Recently, our school was featured in "The Alibi" weekly newspaper.

Here is the interview that was run in the paper, and some great information about our school and what you can expect at Crystal Mountain.

How did you get started in massage therapy?
When I moved to Albuquerque in 1995, I had just left a really stressful job at a university in the Midwest. The last thing I wanted to do was work somewhere stressful again, so I thought a massage therapy school would be the perfect place. Lots of massage, happy people and a fun learning environment. Little did I know that I would end up buying the school when the opportunity presented itself several years later. If you had told me 20 years ago that I would be involved in the field of massage therapy, I would have said "What is massage therapy?" It wasn't very well-known in the Midwest back then!

Why did you choose this business?
Working at Crystal Mountain really gave me an appreciation for the health benefits of massage therapy and how good it makes people feel. When clients come out of a massage you can see a physical change in their faces and their posture. They look softer and more relaxed, and they gush about how wonderful they feel. It is so satisfying for me to be able to provide a place that can make such a difference for them. It is also really enjoyable when students come back and tell us how much they love their work, and how glad they are to be able to have a job that provides them with so much satisfaction.

What is your company's greatest asset?
The people who work for the school. All the instructors and staff love their work and enjoy being here. Every instructor is highly trained and enthusiastic about the subject area they teach. They’re passionate about providing the best education for the students. All of the instructors are practicing professionals, so they bring real-world experience into the classroom. Plus, every student is assigned an instructor as an advisor: They get to work one-on-one with that person several times to get really individual, personal feedback on their massage techniques. Our students are a wonderful asset, too. Many of them are choosing massage as a second career after raising a family or working in the private sector for years. They bring a richness of experience to classes. Other students are just out of high school. The greatest thing about it is how they all work so well together. We feel that Crystal Mountain is truly a family. Our classes are small. There is a lot of dynamic interaction with plenty of time for students to ask questions and clarify information. One of the things students often say is that they have a lot of opportunity to ask their teachers to explain material that they did not understand completely when it was first presented.

What do you offer that the competition doesn't?
I think the unique thing about Crystal Mountain is how we are able to really balance the art and science of massage therapy. Most people don't realize how much a massage therapist has to learn about the human body. A large part of the curriculum in massage therapy schools is devoted to anatomy, physiology and pathology. There is a lot of left-brain learning to be done. But when you are actually doing a massage, you are being intuitive and creative, which is right brain. So learning to balance the scientific with the creative can be a challenge. At Crystal Mountain, we strike a balance by integrating left- and right-brain activities into class every week. Anatomy and physiology classes are interwoven with massage therapy technique classes so that students can put the theory into practice right away. The fact that 100 percent of our students pass the national qualifying exam on the first try shows us that we are providing the rigorous scientific knowledge that today's massage therapist needs as state-regulated standards increase. Students also get a lot of hands-on practice and time to develop the little things in a massage that make it feel cohesive and professional. On a daily basis, clients tell us that our students give a terrific professional massage that is on a par with licensed therapists. We take the time to mentor each student by assigning a faculty member to oversee their training. With the hands-on training massage requires, we feel that students need a lot of personal attention in order to fully develop their skills. Everyone is very willing to put in the extra time and effort to answer questions or help a student with a technique.

What contributions to the community are you most proud of?
One of Crystal Mountain's goals is to give back to the community by offering free massages at events that benefit Albuquerque or the state of New Mexico. Two of our longest running events are Run for the Zoo and the Bataan Death March Memorial Marathon. We have been providing massage at Run for the Zoo for over 15 years and at the Bataan March Memorial for 8 years now. We have also provided massage at other events to benefit various charities in Albuquerque. I think the students really enjoy being able to introduce massage novices to how good massage feels while also giving back to the community. We have also worked with Roadrunner Bood Bank over the last 6 months. Clients are able to get a discount on their massage when they bring in a food donation. Since many of our clients generously bring in a larger donation than we suggest, we have been able to send almost 1,000 pounds of food to Roadrunner to assist in their mission to help the hungry of New Mexico.

What words of wisdom would you offer to someone starting their own business?
Don't try to do it all, and don't be hesitant to ask for help! Find people who know how to do the things you can’t or don't like to do. It will be healthier in the long-run to hire someone to do it for you instead of stressing out and forcing yourself to do something you dislike.