Larisa Ullrich

Larisa Ullrich graduated from the D48X at the Salt Lake Campus of the Utah College of Massage Therapy Family of Schools in April of 2000. Since graduating, Larisa has worked in spas, done outcall work, and worked with a chiropractor. She recently sent UCMT the following letter about her work as a therapist:

"I wanted to write everyone at UCMT to let you know how grateful I am for my education in massage. For anyone interested, here’s my little story…

"I always knew I had a gift for massage. I had never even received a massage until the day before my first day of classes at UCMT. I kept this a secret of course. How could anyone know they wanted to be a massage therapist unless they had received massage? Well, somehow I just knew. I knew I wanted to facilitate people’s healing and minimize their pain. Massage simply seemed natural from the start.

"I worked hard in school not because I wanted good grades, but because I found it fascinating. I wanted to learn what some people called the ‘art of massage.’

"Nearly three years after graduating from UCMT, I have done all kinds of massage on all kinds of people. I’ve discovered by ‘doing’ that I, personally don’t enjoy spa work or doing outcalls as much as working with a chiropractor. I may not make as much money as I could doing outcalls, but my work is twice as gratifying. I get to help people in real pain, often times with chronic injuries every day. This is challenging and often psychologically exhausting. Working with people in pain is very humbling, and I feel honored to be able to help them through it.

"The chiropractor I work with truly cares about his patients and always listens to them. He listens to me too. I feel blessed to work with someone who respects my work and my clinical opinion of clients’ progress.

"Today after doing massage on a client who has received four back surgeries and has been in pain for years, I remembered the phrase ‘art of massage.’ I’m not sure why today was the day for me to realize the full potential of those words, but they come to light in a new way after working on this client. I feel I have and continued to develop my own strokes and varying techniques that work for different people in different kinds of pain. Even with all of the experience and knowledge I have gained, my instinct is still my truest friend while doing massage. Focusing on the muscles beneath my hands and listening for their reaction to my touch is often so profound that I need to keep my emotions in check. It is difficult to describe with words, but it is wonderful, and I get to experience it daily. What an incredible profession!

"With all of that said, I would like to say thank you UCMT for teaching me the ‘art of massage’… I’ll be working on it for the rest of my days. Keep up the good work!"