Touch in the Moment

How often are we touched, and what is the intention? Every good massage therapist should ask themselves this. How we are touched has a huge effect on how we touch others, even how we view others. As a professional, this is pretty important, as a person in general it’s just as valuable to keep our touch gentle, and inspire others to have a gentle touch where appropriate too.

I lead with the importance of a gentle touch, the touch that is soft enough to pick up on the subtle cues of a situation. I think gentle is one thing, not a solution, but overlooked in order to find a touch that gets things done. Getting things done isn’t so important! Everything will be done in it’s own time. We know this, and we’re still inclined to race the moment home. Deep breath, start gentle, look for cues and adapt as necessary.

As a therapist that has a lot of clients interested in deep and orthopedic work, I can’t afford to work with one kind of touch. Nor can I afford to jolt my clients into sympathetic states by undue pressure. There is a beautiful medium, and finding it is artwork. It takes years and lots of dedication to become a master artist in anything, it takes mindfulness and deep focus. A good massage therapist is a very valuable commodity, and with practice, we can all train ourselves to be therapists. Start with a deep breath, gentle at first, look for cues and adapt as necessary.