Working as a massage therapist has ways of bringing out the best and worse in us. We are faced with the expectations of relieving pain and of knowing what a person should do. Massage school teaches us techniques to use to do just that. We take continuing education classes in techniques and theory.
We are trained in knowledge of anatomy and physiology and how massage affects the body and are taught to be authorities on the subject. Massage therapists are taught to fix and be responsible for others health or lack of it.
We work closely with people who are in pain which is usually much more than just a physical issue. As a result of such close encounters our lives are constantly touched which sometimes leads to our own wounds.
It isn’t so much what technique you use with a client but rather who you are as a person that will lead you to success in the massage profession. Being able to be with a client who is in pain and not give advise or try to fix -but just being present for the other and experiencing their presence and not just their symptoms allows a deeper level of healing to occur.
Our techniques are tools that allow us to communicate with the client. Working with different techniques with a client allows us to learn about ourselves. Taking a technique and making it your own requires that you take a look at what is in your heart and assimilate that technique into your own way.
The client really does not care much about the technique. They don’t care if they are getting cross fiber friction or if they are getting effleurage. They only care about how it feels.
Bevis Nathan in his book “Touch and Emotion in Manual Therapy” asks the question “What is it that heals – the technique and its tissue-specific physiological effects or the experience of being held/healed?”
“The intention of touch is to create a therapeutic physiological event in the tissues of the patient, and the rationale underlying the technique is physiological, kinetic or mechanical in nature. From the patients point of view, the touch has it’s roots in non-verbal communication or communion. She does not experience the touch as merely a technique or procedure on her body tissues, it involves her self. She is being held, cradled, stroked, caressed, valued, cared-for, healed”.
He goes on to say “If most therapeutic touches will evoke emotional responses in addition to mechanical ones, the question arises: which component is responsible for the healing?”
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