Mentor Interviews

Diane has interviewed countless legends in bodywork like The Rebel Massage Therapist, Master Ohashi, Til Luchau, Erik Dalton,  David C. Morin, Maria Natera, James Waslaski, Kumu Brenda Mohalapua, Whitney Lowe, Paul Kelly, and more.

Below is only a small selection of interviews. To see more, sign up for The Massage Mentor Institute for free! Want to know more about the interviewees? Scroll down to learn more.

Mentor’s Interviewees

Allison Denney

Allison Denney

Rebel Massage Therapist

Allison Denney has been a practicing massage therapist for 20 plus years. In addition to cultivating a flourishing private practice, she has established herself as an integral part of the massage community through her years as a teacher, her popular YouTube channel (219K followers), and her launch of the Rebel Massage organic, professional-grade Deep Tissue Body Butters. Her passion for client care and fascination with anatomy continues to drive her to never stop growing. Learn more at www.rebelmassage.com.

Rebel was the first teacher to put classes on the Massage Mentor Institute and has been a huge supporter in the building of the Institute. She is a blessing to our entire industry.  Check out her class Functional Anatomy Bundle , Just Legs , The Shoulder, The Lower Back, and more at www.TheMassageMentorInstitute.com

Master Ohashi

Master Ohashi

Ohashi Institute

Ohashi came to the United States in 1970 after completing Chuo University and studying with different teachers of Eastern healing theory and therapies. In Washington, D.C., he became the first shiatsu therapist at the Watergate Health club, where some of the nation’s leaders became his clients, but his interest in education motivated him to start teaching. After being invited to teach in New York City, he decided that it offered him more opportunities to seek a career in practicing and teaching Eastern healing arts. In 1974 he founded the Ohashi Institute, a nonprofit educational institution, which has many international affiliates. He has lectured and taught at the Omega Institute, the Esalen Institute, and numerous colleges, medical and chiropractic schools, retreat centers, and aesthetic conferences in the U.S, Europe and Latin America, for L’Oreal Paris, and for the International Dermal Institute. A master teacher who brings humor and joy to his classes, Ohashi enriches the lives of everyone he meets with his positive view of the human condition. 

Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly

Temple Human Performance

Paul Kelly is an Master PhysioKinetix Therapist and an NCBTMB Approved Continued Education provider. Paul has been mentoring and teaching for nearly two decades and brings a wealth of knowledge from manual therapy, sports medicine and exercise science to his upbeat, dynamic, hands-on presentations. His passion is to help educate his clients and health care professionals so they might tap into a greater understanding of the reflexogenic relationship between muscles and joints. He continues to stay on top of the latest research and developments in all area’s related to structural therapies, nutrition, pain management, and human performance related issues.

Til Luchau

Til Luchau

Advanced Trainings

Til Luchau is a lead instructor and the Director of Advanced Trainings. With a diverse background that includes manual therapy, somatic psychology, transformative education, as well as organizational and leadership development, Til’s ability to connect interdisciplinary, big-picture ideas to practical, real-world applications has made his talks, trainings, and events popular worldwide.

James Waslaski

James Waslaski

Integrated Manual Therapy & Orthopedic Massage

James Waslaski is an Author & International Lecturer who teaches approximately 40 seminars per year around the globe. He’s served as AMTA Sports Massage Chair and FSMTA Professional Relations Chair. He’s developed 8 Orthopedic Massage and Sports Injury DVDs, and authored manuals on Advanced Orthopedic Massage and Client Self Care. His new book: Clinical Massage Therapy: A Structural Approach to Pain Management, was published by Pearson Education in 2011. James is a Certified Personal Trainer with NASM. James received the 1999 FSMTA International Achievement Award, and was inducted into the 2008 Massage Therapy Hall of Fame.

Erik Dalton

Erik Dalton

Dalton Myoskeletal

With over thirty years educating massage therapists around the world, Erik Dalton is among the best teachers a professional bodyworker could ever study with. He has worked tirelessly to develop a system of manual therapy that addresses and heals pain patterns at their very core. Dalton is a recognized pioneer in the bodywork community. His prolific writing and highly educational courses earned him induction into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame in 2007 and the One Concept Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. All of his workshops and home-study courses are recognized by the NCBTMB.

David Morin

David Morin

TherapyEDU

David Morin’s career spans more than forty years researching and applying the cutting edge of Clinical Massage Therapy and Sports Injury Rehabilitation, including two Olympic Games (Atlanta 1996 & Sydney 2000). Drawing on his decades of research and hands-on experience, David started teaching this series of six courses in Medical Massage Therapy in 2001. In live classes and now online, David has instructed thousands of massage therapists to go beyond the routine to apply clinically-proven, client-centered treatments that bring pain relief and restored function where other therapies, and therapists, have failed.

Whitney Lowe

Whitney Lowe

Academy of Clinical Massage

Whitney Lowe has been in practice for over 20 years and is a recognized authority on pain and injury treatment with massage therapy. He is the author of the books, Orthopedic Assessment in Massage Therapy, and Orthopedic Massage: Theory and Technique, which are used in training programs and schools nationally and internationally. He has also been a contributing author to several other books. In 1994, he founded the Orthopedic Massage Education and Research Institute (OMERI) to provide massage therapists the advanced education they would need for treating orthopedic soft-tissue disorders.

Kumu Brenda Mohalapua Ignacio

Kumu Brenda Mohalapua Ignacio

Lomilomi Practitioner and Former School Owner

A native of Hamakua, Big Island of Hawaii, Brenda was taught by her grandmother from birth the connection of the spirit of love in all things, especially nature. Later, growing up on the island of Oahu, formal training in the sacred manner of hula opened her heart and mind to her inner dance and expression. It was through  hula that she became aware of her hands and the impact they held. Starting in 1975, she was a student of Hannah “Nana” Veary. She encouraged Brenda guided her to use her hands as her Life’s Purpose.

Peggy Horan

Peggy Horan

Esalen Massage

Peggy Morrison Horan is a fifty-year practitioner and teacher of Esalen Massage, student of yoga and movement, and retired midwife. She coproduced the Esalen Massage video in 1996 and was one of the founders of the Esalen Massage School. She managed the Massage Department at Esalen for many years before retiring from management in 2004. She still practices and teaches there.

Nathalie Cecilia

Nathalie Cecilia

Bamboo-Fusion

Nathalie Cecilia was born in Nimes, South France. With a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Languages from the Universitee Des Lettres De Montpellier, she began her career as a teacher and a translator. She attended the Sarasota School of Massage Therapy and three months following her graduation in 2004, she opened Two Touch Company – a Thai studio and massage therapy office in Sarasota, Florida. She developed an innovative way to give bamboo massage on the table (Bamboo-Fusion) and the chair, meanwhile creating her bamboo set to provide the massage. Her goal today is to help therapists provide deep massage without pain. This technique aids in avoiding repetitive injuries, such as carpal tunnel, and reduces the stress on thumbs, wrists, and hands.

 

Maria Natera

Maria Natera

Massage Therapeutics

Maria has been a licensed massage therapist for over 30 years. She graduated massage school in 1988 and began teaching for the local community college in 1995. A few years, she left to earn a Bachelor’s Degree from UTEP in Health Sciences, cum laude. It was then that she realized massage therapy was her passion and made the decision to stay in the field where she could create a zen lifestyle for herself and make a difference in the lives of her clients.

Judith Aston

Judith Aston

Aston Kinetics

Judith Aston is widely recognized as a pioneer in the art and science of kinetics for her discovery of the Aston® Paradigm and consequent development of the many forms of movement training, bodyworks, fitness programs and ergonomics of Aston® Kinetics. Early in her career, Aston taught movement, physical education, and dance for performing artists and athletes at Long Beach Community College. In 1968, at the request of Dr. Ida Rolf, she developed the movement education program for Rolfing SI and taught this program until 1977. She is the author of Moving Beyond Posture: In Your Body On The EarthAston Postural Assessment Workbook, and Aston’s Walking the New Body video. Her work is also featured in Dynamic Body by Erik Dalton.

Anne Williams

Anne Williams

Massage Mastery Online

Anne Williams has been a licensed massage practitioner (LMT) for 23 years, and is a former esthetician, certified reflexologist, clinical hypnotherapist, former registered counselor, aromatherapist, spa consultant, author, and educator. She is the former Director of Education for Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP), where she pursued her passion for instructional design and developed support materials and resources for massage students, instructors, schools, and professional members from 2006 until 2019. 

Wanita Thompson

Wanita Thompson

TherapyEDU

Wanita Thompson has been a Registered Nurse and LMT for over 40 years. She opened the first massage school in Southern New Mexico in 1987. Wanita’s unique experience as a Registered Nurse and Licensed Midwife and her extensive teaching background has richly enhanced the six MMT modules of our Online Masterclass. She is is doing less teaching now, though her hard work to date has helped our industry flourish.

Sue Wood

Sue Wood

Oncology Specialist/Teacher

Massage Therapist at Bryn Mawr Oncology Center
Medical Specialists Hematology/Oncology

 

Jim Funk

Jim Funk

Academy of Massage Therapy and Bodyworks Owner

Jim has been a massage therapist for more than 26 years and has been teaching massage techniques for 20 years. Jim noticed that some of his students were ending their massage careers, not because they wanted to, but because they felt their bodies could no longer preform a quality massage. Jim realized that many of these therapists were leaving the profession because they had not utilized body saving techniques. He saw many therapists using only their hands and fingers and not using their forearms. With this in mind, Jim developed Forearm Fusion. This method uses the hand, forearm, and elbow to provide a therapeutic massage. Proper body mechanics are stressed in this class.

Angela Pio Wagner

Angela Pio Wagner

Academy of Massage and Bodywork Owner

Angela has been a licensed massage therapist since April of 2000. She is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Institute of Massage Therapy. She has been a massage therapy instructor since 2002. Angela is also the sole proprietor of a private massage therapy practice since 2000. Angela is the co-owner and director of the Academy of Massage Therapy and Bodyworks located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania since March 2007. She, along with her partner Jim, instruct the day classes at the Academy. Angela’s Certifications Include: Thai Bodywork, Myofacial Release, LomiLomi Massage, Sports Massage, Neuromuscular Therapy, Hot Stone Massage, Orthopedic Massage and Pain Management, Cupping and Forearm Fusion™.

Ben Benjamin

Ben Benjamin

The Benjamin Institute

In sports medicine/muscular therapy private practice since 1963, Dr. Benjamin is the founder of the Muscular Therapy Institute in Cambridge, MA. As an educator and author, he has conducted seminars and workshops across the country, served as an instructor and trainer in a variety of settings, and written several books and countless articles. His books include: Listen to Your Pain: The Active Person’s Guide to Understanding, Identifying, and Treating Pain and Injury; Are You Tense?: The Benjamin System of Muscular Therapy; and Exercise Without Injury. His professional training and education spans more than three decades. He earned a Ph.D. in Sports Medicine at Union Graduate School; a Bachelor of Professional Sciences at Empire State College; and studied assessment techniques in Orthopedic Medicine with the well-known British Physician, James Cyriax, M.D.

 

Lin Rousell

Lin Rousell

Massage CE Solutions

Lin is a Lancaster, PA based Board Certified, licensed massage therapist, a licensed esthetician, and an NCBTMB-approved continuing education provider.  All of Lin’s classes are NCBTMB NY approved. She is a preferred practitioner and educator for the Society for Oncology Massage (S4OM) and has worked as a nurse for 35 years, caring for individuals living with cancer and those who are medically frail. Lin is a life-long learner and is passionate about teaching as well as acting as a mentor for fellow massage therapists and CE Providers.  

 

Matt Kay

Matt Kay

East Coast Float Spa

Matt Kay is the Co-Founder of the East Coast Float Spa, a meditative setting free from the noises and distractions of the outside world, allowing your mind to slow down, unplug, and focus on what’s important to you. Learn more at www.eastcoastfloatspa.com.

We are stronger together.

Want to do an interview with the Mentor or have a conversation about what you want to share with the industry?

Sign up for The Massage Mentor Institute

Sign up to stay up to date on new courses and access all of the amazing content The Massage Mentor has to offer