Hello I'm Margie!
I started my massage career in 1984 at the Hills Fitness Center in Austin, Texas. After working on the trainers there I got hired on the spot! I got officially licensed in 1989 after training at Educating Hands Massage School.
TEACHING
Teaching was a fluke! I had injured my wrist and my doctor told me that I had to take at least a year off to heal. This is when I saw an ad for a teaching position. I fell in love with teaching when my first student looked at me, their eyes lit up! the more I helped students, the more I felt like this was my calling:
Help my students help their clients.
I started teaching at the Florida College of Natural Health in 1993. They wanted to incorporate more Thaï massage in their curriculum and asked me to get trained. I had just gotten certified as a yoga instructor and Thaï massage was described as yoga like stretches, that was enticing. I got partnered with a gentleman who was 58 years old and who was both physically and mentally stiff. He ended up being the perfect partner for me to see that anybody can receive Thaï massage and get phenomenal results. I also saw how great I felt and I knew I had to go to Thailand to keep learning.
THAILAND
A year later, I arrived in Thailand, alone and with no plans. The gentleman I took the class with had suggested that I do my training at the Medicine Hospital in Chang Mai. As soon as I checked into a guest house, I went to the Medicine Hospital and signed up for their 10 day course. During my whole trip everything seemed to flow effortlessly. I fell in love with everything Thai, Thai people, Thai food and Thai massage!
When I came home and I shared with my students at the Florida College what I had experienced, they all asked, "Margie will you take us!?"
Since then I've been taking a group every year, sometimes twice a year, to discover Thailand and Thai massage! Many in the groups are not massage therapists but simply want to share this extraordinary modality with their family and friends. More on than later!
Within the first week I was in Thailand, I was told to go to the Conservatory Blind Foundation. There I got a massage from a woman called Boo! She was maybe 80 pounds soaking wet. Boo took me to the mat and I closed my eyes ready for a sweet, gentle massage. As the massage started, I opened my eyes to see if she was still the one giving me the massage, I could swear she had been replaced by a 200 pound man! I was blown away by how specific and deep each technique felt in my body. I was impressed with how she used her hands and elbows. I noticed she was using certain techniques I had never known before that were targeted to release pain deeply.
Coming home, I started incorporating some of those mechanics into my regular massage. And the clients who were always asking me, "Margie can you use more pressure?" stopped asking. They were getting maximum results from the treatment, while I was saving my hands and thumbs.
My first experience of Thai massage in Thailand was on a bed!
I also got Thai Massage on a table in spas in Thailand. Back then you couldn't get a Thai massage on a table in the US and you couldn't get trained in Table Thai! Not until 2009.
Many of my clients and students could not get on the floor. So I put together a Thai massage routine that you could give on a table and called it: Table Top Thai. I was the first to teach Table Thai in the US. It became very popular and I trained many spas!
I started creating Myo-Zen around 2011. I had many requests for advanced Swe thai. Many therapists were asking me how they could use Swe Thai to treat very specific conditions and dysfunctions.
Using the Swe Thai biomechanics, I took it one step further and showed my students what technique to use for what condition. Myo-Zen incorporates neuromuscular, trigger points, myofascial using the biomechanics of Swe Thai.
The Margie Meshew Method
The Margie Meshew Method of Massage Training is based on my 30+ years experience as an instructor and therapist. It's based on my advocacy for the well-being of massage therapists and my compassion for all beings.
I often hear therapists say that they wish they had learned this in school! My goal is to help new therapists not fall into bad habits and veteran therapists recover from years of abuse, thus delivering sustainability and longevity to their health and practice
WHAT'S NEXT?
I'd love to share this with the public! I'd love to get the opportunity to get the word out to the public about the amazing benefits of Myo-Zen, Swe Thai and Traditional Thai.
Many years ago I went to public librairies and taught Mommy and Me Thai massage. Parents and child gave to each other. It was an incredible experience! It's important that families and partners can get together and share the touch, the energy and the healing power that comes from that!
If you know the history of Thai massage, the monks would give Thai massage as a form of physical application of loving kindness, known as Metta.
At a time when we're disconnected from each other and experiencing the physical and mental consequences of this, this form of physical loving kindness is even more so essential.