A Sit Down with Ruth Price, L.M.T.

When I attended the Utah College of Massage Therapy in Lindon, Utah I had one instructor that stood out from the others. The class, Business Mastery, was one that sounded quite boring.  However, the instructor, Ruth Price made the material come to life and made attending class something everyone looked forward to.  My education extended beyond the classroom where I, along with several other students, would go to Ruth's office where she would teach us techniques that she had developed from her past experience and formal schooling.  It was impressive for me to find someone else who approached life much the same way that I did, where we both wanted to learn and know more.

After practicing massage therapy for twenty-one years, Ruth has found a niche working with clients who have medical problems ranging from headaches to fibromyalgia.  When Ruth had her personal massage practice she developed massage techniques that could be used when working on patients post operatively following plastic surgery.  Ruth has been teaching in many different arenas for a large portion of her life so teaching massage techniques was a perfect fit for her.  Following her development of these post-op massage techniques she started teaching them in private classes, as well as, offering classes at local massage schools.  Ruth said, “I really enjoy the atmosphere where there are students that have a drive and a desire to learn.”  Not only did Ruth teach, she was also the director of the Utah College of Massage Therapy.  

Following her time as director of the massage school, Ruth and a business partner started their own day spa, named Four Winds, which was located at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City.  Ruth has said, “The day spa was a lot of work but I really learned a lot, made some mistakes along the way but I came out a better business person in the end.”  The day spa had a large classroom where they had a calendar of different massage speakers, yoga classes, and hands-on massage modalities could be demonstrated.  Unfortunately, the space they were leasing at Trolley Square had such high overhead that they decided to relocate the day spa a little further north on 9th and 9th near Sugar House in Salt Lake City.  

The new location has a great following for clients following surgery and for many older clients who have mobility problems.  Ruth said, ”Massage has always been a passion for me and although it gets harder on me physically, I plan to practice massage for the rest of my life.”  The reason Ruth loves massage therapy is because there is always something to learn in order to become a better therapist.  Not only is Ruth an excellent massage therapist, but she is someone that people in the industry turn to for answers to their massage questions.  To this day, Ruth continues to educate herself past the formal massage school classroom and gains greater experience to help others.