Chaz Armstrong, USA
Latest participant to sign up is Chaz Armstrong from USA. IMA has asked him til tell about himself.
I started massage therapy training at a local college when I was 17, just two days after graduating high school. I am proud to say my work has evolved after working as a professional massage therapist since 1999, and traveling around the world to develop a unique technique.
For my final competition in 2021, I will perform an unparalleled method I call, “Ninja Massage Therapy.” It’s based on the concept of using your whole body for your main source of power and using continuous sporadic joint movements to check clients’ relaxation state at all times, all while Myofascial and muscle unraveling during stretches.
I strive to maintain continuous contact with clients while having a constant awareness of my Center of Gravity (COG). To the untrained eye it may look like I’m just dancing or hopping around with fancy kicking moves, but I’m actually creating force/power through gravity not joint movement and leverage between strokes to create a consistent pressure throughout transitions. I also use vibration movements to send information from one hand to the other.
I choose to compete in the IMA’s 2021 World Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark because, like every other profession or sport, we as bodywork specialists deserve an opportunity for the best in the world to come together and collaborate. I believe this will help us sustain our profession because the real competition is not between the participants of the IMA Massage World Championship, it’s a battle between manmade massage gadgets and the human touch. Technology will forever improve, and it’s up to us to do the same. Remember to feel for more, don’t just pet.
By coming together, we can all learn from each other, improve our skills and help promote the massage profession as an alternative medicine that should be respected by the medical industry and insurance companies. I want to demonstrate and prove to the world that we heal too. I see IMA competitions expanding into a larger venue for outside spectators and eventually becoming a televised media broadcasting event.
What I hope to leave with the competition is the impression of someone bringing the fun, passion and professionalism back to the massage industry, which has been overlooked for too long.
The International Massage Association look forward watching Chaz Amstrongs skills again at the World Championship in Massage 2021
