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Massage Therapy training centers open in Holland and Saugatuck Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan .... 5-27-01 If you want a massage, you can pretty well go anywhere these days and find a multitude of practitioners. But if you want to learn to give professional massages and become a massage therapist yourself, it's still been a long drive to Grand Rapids, Muskegon or Kalamazoo to take courses. But now, Lakeshore area residents have professional massage training programs in Holland and Saugatuck. The Michigan Institute of Therapeutic Massage Arts and Applied Science is opening in Holland, and the Spring Renewal Massage training Center in Saugatuck opened in January. Owned and operated by Jacob and Freda Brodbeck, the Spring Renewal Massage Training program is located at their Wellness Center, at 3493 Blue Star Highway, on the way into Saugatuck. "We've been headed in the direction of creating a school for a long time, " said Jacob Brodbeck, who has been practicing massage therapy full time for nine years. "We've wanted to share what we've learned and empower other people to do the same and live more productive lives." The training school the Brodbecks founded offers a 600 hour program, which leads to certification in the field of massage. Licensed by the Michigan Department of Career Development, students at Spring Renewal take classes on day a week for 18 months to complete the course, which costs $4,500. The Michigan Institute of Therapeutic Massage, located in a former schoolhouse at the corner of Country Club Road and 16th Street in Holland, offers a 1,200 hour , 50 week course for $7,500. Spring Renewal is affiliated with the Institute of Bodywork and Massage Professionals. While schools must be licensed by the state as an educational institutions, Michigan, like many other states, does not require the licensing of massage practitioners. Most individuals completing massage training programs can qualify for national certification with one of the two national professional massage therapy associations. Students at the Brodbeck school put in 100 hours studying the anatomy and the physiology of the body, and more than 400 hours learning and giving different types of massage therapy, including Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, sports massage, accupressure and related therapy as polarity, Reiki and cranial sacral therapy and myofascial release. "We encourage them to do a lot of free massage work on friends and family to develop technique," Jacob Brodbeck said. Freda Brodbeck, a St. Louis, Michigan native, has been studying alternative health remedies, including therapeutic massage, ever since. In 1999, Brodbeck completed a doctorate in naturopathy through computer courses offered by the Clayton College of Natural Health in Birmingham, Alabama. Grand Rapids resident Michelle Gray, 32, became a massage therapy student at the Spring Renewal center as part of a plan for a second career from her job as a chemist. "Massage has always interested me and I've always wanted to do something in the healing field and I've decided this is it," said Gray, who currently works as a chemist at a Holland company. "I really like the courses (at Spring Renewal) because we take a little of each school of thought for massage. When I've finished the course, I'd like to make it a career eventually." When Jacob Brodbeck and another therapist teach most of the massage classes at Spring Renewal, Freda Brodbeck teaches alternative medicine courses and concentrates on providing homeopathic therapy to patients with the use of medicinal herbs, vitamins and minerals, glandular extracts and aroma therapy for everything from the common cold to stress and the debilitating fibromyalgia. "People come to me a lot when nothing else has worked, and they find relief," Freda Brodbeck said, noting that alternate medicine and massage therapy are among of the fastest growing business fields in the country. "Massage and homeopathic treatment are more gentle therapies and more nurturing than drug treatment, " she said, noting that many of today's illnesses respond well to alternative medicines since the causes are related to lifestyle rather than bacteria or viruses. The Brodbecks moved to the Saugatuck area four years ago from Lake Odessa. The training school and institute also offer 20 hour classes in herbology, aromatherapy, energy work and homeopathy at a cost of $200 per course. The Brodbecks say they have more than $500,000 invested in their company, including the building and equipment. Classes at massage training school, though, are still catching on. Right now, they have from two to six students per semester, but the number is rising. In the meantime, the Brodbecks offer massage therapy, costing $45 for a 30 minute session or $65 for a one hour massage.
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