After graduating from the Sananda Holistic Health program—an intensive training regimen that demands more than 500 hours of hands-on practice—therapist Christina M. Rios was anxious to put her hard-earned skills into practice. Between earning additional certifications in pain management, pregnancy massage, and elder-care massage, she founded Advanced Massage Concepts, where today she helms a staff of experienced therapists with a combined 20 years of experienced and more than 2,000 hours of instruction.

Accumulated stresses dissolve in the center’s private treatment rooms, where music, dimmed lights, and fresh robes conspire to create a relaxing experience. Though anxieties stand no chance against their nimble hands, the therapists specialize in healing specific injuries. The focused pressures of deep-tissue massage or the all-around techniques of Swedish massage—to name only a few—help clients recover from automobile crashes and workplace accidents that commonly result from arm-wrestling peers for promotions.