Arturo Parra, Canada/Colombia
Latest Massage Therapist signing up for the 7th World Championship in Massage is Arturo Parra from Canada. The International Massage association has asked him to tell about himself:
In Spanish, my mother tongue, the verb “tocar” means both to play a musical instrument and to touch – or give a massage. I do both.
When I was a child, my grandmother would use her reassuring hands to treat our family members’ and neighbours’ various body or soul ailments. Her touch was so soothing that my sisters and I would often pretend to have imaginary aches and pains in order to enjoy her healing art… I would also try to unravel the mystery of her gift by massaging the best I could my mother’s shoulders and hands, made stiff and painful by long hours of needlework.
As a teenager, I turned to sports (soccer, race walking, sprinting, martial arts) and classical guitar. Did you know? As athletes, instrumentalists suffer many work-related injuries. The prolonged rehearsals, the asymmetric position, but above all, the concentration that makes musicians forget their body, inflict them musculoskeletal injuries that, in many cases, even force them to give up their career. When I became a professional guitarist, I followed my grandmother’s example and relieved my tensions with what I now know is “Do-In” – although I had never heard that word at the time. Thanks to this, in my fifty-year musical career, I’ve never suffered a single injury, and neither have my students.
My background in sports and in music led me to massage therapy. As paradoxical as it may seem, this evolution actually unfolded in a very natural and smooth manner.
For me, massage is like music: a privileged relationship with the client based on rigorous expertise and precise touch, but also on mindful and unabated listening, ergonomic and graceful movements, resonance and harmony.
Qualified in Shiatsu, Tui Na, Nuad Naman, chair massage and Lomi-atsu, I complement my approach with techniques from Qi Gong, Do-In and Bamboo Walk, a discipline I created based on fundamental principles of martial arts, race walking, posturology and balance.
Born and raised in Bogotá (Colombia), I’ve been living in Montréal (Canada)… for quite a number of years now and share my time between these two cities I equally love.
2019 – Professional qualification – Shiatsu – Institut Guijek (Montréal)
2021 – Training – Lomi-atsu – Noémie Gélinas (Lomi-atsu founder) / Institut Kiné-Concept/Guijek (Montréal)
2021 – Initiation – Kinetic Swedish Massage – Institut Kiné-Concept/Guijek (Montréal)
2021 – Professional qualification – Chair Massage – Marie-Ève Letarte / Institut de formation en massothérapie du Québec [IFMQ] (Massage Therapy Institute of Québec, Montréal)
2021 – Training – Mentastics – Institut Louise Voisard, TRAGER(MD) Practitioner (Montréal)
2021 – Training – Trager – IFMQ / Denis Lafontaine (Montréal)
2022 – Professional qualification – Thai Massage Therapy (Nuad Naman) – Institut Kiné-Concept/Guijek (Montréal)
2023 – Training – Myofascial Trigger Points – Francis Létourneau / Institut Axis (Montréal)
2023 – Professional qualification – Tui Na – Montreal Gong Fu Research Center / North American Tang Shou Tao (Montréal)
My Website
My Facebook
The International Massage Association look forward waching Arturo Parra skills at the World Championship in Massage at the end of June in wonderful Copenhagen.

