Meet Maj-lis Nash of Mind Body Institute

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maj-lis Nash

Hi Maj-lis, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I moved to TN from MI in 1996 with some friends on a journey to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I have spent the previous 7 years working the summers on Mackinac Island in Michigan and then traveling and taking odd jobs in the winter months as I tried to find the path in life for me. Traditional college just wasn’t the road for me, I never really enjoyed school anyway so we all find it ironic that I now own a trade school. My parents had always been supportive of my wandering over the years but at 25 they started to ask if I was going to pick a career path anytime soon. I had no clue. My step dad was a motorcycle racer and over the years I would massage his neck and back when he had a rough race and he would always tell me I should go into a massage career but who listens to their parents at 20yrs old. Not me. A few months after moving to Nashville with no real plan or goal in site I went home to MI to help for a few weeks after my step dad had shoulder surgery and would do massage on his arm and shoulder while he recovered. Once again, he said how much it helped him and that I should really look into a massage career. I returned to Nashville a few weeks later and looked up massage therapy schools in the area, called a few and the one that called me back is the one I ended up going to. Once again my mom, stepdad and dad were all supportive of me going to a trade school for massage therapy so a month later I started at the Institute of Therapeutic Massage & Movement. I fell in love with that school and the owners Fran Cegelka and Angela Bitting were amazing to me. They taught me that school could be fun and exciting and that I had a natural gift for the craft of massage therapy. I graduated from ITMM, got licensed and immediately started my own outcall massage business in the Nashville area, specializing in prenatal and infant massage. Over the next 3 years I built a pretty successful independent practice when I got a call from Angela asking me if I would be interested in teaching for them the prenatal and infant classes. I had no experience teaching but they both assured me they could train me and I decided to give it a shot. So in addition to my private practice I began teaching at the massage school I graduated from in the spring of 2000. It was a bumpy start and I struggle to find my place as a teacher but after a bit I got comfortable and eventually ended up teaching full time for them in many subjects over the next 6 years. I kept my private practice as well but it had somehow morphed into me working with Parkinson patients thru random referrals. I had some of the most amazing clients over the year but my Parkinson clients held an incredible space in my heart. In the fall of 2006 I was talking with Fran one night, Angela had since moved to FL and left the company, about how hard he was working to do everything for ITMM and I wished I could help more. Fran looked at me and said do you want to buy the school? I went home that night and said to my husband you will never guess what Fran just said, he asked me if we wanted to buy the school. Daryl, my husband, looked up at me and said, I have been thinking lately we should. Daryl and I had stared a company called Mind Body Connection in 2003 that provided massage, sold massage products and offered massage therapists continuing education opportunities. In September of 2006 we worked out all the details over the next few weeks, including the fact that we would have to move locations, and by Thanksgiving we had purchased the 10yr old Institute of Therapeutic Massage & Movement and renamed it Mind Body Institute, LLC. We spent the next few months moving locations and getting reestablished. Daryl and I then spent the next few years growing the school and running Mind Body Connection as well. We got the program accredited with ACCSC and went from 3 staff to the 11 staff we now have. We spent from 2007-2020 in the Music Valley area and had the best time growing this company and graduating over 1000 massage therapists into the workforce. In 2019 an opportunity came for us to move to a more permanent home in Madison so with the help of our staff and tons of alumni we moved to our new space in Madison in Feb of 2020 only to be shut down in March. It was a rough few months but the team of of people that work for us and the students in our program all rallied and we found a way to keep everyone safe and continue with the courses. We are now in our 18th year as MBI and since we still call all the grads from ITMM family that makes it 28 years of providing opportunities for so many people to become licensed massage therapists. The opportunity to help people follow a dream they had or pursue a career the are interested in has been one of the major highlights of my life. We are also super proud of the fact that we donate all tip money made in our clinic to a company called Wine to Water as well as some local places when any disaster hits the area. We have provided free chair massage at places such as Vanderbilt hospital, the Nashville Famers Market and the Donelson YMCA over the years in an effort to give back to our community. I am also super proud of the recent law ( May of 2024) we got passed that was spearheaded and organized by me to increase the required hrs of training in TN from 500 to 650 putting TN ahead of many other states on the path to a stronger higher education in massage therapy training.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Yes and No. The first few years of my teaching career were tough and many people were hard on me but I just kept working at becoming a better instructor and giving it everything I had. When we purchased the school we faced an entire new set of hurtles dealing with all the regulations put on trade schools. We had to adhere to the same standards as a huge school so that was a struggle both financially and from a work load perspective over the years. Low enrollment years were tough but our staff always jumped in and helped carry the load to get us to the good days.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a 650hr Massage Therapy program that trains people to become licensed massage therapists. Our program would be considered a more clinic style approach to massage therapy which sets us apart from some other programs that offer massage therapy in TN. We have an exceptional student body and our student clinic is one of the best in the state. I am most proud of the reputation we have built in the massage community as a school that is tough but fair and graduates some of the most well prepared therapists out there. Our relationships with the employers of massage therapists is also something we are super proud of. I am confident when an applicant says they went to MBI they just got bumped up on the we are going to hire this person scale.

What matters most to you? Why?
That our students have the space to find their own path the massage industry and are supported by us as they go out there and build their career. We are a small trade school and it feels more like family to me. That our staff is happy with the place they work and feel safe and supported.

Pricing:

• $9900.00 tuition cost

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mindbody.edu
• Instagram: mindbodyinstitutetn
• Facebook: mindbodyinstitute