The level of difficulty in becoming a massage therapist in Canada is directly related to the amount of time you have to offer to it, the level of commitment you have towards the goal and the amount of money you can afford to spend on the education and certification process.

Where to Begin

Becoming certified in massage therapy in Canada is no small undertaking, some disciplines require upwards of three thousand hours or more of actual 'contact' education. If you are taking classes outside of the providence in which you wish to practice, or if you move - you may be required to add even more hours of contact training to stay certified. This means that you may need to actually be performing massage in the classroom atmosphere for as many as three thousand or more hours before you are even eligible to sit for your certification exam.

If you were looking to make a quick career change, or to be able to dive right into to making money in your own business venture, then massage may not be the road for you because it takes hours and hours of technical training and a perfect understanding of the body and its mechanics. Make no mistake about it; there is no fast route to becoming a certified therapist.

If you are aware and prepared to handle the level of commitment necessary to fulfill the certification requirements, then it's time to pick which type of massage you'd like to become certified in.

There is a surprisingly large array of different types of massage that you can attain certification in. Each carries with it different benefits and each style requires the practitioner to learn different techniques - some styles require many more hours of training to become proficient and to earn certification.

Shiatsu, acupressure, hot stone, relaxation, reflexology and general massage therapy are just some of the different types of massage in which one can obtain a certification. All are perfectly viable disciplines and all have potentially wonderful benefits to offer. Many future certified therapists choose their particular discipline based on a few key criteria: availability of schools in the area, costs of individual certifications, and individual interest in a particular style or the potential for earning in the area with one style over another all may play a roll in the choice.

Once you have narrowed the wide field down to the type of massage that you would like to get certified in, it's time to locate a school.

Locating a school that offers certifications in the type of massage in which you'd like to specialize probably won't be all that difficult, but finding a program that fits within the parameters of your schedule and that you can afford may prove to be a bit of a challenge.

If finances are your main concern, check into the possibility of receiving financial aid. There could be financial assistance or government grants available that you may never have to pay back. If you find that you are not eligible to receive financial aid, there is always the option of borrowing. Student and or personal loans can be obtained with relatively low interest rates and you may not have to begin paying the student loans back until after you finish the program.

Beginning a career as a certified therapist can be very rewarding and financially lucrative for the right person. It can be a very intense program, loaded with technical information on human anatomy and physiology, hours of study and hands on technique, but for someone who has the passion and ambition to become a certified massage therapist in Canada, the process shouldn't prove to be to difficult at all.