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My Greek grandmother (Yia Yia) would always have a situation-specific saying that explained every life situation, and as many other cultures have professed, she would exclaim, “good things happen in three’s.” This past month there were three gatherings of massage therapists and bodywork practitioners that certainly fit the “three-is-good” model.  

In late September over 1,200 massage therapists gathered in Cincinnati for the 2007 AMTA National Convention. It had been three years since I last attended this annual event after fifteen consecutive years of attendance. I was concerned that I had become a part of the same “senior” membership that 18 years ago had seemed to me to be out-of-date and too conservative for the future of the profession. 

I was there to teach a 2-day pre-convention seminar and was thrilled to meet massage therapists from around the country and from overseas who were eager to work and learn from each other. Following an inspirational keynote address on the integration of the mind, body and spirit by noted author and clinical psychologist Joan Borysenko, PhD, I met with friends and colleagues who played important roles in shaping our profession since the mid-1980’s. We shared stories that delineated our common and not-so-common paths to professional success. Throughout those five days I met massage therapists who were dedicated to continuing the push towards universal acceptance of the world’s oldest healing profession, and who were eager to listen and learn from their “seniors.” 

One week later I arrived in Boston for two professional gatherings that promised to be important events for the future of the therapeutic massage and bodywork profession. The first event was the Fascia Research Congress, which was held at the Conference Center of Harvard Medical School. Over 700 scientists, educators and clinicians from around the world gathered for two days to share new research findings on fascia’s cellular anatomy, its role in mechanotransduction, new directions in biomechanics, and fascia’s relationship to neuroanatomy and neurophysiology.  Panel discussions were also held on clinical implications, low back pain and lumbar fascia, and new hypotheses that may lead to a complete revision of how we teach fascial anatomy and physiology to the academic and health care specialists of the future. 

The international tone of this congress was uplifting. Researchers, teachers and manual therapists from Canada, Scotland, Brazil, Australia, England, Ireland, Holland, Denmark, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, South Africa, France, Austria, Mexico, Lithuania, Bulgaria, India, Japan, China, and the United States shared their insights and opinions. Cultural and hierarchical bridges were easily crossed with the language of fascia serving as the instrument of integration. These were two days filled with powerful epiphanies that fostered a shared appreciation of how we must link this new knowledge to the promise of academic and clinical excellence.     

Immediately following the research congress the International Association of Structural Integrators (IASI) held a symposium across the Charles River in Cambridge, MA. Over 350 SI practitioners from 12 countries convened for two   days under the theme of “Moving Forward.”  Inspirational keynote presentations and a multiple of breakout workshops were featured during the symposium. This was the second symposium sponsored by IASI in the past two years, and it was the first event to unveil the new certification examination for structural integration. Structural Integration is making a strong effort to reorganize its global “brand.” Many years of internal debate between graduates of various training institutes that are dedicated to teaching the 10 sessions of SI work have clearly affected the public perception of this important discipline of manual therapy. The participants of the 2007 IASI Symposium were there to celebrate what we have in common as SI practitioners and how we can support common professional and educational standards, community building within our discipline, and SI-focused research. Indeed, the announcement of the development of the Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation was greeted with great enthusiasm. 

I learned a great deal from each of these important national and international events. In many ways the educational information and social networking that was available for each participant has added to our shared strength of purpose. It was inspiring to witness osteopaths, chiropractors, M.D.’s, bodywork practitioners massage therapists, physical therapists, teachers, athletic trainers, nurses, exercise physiologists and anatomists interacting with each other on important topics that will improve our knowledge base, our skills, and our competencies.  

At the conclusion of these three remarkable events, my grandmother probably would have said, “ to move forward, honor the past, but never be tied to it.” Indeed, these three events may have heralded the beginning of our profession’s “New Age of Somatic Enlightenment” if we can embrace the inclusion of new people, new knowledge and an ever-expanding vision, while we work from the solid foundation of our history.  

Thank you, my wise Yia-Yia.