email 8/28/06

email I sent to the California Assembly 8/28/06

Dear Sirs and madams:

I am a massage therapist, have been so for nine years.I did not intend to be a massage therapist, I happenedto be studying to be a personal trainer and wonderedif the knowledge I can acquire if I become a massagetherapist can help me with the personal training. To cutthe story short I fell in love with massage afterreceiving a dozen of them in a week's time. I decidedto pursue massage therapy fully. I am not now a personal trainer. I have been working at the OlympicClub in downtown San Francisco for five years.

I would not have been a massage therapist if Californiarequired more than a hundred hours education. Of courselike any graduate it quickly became apparent that I needed to know more if I want my client base to grow.I've since taken courses in Neuromuscular Therapy whichhelped a great deal in dealing with my athlete clients.I have many regular clients who benefit from my work.

I am writing to oppose this legislation.This legislation will prevent many people who havethe proper compassion for this work to enter theprofession. I have a nephew who was inspired by me and withoutasking for my opinion went to massage school and wassold by the school one of their more expensiveprograms. He worked for two months as a massagetherapist but had to quit so he can get a better payingjob to pay the school loan he had to shoulder. He thenproceeded to hurt his shoulder and the last I heardhe was on disability. He was 19 years old when he entered massage school.

I got into massage at age 40.

This is an old argument but it is true that the onlywinner if this legislation passes are the massageschools. They can charge 25 thousand dollars and morefor someone to graduate their programs. For somethingthat is so natural, anybody does it. Everybody has givensomebody a neck rub. Mothers have always massage theirbabies without studying 'Infant Massage'. I insist thatI can teach anybody to give a SAFE and EFFECTIVEmassage in a couple of hours. And anybody can give afoot rub.

Massage insurance is so cheap because the risk is so little.But the people behind this legislation will have youbelieve like we're out there eager to dislocate everybone in everyone's body. Anyone who have had a massagecan attest to the perception that all the therapist intendedto do was to make them feel good.

You can not legislate intention.

Please do not prevent the people who want to make peoplefeel good from doing so. Encourage them to do so byrejecting this bill.

Thank you.

Ike Agustin