What Teaching Couples Massage Classes has Taught Me

Mike (a.k.a. Stel) and I have been teaching our Couples Massage Workshops for four years and I feel just as good about the class now as I did when I first developed it. The idea came to me on a plane while heading to Seattle. I was staring out the window, checking out the patterns on the ground and the loft of the clouds, thinking about what I like doing and knowing I wanted to develop a way to share with others and it just popped into my head. So I grabbed my computer and immediately starting to type out the manual which would end up becoming the structure of the class itself. And then I never looked back. I’d never led a workshop like this, but somehow I knew that it’d be fine. It turned out the class was exactly the length it needed to be and although there were times in the beginning when we only had 2 attendees the workshops continued to grow and have been really well received. This is the closest I’ve ever felt to the concept that when you do something you love it doesn’t feel like work.

What I’ve learned is that you can’t really force something like that. You can’t study the market and decide to do something you have no real interest in just because there appears to be a “need” for it and then expect it to feed your soul. I have a wide-variety of interests and have attempted many things, and over and over again it is those things that I feel a true connection to that end up succeeding.

So, if you’re looking to start something new, whether it’s a career path or writing a book, creating a class or moving to a different location, start with a list of items that really excite you:

• Identify those topics that you can research all day on the Internet and never get bored.
• Think of activities you can participate in that you hardly tire of.
• Recognize places that energize you.
• Write down everything you love.

Don’t edit yourself. Even if it seems crazy allow yourself to think big or small, include anything that comes to mind. Let that list inspire your next steps. See what happens.

Our workshop has now led us to begin the filming process of our Couples Massage DVD which is very exciting. I’ve never produces a DVD and don’t have any experience marketing one. But I’m good at research and know there are experts out there that can do what I don’t know how. And I also know this DVD is a labor of love and no matter what happens I’ll feel good about it.