Hot Stone Therapy School and Career Guide

Hot Stone Therapy Practitioner 101

Hot stone therapy is an exciting and lucrative option for massage therapists seeking to enhance their careers – especially when working in spas and resorts. Aromatherapists, nail technicians, estheticians, reflexologists and other professionals are also learning to incorporate the powerful benefits of healing stones into their work.

In a typical hot stone therapy session, smooth basalt stones are heated in hot water and placed on specific points of the body, including the palms, back and between the toes. The direct heat relaxes muscles, expands blood vessels and sedates the nervous system to allow more effective massage strokes. The stones themselves may also be used to stroke the body with gentle pressure. Cold marble stones may be used on areas of muscular injury or inflammation.

Alternatively, stone therapy may be included in a manicure, pedicure, facial, reflexology session or other treatment.

Your Hot Stone Therapy Education

What You’ll Study

In most hot stone therapy training courses, you will learn the following:

• History of stone therapy
• Therapeutic benefits of hot stones
• Care and cleansing of the stones
• How to incorporate stones into your practice

Seminars are generally marketed as continuing education and geared to a particular type of practitioner – massage therapist, reflexologist, nail technician, etc.

Average Length of Study

Most training programs for hot stone therapy are one- or two-day workshop courses. Home study courses are also available.

Average Tuition

Seminars and home study courses that provide continuing education units usually cost between $300 and $500. You will also need stones, a stone heater and other supplies which can cost from $100 to $400. Equipment may be included in the cost of your training program.

Hot Stone Therapy Practitioner Certification and Licensing

In most cases, you will need to be certified and licensed in another practice in order to work as a hot stone therapy practitioner. Most often, hot stone therapy is combined with full body massage and practiced by licensed massage therapists. You may also be able to use stone therapy in your practice as an aromatherapist, reflexologist, nail technician, esthetician or other professional.

Hot Stone Therapy Practitioner Career Overview

Hot stone therapy is an exciting way to enhance a career in the spa or salon arts. Being able to offer this unique service will help distinguish you from others in your field. And you will earn the loyalty of your clients with the extraordinary relaxation and healing that the knowledgeable application of hot stones can provide.

Most hot stone therapists are already practicing spa or beauty professionals. If you’re adding hot stone therapy to your repertoire, it’s likely that you’ll be performing this service in a spa. However, there are hot stone therapists who perform treatments in their clients’ homes for convenience purposes.

Hot Stone Therapy Practitioner Career Outlook

Invented in 1993, hot stone therapy is a relatively new arrival on the spa scene and has been extremely popular. Most spas offer some form of hot stone massage or other hot stone therapy. Your career as a hot stone therapy practitioner will benefit both from the ever-rising popularity of massage – and the rapid growth in the day spa industry.

Hot Stone Therapy Practitioner Salaries

According to MassageTherapy.com, the typical hourly rate for a massage is $40 to $90, and hot stone massage tends to skew toward the upper end of that range because of the additional knowledge and preparation required. So, your annual income as a hot stone therapy practitioner could start around $10,000 – if you work part-time and do only a handful of sessions a week – and go as high as $60,000 a year for a full-time practice with premium clientele – or clientele who visit regularly and help you network your business.

Return to the Spa & Massage Career Center home page.

Looking for Spa and Massage Schools?

Try our Spa, Massage & Beauty Schools & Training page. There you will find a comprehensive list of schools which offer program descriptions. You can also request information from the schools that interest you most.

Sources:
About Inc, 2007
Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals, 2007