What Is Massage?
Jun 29, 2022
Several years ago, I sat down and wrote this. I was in “that place” where massage therapists can find themselves in from time to time. That place was the “am I enough?” place.
It is not easy to touch people as a job. Human contact is exhausting and draining work. There are always points in our careers where we want to quit and find a “normal” job. But we don’t because we came into this career to help people and make a difference.
What YOU do is important and so are YOU.
Remember to take care of yourself. “Healer heal thyself”, first.
Massage is an art. It is something you create to become uniquely your own.
It is an expression of yourself and your growth in life.
Massage is also an ultimate gift of giving.
You circulate and interact with the energy of the person you work on, share the energy of yourself, and between and around the two of you is the universal energy that feeds us all. The interaction of all these energies creates what we feel as massage.
Massage encompasses more than the physical body.
It is a triad of healing; physical, emotional (mental), and spiritual.
As the therapist, we facilitate or allow the healing process to take place in this vessel we call a “human-being” – something concrete in a constant state of change – by creating a space for them where there is peace, calmness, healing and love.
We must remember that it is the individual that does the healing. We only create and support that healing space. We do not control it neither can we make it to work or bend it to our will. We merely dance with this “being” and allow them to “be”.
You as a massage therapist have a responsibility to not stand in the way of the process of healing. Yet without you, different depths of healing do not occur. We must always be present when these beings entrust us with their care.
One of the greatest words and actions for a massage therapist to fully understand is “allowing”. We allow the body to change. We allow the being to trust. We allow the being to experience. We allow them to process. We allow them to cry. We allow their emotions and spirit to come forward. We hold the space for them so that the mind, body, and spirit to come together. And as it is the truth in all things, we must first be “allowing” to ourselves.
We also have an incredible responsibility with these beings. Never break their trust. Never hurt them. Never betray them or their bodies. Approach the body with reverence; head bowed with grace in your touch. It is amazing what will happen to your “be-ing” and their “be-ing”.
And that, my friend, is massage.
Author: Amy Bradley Radford
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