JCC To Offer Workshops by Pioneering Massage Therapists

Published: August 7, 2015

Claire Marie Miller and Stewart Walker will share their knowledge.

The therapeutic massage program at Johnston Community is pleased to offer an integrative reflexology certification and other therapeutic massage workshops in the coming months by renowned massage therapists Claire Marie Miller and Stewart Walker.

 On Dec. 5 and 6, 2015 Miller will offer Nurturing the Mother Spa, and she will teach her integrative reflexology certification March 11-13, 2016 in the therapeutic massage spa in the Health Building on the JCC main campus.

In this foundational 24-hour certification course, students will learn the basic techniques of foot, hand, and ear reflexology through the four-theory approach to reflexology:structural alignment, zones, oriental meridians, and proprioceptors. This classic whole hand technique makes it gentle on the thumbs and fingers.

Students will learn an integrative reflexology approach to seeing the body in a whole way; factors that contribute to health and balance for the therapist and clients; cautions and contraindications to reflexology; proper body mechanics and structural alignment exercises; anatomy lessons on the lower leg and foot including bones, muscles, and actions; training in reflexology for infants, children, pregnant mothers, the elderly, and the terminally ill.

On Oct. 3, 2015, Stewart Walker will teach Joints: Pain Reduction for Osteoarthritis, and Taut Band Therapy: Back, Neck & Shoulder will be offered on March 18-19, 2016. Both will be held in the therapeutic massage spa in the Health Building on the JCC main campus.

"One of our goals in the therapeutic massage program is to offer local, affordable, and high-quality continuing education to our graduates and the community," said Lynn Hurt, program director. "We are extremely excited to be able to provide this opportunity by hosting instructors like Claire Marie Miller and Stewart Walker."

Claire Marie Miller's pioneering work with pregnancy, postpartum, labor, fertility, and infant massage was born out of personal experience and her passion for the creative process of birth and healing. In 1990, Miller created her foundational course, Nurturing the Mother to bring her deep wisdom and experience to massage therapists throughout the country. Miller has been involved with the health profession since 1974 when she began work as a radiologic technician. Today, Miller has trained and mentors a great number of students. She was inducted into the 2010 Massage Hall of Fame, recognized for her leadership in the massage therapy industry. She is still in private practice today and has been a Certified Massage Therapist since 1979 and nationally certified since 1994.

Stewart M. Walker is approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) as a continuing education approved provider. Stewart began the study and practice of massage in 1972. In 1977, he received a B.A. in religion from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A year later, Stewart was a co-founder, practitioner, and teacher for the Community Wholistic Health Center. From 1981-1985 he was the chairperson for the board of directors of the NC Association for Bodywork and Massage Therapy, North Carolina's first professional massage association. Stewart founded the Carolina School of Massage Therapy and was the director and an instructor until 1990.

For over 30 years Stewart's practice and teaching has emphasized the use of therapeutic bodywork as a tool for reducing muscular-skeletal pain. He now enjoys private practice in a rural setting in Durham.

Register for these courses at http://www.johnstoncc.edu/programs/health-sciences/therapeutic-massage/massage-therapy-ce-training.aspx.

For more information about therapeutic massage training at JCC, please contact Lynn Hurt at (919) 209-2516 or e-mail her at klhurt@johnstoncc.edu.