The following blog post is sponsored by the Coaching the Body Institute.
How did the Coaching the Body™ Institute get its start?
I started studying traditional Thai massage 20 years ago. My goal at the time was simply to begin a career helping people. Eventually, I began to attract clients with serious pain issues. But, like many therapists, I realized my training had not equipped me to properly resolve their problems.
I discovered trigger point therapy in 2002, and immediately began using those principles in my practice. I feel fortunate to have discovered a powerful synergy between the Thai techniques, trigger point concepts, and modern neuroscience, a blend that seemed to have more potency than any of the components. After many years of development, the result is our Coaching The Body program with 3 levels of certification.
Why is online training so important in the current environment?
When we launched our online training program, it attracted a lot of attention from students who had studied with us or hoped to come to classes, but weren’t always able to travel. Once a student enrolls in an online course, they have 24/7 access to the course forever. So they can repeat and review as many times as needed. People really love having this component as an adjunct to in-person training.
Then, when COVID-19 hit, we saw a huge bump in interest. We’ve heard from many students who are focused on revamping their practice with our approach once they can reopen. While very difficult for all of us, the current situation also represents an opportunity for students to change the level and effectiveness of their work by acquiring empowering knowledge. When I talk about my program, I always emphasize that the true power comes from your knowledge and analytical skills, not from fancy tools and techniques.
What sets your course offerings apart from other providers?
We’ve created unique protocols that guide students through designing treatments for each pain condition. These aren’t really sequences, because they have built-in decision points that could result in modifying the treatment.
Our protocols ensure the therapist visits the relevant muscles, does the proper assessments, and spends their time where it is most likely to be effective. Our protocols also incorporate satellite referral patterns and functional relationships that are essential to finding the true sources of pain.
What sort of therapist should take your classes?
Is there a minimum experience level or amount of training a therapist should have before taking your courses? We have always attracted students from many disciplines, with varying experience and anatomy training—from those with no experience to doctors of physical therapy. We’ve crafted our online offerings to be self-contained, and we’ve succeeded at making the courses work well across these demographics. Because this is a new approach, there is a freshness to the material even for experienced practitioners.
What’s next on the horizon for Coaching the Body Institute?
We’ve spent the last 15 years refining our protocols and learning design, and have now scaled these ideas up. Today, we teach students from a wide variety of backgrounds to be highly effective with the most common pain conditions. We’ll continue to expand our online offerings and also fulfill some of the requests we get for teaching in other locations.
