Judith Koch has been in the massage therapy field since 1991, after taking to heart a book that encourages seeking a career doing something that you love. In her former life, as a sales trainer and manager, she would frequently give her staff neck and shoulder rubs. Always fond of receiving massage herself, she realized this was a career she would love. Once Judith began, it was obvious that this was her niche. Her first discovery was that people like their massage therapist a whole lot better than they like their sales managers. She was hooked.

Less than two years after entering the massage field, three of her regular clients all got pregnant at once. Knowing that they must certainly need massage now more than ever, but having been taught that pregnancy was a contraindication for massage, she decided to fly half way across the country to attend an advanced prenatal, labor and infant massage certification course. She couldn’t believe it -- she found a niche within her niche, and was hooked again, this time getting to watch little miracles happen as icing on the cake. She continued her massage education and achieved national certification status in 1993. Her business continued to grow. An article appeared in the newspaper. The local television news included her in one of their health segments. Massage and Bodywork Quarterly, a national massage association journal, did a story on her. Parenting Magazine did year later. She has given nearly a thousand prenatal massages, and attended dozens of births. Her mothers are maintaining an unbelievable average of only four hours of labor, most completely drug free.

About that same time, Judith was hearing about women called doulas, (from the Greek word for “servant”) who helped women during labor. Judith had been relying almost exclusively on massage to assist her clients, and she wanted to see what these non-massage therapists were doing to ease labor. She attended the doula training nearest her, and two months later again flew half-way across the country, this time to take an advanced doula training from the lady who developed almost all doula curriculum currently available, Ms. Penny Simkin. discovered a range of methods to make the laboring and pushing processes easier. Her certification with Doulas of North America was actually delayed several months because her mothers were having their babies too fast to meet DONA’s minimum five hour labor requirement.   Based on her extensive training and experience, she has developed a thorough course for massage during all stages of pregnancy and delivery, as well as basic infant massage and movement. Isn’t it time you learn how to start watching miracles happen for a living?