitated stretching—to world-class professional and amateur athletes. The company's client list includes such notables as Natascha Badmann, six-time Ironman World Champion; Chris McCormack, 2007 Ironman World Champion; and WNBA star Candace Parker.

INDEPENDENT COSTA RICA HISTORY

... Indepence and the path towards democracy ...
by Infocostarica Staff

Costa Rica won its independence from Spain on September 15th, 1821. Unlike independence in other countries, it wasn't a very significant event at the time, since this country had functioned apart from the Capitanía General of Guatemala for a long time. In other words, even though the official date of independence is 1821, Costa Rica, since its origins, possessed an autonomous sense of being that became definite in that particular year. The country had functioned independently because of Spain's lack of economical, political and even religious interest in the poor region.

After the Declaration of Independence, the four main cities of the country: Cartago, Heredia, San José and Alajuela, also felt autonomous from each other, and disagreed on several issues. The Cartago and Heredia conservative leaders were in favor of joining Mexico, while the two latter cities and their Republican leaders disagreed. After a small battle in the Ochomogo Hills in Cartago, the Republicans were victorious, thus rejecting the accession with Mexico. Afterwards, Guanacaste, which belonged to Nicaragua, decided to join Costa Rica.

After a definition of physical and political boundaries, this young country headed towards a formalization of its political tendencies. Since the country never possessed strong religious institutions or interests, liberalism characterized politics. Other countries in the region were unfortunate in the sense that they had two opposing poles -conservatives and liberals- who caused a cycle of wars that in some places, still carry on.

The first elected chief of state was Juan Mora Fernández. Throughout his rule, which started in 1824, he succeeded in installing a fair judicial system, in expanding public education and in promoting coffee plantations. In 1835 however, San José was attacked by the other three cities, but it still won the battle. Three years later, Costa Rican stability was challenged again, this time by an outsider- the Honduran Francisco Morazán. He overturned President Braulio Carrillo, but his efforts weren't successful and he was executed a year later.

After these threats to the solidity of the state, a new political group had emerged- the coffee elite. These wealthy families overthrew the nation's first president, José María Castro, and placed Juan Rafael Mora as their leader. Mora achieved great economic growth for his country and what's more important, he saved it from William Walker, an ambitious American who wanted to take over the country. Even after accomplishing great things, he became a victim of yet another coup, and was executed.

The evolution from a militaristic and coup-ridden nation to a more stable and democratic one, took place through Tomás Guardia´s rule. Ironically, Tomás Guardia came into power and remained there by military force. However, his reforms were the seeds of a much needed democracy. In twelve years he succeeded in controlling the use of the military, revising the Constitution, building the railroad to the Atlantic and several roads and declaring education for both sexes obligatory and free (1869 reform). These amazing events marked the path for a new democratic era.

I found this grea article in the magazine about Costa Rica. We find the fact that Costa Rica is so young very exciting and still lots of room for growth. Just like our baby school, we are new and have much room for growth. We will continue to grow and develop, just like Costa Rica.

JOBS TO CELEBRATE

Today is Labor Day in the U.S. The day we celebrate having jobs. The question to ask yourself at this time is, "am I doing what I am supposed to be doing". More and more people are asking themselves this question about the jobs they are performing in their short time on earth. More people are demanding a job that brings some satisfaction and sense of purpose to their lives.

When I attended massage school nine out of the eleven people in my class were starting second careers. I had been running a daycare out of my home, and the others were employed in various other jobs. All of us saw a great opportunity in massage as a profession, as well as making the world a better place.

I made the decision to go to massage school thirteen years ago. I have never regretted the decision and in fact have loved every moment, except maybe the laundry part, of being a massage therapist.

NEW BLOG

Welcome to our blog that will tell about our journey and experiences of our massage school located in Costa Rica. Feel free to contribute and comment, it is an interactive blog to be enjoyed by all. Our massage school is located in the center of beautiful Costa Rica, with quick and easy access to the whole awesome country.