THE HISTORY OF BRISTOL COLLEGE OF MASSAGE & BODYWORK

This really means telling the story of how I came into doing massage. 

It began in November 1982 when I sustained frostbitten toes whilst trekking in the Himalayas. There is long version of that story, including meeting a world famous mountaineer and Robert Redford getting me a horse.

But back to massage.  My recovery was assisted wonderfully by the intuitive and loving massage my feet received from my life partner, Cathy.  In a Kathmandu bookshop we picked up that classic “The Massage Book“ by George Downing - then spent a month on a beach in Goa working our way through the book, page by page. 

My first workshop was in Dharamsala, seat of the Dalai Lama. The people running it had trained at Esalen in California.  On returning to the UK in 1984, I trained with my teacher, Sara Thomas.  She had also been taught by someone from Esalen.

And in 1986, I was invited to start teaching.

At the time, I was a high school maths teacher.  One day a friend in the staff room said “I hear that you do massage, can you teach me?“ So my first class was a group of half a dozen friends in my front room, including Cathy. A year later, with the blessing of my teacher, I entered students for their professional diploma. In 1988 I was invited to be a founding member of the Massage Training Institute, a network of holistic massage schools in the UK.

In those early days I did everything – administration, logistics and teaching. Over the years former students have become colleagues and helped with all aspects of BCMB‘s operation. It is touching how a community of like-minded people has built up around the living, breathing tradition that is massage and body work. BCMB now has a team of 15 tutors and three members of office staff. We have been through many challenges – fire, flood and a global pandemic. Success can never be taken for granted. And that is wonderful because it means we maintain an alert humility recognising the importance of responding to what is rather than what we imagine. Just like a massage.

Andy Fagg, BCMB Founder
August 2022

ANDY FAGG