I have recently rekindled my love with massage.

Don’t get me wrong, I have always liked massage both giving and receiving. But just lately I have really found love for it again for the benefits that are both apparent to both people and the more subtle benefits that we can sneak in there.

To truly understand where I am coming form, you have to know that I love to help people. Love to help people in anyway that I can. I really love to be able to enact change in people and help them to remove the roadblocks that stop them from being where they want to be in life. There are a lot of people who don’t want this however, and some who don’t even need it. But I like to be able to give benefit and value where ever I can. So here are the main reasons that I have fallen in love with massage and manual therapies again:

  1. The power of touch. Never underestimate the power of touch, it has great benefit for everyone. Even if it is not a hard touch that you can feel, it is a great communicator and healer, especially if the therapist is trained in energy work such as Reiki. Nearly everyone responds well to touch. It’s just a natural part of being human.
  2. Using my hands. It allows me to keep on top of my game and to keep my fingers in shape, both in the pressure applied and to be sensitive to find the problems beneath the skin.
  3. Problem solving. I love to solve problems, from finding out what the cause of a postural deviation is, to assisting with correcting the issue. What techniques to use, what muscles to work, to what exercise and stretches to recommend to keep the problem and pain away.
  4. Psychosomatic benefits. These come from helping to correct the posture and release stress in the muscles. There is a lot to be said for what our posture is saying about our current situations and how we are thinking. Massage can assist in this without the client even realizing it, which is amazing to see AND adds more value to the treatment you are providing.
  5. Opening room for communication. This one speaks for itself, but more on the level that people tend to open up when on the table. Many therapists will tell you that people tend to spill their guts when getting a massage, this can be partly psychosomatic thing, but a lot of people tell you about their life in positive ways as well. You get to learn while you earn. There is always something to learn off everybody and I love to have that chat when people are willing or still awake. And when you get to the stage where people are comfortable it creates….
  6. I love to practice this skill, and it makes life in general easier. Rapport is the way we communicate with people. If there is a problem with rapport, you will have trouble talking to people. When people come to see you, you want to be as good as possible and to gain that trust. When starting out I was not much of a people person. Even after training in NLP early in my career, it was still a matter of putting it into practice. It was a real struggle to get out of my own head to be able to comfort people and connect with them. I am sure that I have lost a few clients due to my lack of rapport. But by constantly throwing myself into situations where I had to talk and connect I have been fortunate to see these skills grow.

And those are just 6 reasons that I could think of off the top of my head. There are many, many more, like practicing different skills such as Emmett, that make it such a great therapy. Plus I have not even gone into how satisfying and gratifying it is to assist people with relieving their pain and feeling great. The thing is people think that I, we, as massage therapists are doing them a favor
but the truth is that it goes both ways. So I would like to thank all my clients, past present and future for allowing me to do something I love!