In Seattle: Lurker jumps into the fray

[bored_ at_ work]

Hi, I've been reading this board for months now. I'm starting school for massage therapy May 2. I'm excited, and a little freaked out. I'm 38 years old, and I decided to do this after being layed off from my job of 12 years as an artists's assistant.

I've been lucky enough to do work that I enjoy for most of my adult life, so I am hoping that massage will fill that role in my life. Everyone I've talked to who is involved in massage is so enthusiastic about it, I feel like I can't go wrong. I will be very happy to not have a desk job. Right now, I am doing some digital ditchdigging (reformatting Photoshop files), and I have to eat or chew gum to stay awake.

What I really want to know is: What do you wear in school? We have to change under a sheet, so I am wondering how I can dress strategically to make this easier! I'm serious.

 

[elfreda]

We had to change under our sheets in school as well. We wore scrub pants and a polo shirt. It was hard the first time undressing but after that it became a breeze. Your massage partner should being helping you with the sheet making a tent for you but not exposing you and taking from you what u just took off.Advice take your pants off first.

 

[smarge22]

Oh and just realized your name on here...OFF TOPIC but if you are a scrabble freak and you never checked it out http://www.isc.ro its a scrabble site online best one I have ever been on.

 

[Queen of the Nerds]

Scrabblefreak, try wearing whatever is most comfortable to you to sit for hours upon hours in a classroom. Seriously. Back in the day, my school required we wear the most hideously uncomfortable poly/cotton blend ugly blue "professional" scrub type 1/2 sleeve jackets --- well, my class rebeled [continuously] and only wore the darned things for exams [and even then under protest]. What everyone wore to class was whatever was most comfortable for each of them to sit for hours and hours in....

Changing under a sheet takes getting used to... everyone will be on the same learning curve. Don't fret so much about what to wear, just go to class and be comfortable [within school reqs of course] so your mind is on your learning not your clothes.

Pulling tops off without uncovering yourself entirely takes a time or two to get right, but, it's easily handled. Jeans unbutton/unzip easily enough and then you just do a little "shimmy" [one of my instructor's description of the process] and a quick shove with your feet and VOILA! undressed in no time.

The "hoot" at my school was that we had 5 practicing nudists in our class and they could have cared less about the clothing requirement so far as whether they dressed and undressed under sheets. It really helped most of us in the class to just relax, realize that in our careers we were going to see a lot more, to quote a classmate, "hooters, hoohas and thingmabobs than any 10 people will outside of the massage therapy room in their lifetimes." So we just got used to the idea that bodies are bodies, undressed as best we could and got on with learning the best profession in the world.

Good luck to you in school. t006

 

[Pompal 09.]

It really helped most of us in the class to just relax, realize that in our careers we were going to see a lot more, to quote a classmate, "hooters, hoohas and thingmabobs than any 10 people will outside of the massage therapy room in their lifetimes."

t043

Kinda a seen-one, seen-em-all thing too. I've taken a few life drawing classes, and man, you shoulda seen peoples' faces the first day we had a nude model in class. You get over it very very quickly. Bodies are bodies. We all have roughly the same features... er well, I have a third arm coming out of my back, but that's just for convenience's sake (I can prop myself up on it and chill with my other two arms). bwa haha!

 

[Marc]

We changed in the bathroom or other available room and walked out with a towel (we used towels for draping in school) wrapped around us.

There were only a few times that I got changed under a sheet (school later changed to using sheets for draping) - while I was teaching. I can't remember what I had on.

 

[pr0carbine]

I guess we were lucky - our classroom had dressing rooms off to one end. We undressed in there and went to the classroom wrapped in our top sheet to get on the table. I assumed all massage schools had student dressing rooms! Really, it was one room, the length of the classroom, with curtains dividing the spaces. Very convenient! The portable tables were also stored in there during our lecture classes. For massage class, we stacked tables & chairs and brought out the massage tables, put the bottom sheet on and took the top sheet to go change.

Our dress code was "professional attire" - dress slacks & button up or at least collared pullovers, with the requirement of our shoes being cross-trainers. (What a look! :roll: ) That was what we had to wear for clinics, too, with the mandate that the shirt be short sleeved. No sleeveless, no plunging necklines - emphasis on professional to the point that I sometimes feel pretty smug about wearing jeans or yoga pants to work in.

 

[KitariSan]

my school had a swimsuit policy for receiving clinic work. we all changed, one by one, in the bathroom and then walked to the table and got under the draping.

 

[Dances with Werewolves]

Under the SHEET??!!
I can just imagine how many people have taken a fall squirming around.
We, like others here, undresses behind a curtain and then went to our table wrapped in the sheet. You'd be surprised how quickly you do it by the end of the class year.
Can you offer up the suggestion?(to change behind a curtain)
I can only imagine exposure has more of a chance when sheets get hung up on flannel, sweatshirt material.
If a curtain is not an option....I would think cotton sheeting/scrubs would be the easiest to slip out of.
Robyn

 

[Ben]

A tip for others who have to change under the sheet

So, I've been in school for about 6 weeks now, and it's great. For anyone else who has to change under the sheets, try putting your pants on by sitting up, lifting the sheet from your feet, and starting at the bottom, instead of trying to do it all from under the sheet. Sounds simple, but I thought it was pretty brilliant and I felt dumb for not thinking of it myself.

 

[greengirl]

The "hoot" at my school was that we had 5 practicing nudists in our class and they could have cared less about the clothing requirement so far as whether they dressed and undressed under sheets. It really helped most of us in the class to just relax, realize that in our careers we were going to see a lot more, to quote a classmate, "hooters, hoohas and thingmabobs than any 10 people will outside of the massage therapy room in their lifetimes." So we just got used to the idea that bodies are bodies, undressed as best we could and got on with learning the best profession in the world.

Good luck to you in school. t006

I am not a practicing nudist (not even close), but in my class there are 10-12 women and I found myself very comfortable very quickly with them. Of course 15 yrs of breastfeeding seven children can also tend to have the effect of not being all that self conscious LOL.

The funniest thing that happened to me was when I had a discussion with an instructor for my "inappropriate" undressing style. Before I got under the sheets I would remove my bra through my arm holes of my shirt. Nothing was showing and my shirt was not see through, so I felt it wasn't an issue. The day my instructor saw me do this she started telling me that I couldn't do it because I had to undress under the sheets. This led to a very interesting discussion on why I couldn't do it the way I was and she told me "you have to wear a bra." I finally said "legally - nope I do not have to wear a bra - I wear one so that my breasts do not sag to my belly button, but legally I do not have to wear one." I explained to her that summer was coming and think about all the females that will walk around with spaghetti straps and no bras - nothing illegal about that.

She sat and thought about that for a minute with the most hilarious quizzical look on her face, and realized that I was right LOL. Before that she just didn't get it that legally women do not have to wear bras - yes they must have their breasts covered but no law about bras.

So my method of choice on undressing is to remove my bra through my sleeves and then lay down and kick off my pants and then pull my shirt over my head. Personally I found button shirts or zippered shirts to be the hardest for me.

 

[Jasanna]

Don't even get me started on the sexualization of women's breasts! How did it ever come about that they needed to be covered up in the first place?

 

[whatever]

Don't even get me started on the sexualization of women's breasts! How did it ever come about that they needed to be covered up in the first place?

Probaby the industrial revolution. It's way harder to crash your pony into a telephone pole... :

 

[wizebloke]

Ha! t042

 

[THE REAL DEAL SEX APPEAL]

We wore scrubs and changed under the sheet. The taking off the bra before the top was one of my tricks also. Plus, everybody is so busy getting undressed or helping their partner get undressed, noone is looking at you.

Actually the whole thing reminded me of undressing and dressing in the back of a Volkswagen...ahem, but that was a long time ago...in a land far far away :wink:

 

[Lizard]

my school had a swimsuit policy for receiving clinic work. we all changed, one by one, in the bathroom and then walked to the table and got under the draping.

Same for us. On days that we knew we had clinic 1st thing many of us would simply wear our swimsuit under our clothes and just strip in class (kinda like you would if you went to the beach or pool)

I can't imagine the awkwardness of getting dressed/undressed under a sheet?? I can just see myself falling off of the table.


By the way Mush.....any chance you went to the Humanities Center??

Angie

 

[KROQFAN]

wow, I really feel kinda bad for all of you. sounds like your schools are taking your money without really providing the equipment you NEED. everything said so far, under the sheets, in a bathroom, all sounds like a compromise; a cheap, inconsiderate, compromise.

we were very lucky then, I guess. we had green curtains exactly like you would see in an ER, that hung from the ceiling. we would just close off the cubicles, change, then the person treating would open them up.

and I for one, am glad breasts are usually covered. am I quite happy with my socialization the way it is: mystery and discovery. much better. plus, do you really wanna see all those boobies everywhere you go? I don't. There's no going back now that they've taken on sexual characteristics. haha!

*cringes for fear of massive amounts of angry retorts.*

keep in mind I say this in good humour. is that even an expression in english? my brain has been bilingual too long.

 

[rocker4ever18]

None of the above. I'm not going to go through under-sheet acrobatics at all. I'm going to disrobe and then arrange myself on the table. Why we have to get all bothered by the sight of other human beings baffles me.

 

[Pompal 09.]

we were very lucky then, I guess. we had green curtains exactly like you would see in an ER, that hung from the ceiling. we would just close off the cubicles, change, then the person treating would open them up.

We also have ceiling curtains that close around each table. It seems a lot easier than having to change under the sheets.

On the other hand, my school doesn't have a strict dress code except in the student clinic, so I typically wear shorts and a t-shirt, pretty easy to slip on and off.

regarding breasts in public, maybe it should be allowed and then men wouldn't act so juvenile about the whole subject. Doubt if it'll happen in our lifetimes though.

 

[Rahrah]

None of the above. I'm not going to go through under-sheet acrobatics at all. I'm going to disrobe and then arrange myself on the table. Why we have to get all bothered by the sight of other human beings baffles me.

Caoimhan, arrange yourself on the table??? hmmmmm..... Not sure if you are in massage school yet or not, but I would bet you would have to do what everyone else in your school will be doing when it comes time getting undressed. It is great that you are comfortable with your naked body, but others in your class may not choose to see you in the nude. You wouldnt last too long in a school if you are the only one stripping down naked behind a curtain and walking over to the massage table when everyone else is either undressing and walking over wrapped in a sheet or undressing while laying under a sheet.

Christine