I have been doing massage for 9.5 years in Seattle, WA--the crunchiest, new- agey-est, massage saturated place in the country--aside from Big Sur, CA( and all those nekkid Esalen types ).
I have mainly massage therapist friends and have been steeped in the massage therapy world for a long time. I did a huge "wahhhhh...???" when I read this thread because I have no--NONE--ZIP experience of what the heck you are talking about.
And you have to understand--I have been to cult hell and back in my own history--so I am a little gun shy around new agey shit and cult behavior to even put up with any so called spiritual mumbo jumbo bullshit.
No one in my massage community behaves or believes the way you describe--sure there are wacky pushy new agey types that want to clean your aura with a frickin' pendulum, but every profession has its weirdos.
The school I went to --The Brian Utting School of Massage-- is the best in the region--and NEVER presumed to indoctrinate us in new age bullshit. It was all clinical injury treatment and deep tissue therapy training. Brian Utting himself is about the least new agey, non-spiritual elitest person you'll ever meet--and he's got major massage world cred.
So, I have no idea what the heck you are talking about--and Jews and blacks being run out of the profession??????? Where are you getting that story???? My husband is Jewish--a massage therapist too--and people have to wait to see him because he is so popular. And other therapists send people to him too--even the new agey types.
Below is a link to the core ideology of the AMTA:
[
www.amtamassage.org]
I see no mention of spiritual purity there. Dude--we are about muscles and soft tissue! Show me some proof and maybe then I will entertain that you may have a point.....