Teaching Massage

Since I'm on a roll discussing the process of teaching, I wanted to talk about how excited I am about ABMP's new "Teaching Massage" book and class. I've taught martial arts and I've taught massage therapy for almost 5 years now, but this is the first time I've such a great resource for the art of teaching massage.

About the Book

I will say that I haven't read the entire book yet, but I have read the first few chapters and had time to browse through the rest with some depth. The book is authored by some of the major players in massage education over the years and was written collaboratively. Even just a glance through the table of contents is enough to get a massage teacher excited. It is packed with information about different learning and teaching styles, classroom management, learning theory, instructional methods, adult learners and special needs, lesson design and planning, and tips from the experts on how they teach certain subjects like pathology or ethics.

Why It Is Needed

I don't know about any of you massage teachers reading this, but when I started teaching I was thrown to the wolves. I'd never had any formal education or training in education itself. All I had was my natural talent for teaching. I'm told that I am a good teacher by people who have had the training, but that doesn't mean that I have a solid theory or system to what I do. I'm still, 5 years later, feeling my way through the process. This book (and course) is a Godsend for the massage instructors who experienced the same thing I did - which I am sure is most of us.

Unfortunately, it is often assumed that if you are good at what you do, you will also be good at teaching it to others. I have known brilliant practitioners that simply fall apart in the classroom because it requires a completely different set of skills. Instead of being the authority on where people go for the answers, as a teacher you have to set the stage for the students to discover them and be able to apply them - a very different prospect.

Because there also seems to be a fairly high turnover in the teaching of massage as well, I think it is fantastic that there is now a resource in which a massage teacher can get a foundation in instructional methodology and be better prepared to hit the ground running.

Why so expensive? It actually is sold as part of a 20CEU class, so at a little over $150 (or around $121 through amazon) it's well worth it.

I'll keep posting as I work my way through the book. Until next time...

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Mirror Neurons and Learning Massage

I just received the most recent issue of "The Massage Educator", ABMP's newsletter for massage schools. In this issue there is an interesting article on mirror neurons and their role in learning.

Mirror Neurons

Mirror neurons are a relatively new discovery - only found and researched since 1996. They are specialized neurons and connections in your brain that are associated with learning by observation. The key to this is that when you watch somebody do something, it activates the same parts of your brain as if you were the one doing it. In essence, observing someone perform a task is akin to practicing it yourself (If only I could watch Santana and play the guitar so well).

These connections also help us to associate the observed behavior with existing concepts, which increases retention and understanding of the subject.

Familiarity of the Teacher

What's more is that the effect is increased through familiarity with the demonstrator. So a child would learn better through observing his parent than a total stranger. Perhaps this is because we already have stronger associations with that teacher and are less focused on learning their mannerisms.

So What Does This Mean?

First off, it validates the old screenwriting adage "Show it, don't tell it". Standing in front of a class lecturing is a poor way to deliver information. In fact studies show that people only retain about 5% of the information they hear that way. It means that it is important to bring demonstration and experiential learning to your classroom in as many different ways as possible. Don't just limit it to showing the bodywork - demonstrate the subject.

Be the part. When teaching a subject like say professionalism, it is vital that you demonstrate it to your students. With clients, it is important that you demonstrate the qualities that you are trying to promote to them.

Effectiveness of Learning from DVDs and Books

This goes to show that learning from a DVD can be an effective method, particularly with a clear and concise framework for the demonstrated techniques and with a respect to prior knowledge of the observer. The demonstrator on video must be sure to relate the new material back to knowledge the observer already possesses to reinforce the learning.

In my opinion, books can be a highly effective method for delivery a ton of material, but can also be quite weak at providing a learning experience for practical technique. Books excel at delivering lots of information, but really need to have some additional support to provide for the understanding necessary for the learner to truly own the knowledge. This is why I think the most effective books have DVDs or video to accompany them, or are used in the classroom in tandem with live demonstration.

The challenge is to strike the proper balance. I have found that as an instructor I am often faced with the difficult task of having too little time to pack in too much information. It is a choice many times between the increased amount of content covered or increased student understanding. There is a certain level of knowledge that must be achieved, but there appears to be increasing pressure to pack more into the same program time-frame.

Personally, I am never satisfied with what I'm already doing and constantly search for better methods for better student outcomes. Mirror neurons are another piece. Happy teaching!

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Earthlite Massage Tables

About the time I started this blog, I got the opportunity to go down to Vista, CA and tour the Earthlite factory. I've been wanting to write about it this whole time, but (insert excuse here) so now is the time. I learned a lot about massage table construction during my visit, and I thought I'd pass it along to you. By the way, I don't have any affiliation with Earthlite other than I was part of the decision of my school to use their products. I have had great experiences with Earthlite for my entire career.

Table Construction

Apparently Earthlite is one of the last mills in California. I didn't know that before. They actually cut down all of their wood components right there in their own factory. But on to general massage table factoids:

1. You want maple. Cheaper massage tables use birch for the legs. They last a little while, but because birch is a softer wood, before long the screw holes loosen up and the table starts to squeak. Not so with maple.


2. You do want some birch. Maple is heavy, and birch is lighter. While you don't want birch on the legs and frame, the flat decking can get really heavy if it is too dense. So birch is ideal there, but not just any birch. Aircraft quality birch from Russia is the ticket. Really light and strong, it's the same stuff they used to make planes out of.


3. Wood blocks. Cheaper tables use plastic blocks to anchor the legs into. The problem is that plastic doesn't bond to wood very well, making for a potential weak spot where the legs join the table. A quality table will have wood blocks.


4. You want 3" of foam. Different tables will layer their foam differently, with various foams and even memory foam, but you want 3". Some of the cheaper tables have 2". Even some of the 3" foam tables you have to make sure that you can't bottom out on it (take a fist and push down. Can you feel the wood?)


5. Double-locking legs? I've heard it said that you are supposed to have double-locking legs on your table, but the high end tables I've used haven't had or needed them. I still have my first Earthlite Spirit table from 11 years ago (heavily used and transported) and I still can't get it to squeak. I suppose it could be a fail-safe, but I've never seen any problems with single-locking legs.


6. Weight. Some cheaper tables pack on strength by packing on weight. This can be fine if you never move it, but if you do any out-call - Fuhgeddaboudit!


7. Vinyl. Ultraleather feels nice, but it isn't all that durable. Both duraleather and Earthlite's Natursoft feel great and last. Although how important this is may depend on how often your clients actually touch the table vinyl directly.


8. Full width hinge. A good table will have a sturdy hinge on it, preferrably the entire width of the frame rather than a couple of dinky hinges to support the entire weight in the middle.

Some Earthlite Specifics

I love their Caress and Flex-Rest face cradles. If you've ever had that splitting sinus pressure during a massage getting a table that one of these babies will fit in would be worth it by itself. The Flex-Rest distributes the pressure a little more evenly (and is a little lighter) and the Caress molds to your face. Beautiful. Earthlite also uses more eco-friendly products like water-based varnishes and renewable hardwoods.

Quality Controls (aka Made in China)

OK, I knew Earthlite was a quality company before I went down there, but this part blew me away. I had had some doubts about switching to Earthlite simply because they had acquired Stronglite - a company that I had had endless headaches with in the past. Their tables had simply fallen apart with alarming regularity. We finally got rid of (broke) the last one not long ago. Not one table (or chair) lasted. I was concerned what impact that that would have on Earthlite.

I learned a lot about doing business in China from this trip. That doing business there can be a blessing or a curse. Apparently this is how it works. You usually don't do business directly with a Chinese factory, you deal with a broker who then lines up a factory for your production as well as the suppliers for your materials. The broker charges a fee and then lines up his suppliers to make the most profit. The broker will swap out factories and suppliers at any time to maximize his profit - and leaving you out of control of your product. Hence all these problems with products made in China. U.S. companies are learning the hard way how to do business there.

Earthlite impressed me with how they handled this situation. Yes, they do have a factory over in China. They run the factory and even house their employees (to ensure that they get proper shelter and nourishment). They employ the same kinds of quality controls there as they do here and I met the man that oversees them. They also worked out direct contracts with each supplier and even visited their factories to QC the parts they receive! They cross-inspect between factories - the finished products here and the wood components there (that get sent there from CA).

The vinyl is a story all of itself. Duratouch vinyl can get expensive and apparently there is somewhat of a corner on the market. Earthlite wanted to reduce costs so they created their own vinyl (Natursoft). Personally, I think that it feels better than ultraleather. Anyway, as far as quality control, they send their own chemist to the factory that inspects all of the ingredients and then the finished product of each batch of vinyl. Feels better, lasts longer, and is cheaper than the alternatives.

I got to watch the table tests too - static load and the drop test. It's pretty darn cool to see a forklift set a few thousand pounds on a table and it doesn't break. The drop test is even more dramatic. They suspend weight (in this case around 500 pounds) over the table and drop it so that it hits the center of the table (at the hinge) with force. First they dropped 450 lbs. Then they upped it to 495 lbs. Finally 540 lbs caused the table to give. Give mind you and not break. The real-life equivalent would be three clients of those weights each taking a turn to run up and jump on your table. Right.

I did notice that their warranty service area was conspicuously bare. They just don't get that much warranty work.

Company Culture

Of course we were there in the capacity of "potential clients", but I met a great bunch of people down there. Certainly a bunch of guys I could hang out with even if it wasn't business. They have been very responsive to our needs and I could certainly tell that they all have a genuine interest in making a great product. They didn't need any hard sales pitch and didn't use one either. They did what I recommend for any product - build a great product and then all you have to do is teach about it instead of "sell" it.

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The Meaning of Touch

Touch is complex. Really complex. And it is something that we all take for granted. Even us massage therapists tend to overlook how complex touch really is.

Part of the problem is that touch isn't really one sense, but many. What we call touch is really the assembly of a myriad of different sensations that our brain constructs. We can feel temperature, pressure, light touch, heavy touch, tickling, the movement of a hair, vibration - and we lump it all together into this thing called touch. A lot of the touch we experience gets relegated into the subconscious realm as well - proprioception and the inner workings of our bodies are things we don't really have to think about much, they just happen on their own. It is the first sense to develop and our sense of touch is a direct extension of our nervous system.

Just to make things more complex, we have a huge psychological component to it as well. Touch has meanings. Meanings that are different from person to person. Touch is a fundamental part of our being and our attitudes and needs regarding touch affect our entire person.

Describing Touch (what it means to us)

As part of an exercise out of "The Bodywork Entrepreneur", you are asked to complete the following with as many words as you can:

Touching is/touching can...

Comforting, soothing, trusting, helpful, dangerous, harmful, uncertain, consoling, tentative, nervous, habitual, unconscious, calculated, planned, unplanned, inadvertant, unintentional, accidental, malicious, mean, cruel, sadistic, sexual, caring, intimate, arousing, exciting, functional, professional, technical, practiced, misinterpreted, cold, warm, aloof, distracted, possessive, communication, protective, reflexive, condescending, controlled, wild, friendly, loving, intrusive, invasive, good, bad, hard, soft, sensual, formal, informal, welcome, ritualistic, unwelcome, illegal, therapeutic, legal, appropriate, inappropriate, courteous, kind, reverent, sacred, vital, necessary, saving, passionate, angry, violent, aggressive, selfish, unselfish, generous, peaceful, sedating, agitated, shakt, certain, irritating, hurtful, pleasing, scary, fearful, purposeful, thoughtful, regretful, tired, victorious, contentious, competitive, playful, light, creepy, salvation, inclusive, honest, dishonest, shady, meaningful, careless, confident...

...and these words are just the first page of five that I was able to come up with in 20 minutes. See what you can come up with. Obviously touch is complex and runs the gamut of human experience - from one end of the spectrum to the other. It makes sense since it is so fundamental to our nature.

Misinterprating Touch

Seeing how many meanings touch can have, it is no wonder that it can be the cause of so many misunderstandings. You can mean one thing when you touch, but the receiver can interpret it a different way entirely. One of the biggest mistakes a massage therapist can make is to forget that - to assume that the client has the same attitudes about touch as you do. We have to make the effort every time, with every client to understand where they are coming from. They won't know or have thought about it, so it is your job to make sure that this is addressed. Make sure that you are very clear about the intention, form, structure, and application of the touch you do. And don't be afraid to re-emphasize them at any time.

Touch and Relationships

To complicate things even more for massage therapy, the confusion doesn't end there. Touch spills over into relationships and that can lead to a whole new level of challenges. There are five levels of relationship:

1. Functional-Professional (like at the doctor's office)
2. Social-Polite (like a hand shake)
3. Friendship-Warmth (a hug or holding hands)
4. Love-Intimacy (lying together, arms around their shoulders, or affectionate kisses)
5. Sexual-Arousal (duh!)

In many of our interactions, we have a fairly clear understanding of the boundry but in our profession, there is so much more room for misinterpretation. Under normal circumstances, you would progress through these levels as you get to know a person and build trust. But in massage we push the boundaries immediately simply through the nature of our work.

Massage operates at multiple levels of this spectrum simultaneously, leading to more confusion. Is it any wonder our clients sometimes don't know how to behave? America is a touch starved society (my daughter's school passed a no touch rule) due to culture and litigation. People are afraid to touch each other. Much of the touch that many Americans regularly experience only falls into one of two categories - sex and violence. If those are the only two categories of touch a client knows, and your massage isn't violence, then it must be sexual, right? I mean how many of even their close friends rub their hands all over their unclothed body?

Denial of the Impact of Touch

Massage Therapy as a whole seems to have trouble coming to grips with the nature of touch. Often times we MTs see only the aspects of touch that we want to - the healing, trusting, gender neutral side - and try to ignore the rest. Unfortunately it's like ignoring the elephant in the room. Touch is intimate and carries with it all of the baggage that people have about intimacy. We can't be our most effective if we have our heads in the sand about that. We can scream at the top of our lungs that massage therapy is not sexual, but we have to teach our clients about the difference. And to do that we must first understand all of the things that touch can mean to a person - the good and the bad.

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Professional Massage Products on Amazon.com

Amazon is huge. And I'm not talking about the 1.6 million square mile rainforest in South America. Amazon.com is even bigger.

Although Amazon offers many navigational aids such as categories, similar items, "customers who bought this also bought...", reviews, wish lists, user lists, forums, and more, finding your way around can be a pain. A few weeks ago, I sapped several hours of my time browsing for books on only a single subject. It seemed that every book or DVD I found led me to a choice of a dozen more products, each leading to even more. After having a few dozen tabs open (like a trail of breadcrumbs to let me know where I'd been) it got a little overwhelming.

I decided to compile as much professional massage material as I could locate. A hard task. When you search for "massage" and "massage therapy" and many other terms that seem pretty self-explanatory the stuff you want is interspersed with many sexual massage products, online marketing courses and the like. Products aren't always filed under the keywords you would expect them to be and there is little to distinguish products for professionals and home-user materials. It's a lot of work. But the good news is, I did a good amount of that work for you.

I set up an aStore at Amazon called the Massage Continuum Store (a standing link to it on the right) that breakes up a lot of these Amazon products into more professional massage therapist friendly categories - primarily into DVD, book, and equipment categories. I have not reviewed, nor would I recommend every product in there, but at least it is in one place for you to evaluate on your own. I will be posting my reviews of the products I do have experience with and will attempt to move the ones I recommend and have had experience with towards the front of each section.

I hope that this helps finding the products you need!

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70% Living

You know I really wish I could remember where this idea came from (if you know, please tell me so I can give credit where credit is due), but it is something that I teach in all of my business classes. It is a powerful tool to help you to realize you financial goals and take a measure of control in your life.

70% Living

As the name implies, with this method you live on 70%. In other words, all of those expenses, bills, and all that should total no more than 70% of your income. Easier said than done you might say. True, but we all need goals to aspire to. This is a roadmap for you to be able to achieve those goals. So this leads to the first step - figuring out your expenses.

Expenses

Although this is the first step in just about any financial process, many people take the wrong attitude at the outset. When you figure out your expenses, don't go for the bare minimums. In other words, don't go into this process with the idea that you are finding out the bare minimum needed to survive. It's about lifestyle. What you want to do is figure out how much your lifestyle costs - without the scrimping and scrounging. That doesn't mean spend exorbitantly, but don't cut out expenses in your head before you even write them down. We're looking for frugality, not miserliness.

Add up all the expenses you have and then translate them all into a monthly format - easy for things like rent, but requiring a little more estimation for things like clothes and gifts. Don't forget annual expenses like car registration (just divide by 12). You will probably have to make some estimates and you're better off estimating too high rather than too low. Include entertainment and vacations and all the rest. Everything that you spend should be accounted for here.

Once you have your number, divide it by 70% and that is the income you need for this.

The Other 30%

So what about the rest? This is where the power of this technique becomes apparent, mainly because most of us live our lives in the other 70%. But it is the remaining 30% that can really get your financial ball rolling. This money is used to fund three things - your rainy days, your future, and karma.

The Rainy Day Fund

10% of your money should go into savings. Most financial advisors recommend having at least 3 months expenses (what we figured out above) in the bank - 6 months for a business. This money helps to prevent living paycheck to paycheck. As a massage therapist, we know that business is not constant. It fluctuates and we have our busy months, weeks, days, and seasons as well as our not so busy ones (boo). The money in your savings can help to offset that variability. It is also used for life's unexpecteds - which to be frank we should expect anyway. Things like car repair, medical bills, emergency plumber visits and the like. If we don't have a savings cushion, these things can be major disruptions in our lives.

Keep your savings in a separate account than you pay your bills from - preferrably something that pays interest too. I usually recommend ING Direct (no affiliation, although I do have an account). They can even withdraw a set amount each month from your checking account to enforce your savings. It needs to be regular and habitual.

Future Fund

10% gets invested. This is for your future and once it is there, you shouldn't touch it. Until that future arrives of course. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this because there are so many resources out there on this subject, but do make sure you do it. It is scary how many people have not planned for their future. Seek out a good and experienced financial advisor to help (ask around). Don't just pick the kid who just finished their FA training program - get somebody who's been doing it a while and has a track record. It shouldn't cost you much because FAs make their money by growing yours.

Karma Fund

Give 10% away. That's right, you heard me. 10%. Give. Away. Whether it is to church or charity, the homeless or polar bears, this is your contribution to a better world. Sometimes this can be 10% of your work (i.e. if you can do 20 appointments a week then you can give 2 appointments away) or time (work 40 hours, give away 4) or a combination of those and money. This creates a habit of generosity. You'll find you don't resent the freebies as many can come to do and that you feel like you're doing some good in the world. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence out there that whatever you give away comes back to you multiplied. Just make sure that anything given away is done so with the spirit of generosity and not expecting something in return. It just doesn't work that way.

Generosity is good business and good practice. Think about it - would you rather go to a business that is helpful, welcoming, and generous with their time and attention, or one where you are seen as dirt until you seem interested in paying money? I've seen both and to me it's a no brainer.

Parting Thoughts

This system is really about setting up the right habits. If you can even adhere to a part of this system, you'll still be moving in a more positive direction. Good luck!

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5 Quick Tips to Build Clientele

I posted this response to a question on the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals group on LinkedIn.com. I thought I'd repost it here since there are some good, quick tips for building your client base.

The Original Question:

Hello, I am a massage therapist in training. I will be completing my studies in
October 2009. Is there any advice that can be given or suggestions as to how to
start building a clientle. -Nicole Morris

My Response:

Nicole, There's a lot of great information here (referring to other posts)! You need to find your balance between different methods of building your business. I'm always for spending as little as possible to the best effect, so let's look at a few to get you started. Others have mentioned networking here. Networking is in my experience by far the most effective, but it takes time to build it up. There are however some things you can do to speed the process.

1. Be ready to talk to everybody about it. And even more importantly, you have to know what you want to say. Make sure you know your market and what it is that they are looking to get out of what you do. Then you can craft what you say to appeal to them. Get your message as clear and concise as possible, then be ready to say it whenever anybody asks what you do.
2. Recruit your network. You're a member of Linked In here, so you know the power of networking. Use the network you already have of friends and family. I have my students write a letter to them explaining what they've been doing and what they do (back to #1). By telling them in your words, they are more likely to use your language in describing your work to their friends and family - which appeals you your target market more. And then be sure to ask them directly for their help - "please help me build my practice by telling all of your friends and family about my work" - or more directly - "invite your friends and family...". That way they know what you'd like them to do.
3. Partner-up. That doesn't necessarily mean a business partner, but build a network of people to refer to you. In my work it used to be networking with concierges in hotels, who in turn referred clients to me. Think about how you can create win-win-win situations for you, your referral network, and your clients.
4. The right kinds of incentives. Don't assume that everybody wants to have a free massage or a discounted rate as a reward or incentive. Sure they can be the cheapest, but they aren't always the most effective. Ask them what they want and give it to them - then they'll give you what you want.
5. Track it. Make sure you keep tabs on where your business is coming from. Track the top 20% of referrers in your network and make sure you keep them happy and referring as they'll probably send 80% of your referrals by themselves. Hope that helps. I write on these and other topics frequently on my blog ( http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emassage-continuum%2Eblogspot%2Ecom&urlhash=OjAp&_t=tracking_disc ) if you'd like to read more.

Additional Comments:

I can add to this that as she is a student, she should start building her client base now. Word of mouth takes a while to build and the sooner she starts, the better. She should begin letting her potential clients know where she is with her business development and can start working on these clients (maybe with student rates even). Many students who choose not to charge while they are in school still make quite a bit in tips. One word of caution though, make sure you build in the expectation up front that rates go to your normal professional rates after you graduate. If you don't build this in from the get-go you may run into problems later in transitioning these clients to paying (or paying more).

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Constant Vigilance!

Having just gotten off the phone with our friendly neighborhood police department, I thought Mad-Eye Moody had it right in Harry Potter when he said "Constant Vigilance!".

Unfortunately, we live in a world where you have to watch over what is yours and keep it safe and sound. In my case today, somebody got hold of my debit card number and wired themself some money from my account. Luckily I caught it before the charges actually hit my account, but still I spent the last hour on the phone with my bank and the business charging me and with the police department. I certainly can think of better things to do with my time. It is very frustrating to have to spend a lot of time and effort dealing with something that shouldn't have happened in the first place.

It got me thinking about the importance of keeping your eye on things. Complancency can get you into trouble. Many of us have the tendency to assume that things will continue along just as well as always - even if we don't pay attention to them. Generally however, it is the things we don't pay attention to that go awry.

Business Sense

Really it is like driving a car. You wouldn't go out and drive a car by leaving your hands off the wheel and then just before you crash trying to get back on track. It is much more effective to make little corrections, to monitor your travel constantly and avoid trouble before you come to it. That's how we need to run our businesses (and lives?) as well - not taking things for granted, giving everything the proper attention, and dealing with problems before they arrive instead of damage control.

The majority of the students that enter my massage program want to have a private practice or even their own massage business that employs other MTs. Although owning a business does take a certain temperament and willingness to take risks there really isn't anything all that special about it. The most important thing to being successful in running a small business is managing the details - lots of details. Of course managing them the right way is the other half of the equation.

Top dogs don't stay top dogs by accident. Success is a process that doesn't end - it must be maintained.

Confidentiality

My current problems with my bank account really come down to the fact that somebody didn't manage my private information properly. I've purchased things online from unkown vendors without much of a thought about whether they would protect my information/ Part my fault for trusting them, but definitely their fault for negligence.

We can run into the same problems with our massage businesses. We keep private health information, contact information, collect checks and credit cards. As business owners, it is our job to safeguard that information. HIPAA laws detail the protection and obligation to protect health information, but we don't have the same kinds of standards for the other sensitive information that we handle in our work.

Controlling Access

Make sure that only those who need to see the information can access it. That means securing it so that the opportunity isn't even there for unauthorized access. Password protect. Locked and secured storage. Provide physical barriers to the access.

If you work with others and especially if you employ others, you need to establish policies about protecting client information. Your employees need to know what information they need to safeguard and how. Contractors also need to receive this instruction. If you work in a group setting, make sure that you have these policies outlined with your colleagues. If you work in a business where these policies are not in place, initiate it. The last thing that you want to have happen is to get involved at the center of a fraud investigation.

Positive Habits

It is a good habit to get into to keep a close eye on your obligations. Make sure you access your accounts regularly and frequently to make sure all is well. Respond quickly if there is a problem, as these matters often take time to resolve - the sooner you get started the better. It may seem like a hassle to keep an eye on everything, but you will avoid the aggravation of having to prove your innocence of fraudulent charges and the navigation of countless automated phone menus.

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Massage is an Art

Massage is an Art. And that's Art with a capital A.

Sometimes people use art to describe something that must be felt, that isn't scientific, planned, or even well-thought out. I beg to differ. I think an art is the expression of knowledge layered in emotion. Our feelings add meaning to it and art that has no plan, rhyme, or reason seldom works.

The great artists - Da Vinci, Beethoven, etc... - could not have done what they did without a deep understanding of their craft. To draw you have to have an understanding of weight, perspective, shading. In music an understanding of timing, harmony, and pacing. In dance, fluidity, grace, dynamics. In massage it is physiology, timing, strokes, fluidity, relationships. All involve knowledge and intelligence - what can be called craft.

Craft

You can't create art until you thoroughly understand the techniques used to create it. It must be internalized, digested, and assimiliated into your being before it can emerge as an expression.

A wise teacher once told me:

"I show you something and you do it, it is mine. You do it ten times and it is still mine. You do it a hundred times and it is still mine. You do it a thousand times and then it is yours."

That has stuck with me through all of these years and is very true. It takes practice to assimilate new knowledge. Once it has been absorbed, only then can it be expressed in your own way, with your stamp on it. You go to school, learn a new technique, and then it is up to you to make it yours. Then you can craft it and use it.

Let's Get Buck

Lil' C, a choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance uses the term "buck" to describe peak artistry. He defined buck as meaning the union of internal artistry with external expression. Ideally, this is what we all strive to achieve. That ultimate union between what we have learned to do, expressed to the world at the perfect moment, in the perfect manner.

Now that's Art.

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Massage and the Happy Medium

Massage takes place at the hands.

It sounds obvious, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

I've taught massage therapy for almost five years now, I've educated clients for almost 11 years, and before that I taught martial arts. I've observed how people learn and practice their skills for quite a while. In my experience teaching, I've noticed that there is a spectrum that all students fall upon...

Intuition (Client) <---------------> Intelligence (Therapist)

...where the intuition refers to your feelings and sense of the way things should be and the intelligence refers to your knowledge and thoughts. That naturally begs the questions where are you and where do you want to be?

Intuition

I always ask my students when I first meet them about what drew them to massage. A common theme in their responses is often a story about how they have always done massage in some form. People tell them they have a good touch. They have a talent for finding the knots and even though they don't know what they're doing or how to describe it, they are able to melt the knots away.

I place these students high on the intuitive side of this equation. They are sensitive to other people. They are able to work from information that they gather through their hands from the other person's body. They are responsive to the changes they sense in the other's body and adapt to it. When they do massage, they are performing "inside" the other person's body - on the client side.

Intelligence

People high on the intelligence side of the spectrum operate from the confines of their own head. They intellectualize things, do very well with tests and theory and assessments, and are good at putting the pieces of the puzzle together. They can also see how different techniques and styles can be used effectively on various conditions. They perform massage mostly in their head, thinking through the process - they have a plan. They are performing massage "at" the body, almost as an academic exercise.

Intuition vs. Intelligence

As a teacher, I have observed many students who tend to struggle on one side of the spectrum or the other. First, the problems...

Intuition Problems (or the too-touchy-feely sydrome)

When it comes to the intuitive students, they often have issues with timing, assessment, and figuring out the puzzle. Their sessions can become muddled because having a plan comes from within the therapist. The client's body can lead them in different directions or because every area is crying for help they can get caught up in one spot and neglect the other problems. They can also sometimes have difficulty reconciling the difference between what the client's mouth says and what their body asks for. These students also can have problems in finding where the problems really are when the issues require critical thinking to pin down. They can also overlook some problems because others are "talking louder" and drawing their attention.

On the other hand, these students can seem naturally gifted because their bodywork addresses the clients' needs. They often seem to take a new technique and while they might not always do it right, they take it to a point where it feels good to the client quickly. Because that's where their focus is. One thing to watch out for is the potential discouragement these students can experience when they used to get praise for the quality of touch they had when they didn't know what they were doing and then in school they fumble around with some techniques that engage the intelligence side of the spectrum.

Intelligence Problems (or the you're-thinking-too-much sydrome)

Students who are too far over on the intelligence side of the equation over-think most of what they do in class. They're always worried that they are doing it right. They seem to be able to nail the theorey quickly, but then can struggle with the application. Placement of hands, body mechanics, or doing techniques in a way that are both effective and feel good to the client can be challenges. By the self-focus (hence the therapist-oriented approach), they can sometimes neglect the clients' needs, forget simple things like noticing that the client is cold, or miss some observable information from their client because they are focus inwards. Sometimes these students can get discouraged because they don't seem to get the high praises that the intuitive students get for their work. That just fuels the insecurity that it isn't right and spurs more furious thinking.

These are great people to talk to if you need to get your mind around a problem or you need to piece together pieces of information. They can often, even as a student, piece together some great assessments and make connections between disparate symptoms. They can figure out what is going on with the client and are usually quite good at formulating a plan to do it. They can prioritize the problems and design a session for the best results in the time they have.

The best bodyworkers strike a balance between Intuition & Intelligence

So now we get back to it. Massage takes place at the hands. That means that your massage must be a marriage of the knowledge in your head and the wisdom in their body. Your head will come up with brilliant ideas about what is going on and where to look and their body will tell you "over here!". It's all about the balance. Massage doesn't take place "inside" their body or in your head - it takes place where you and your client connect - at your hands. Where the rubber hits the road, so to speak.

If you perform your massage too far onto the intuitive side, it may feel good, but often the client leaves feeling like you didn't get to everything, that you spent too much time on their (insert body part), or that the results were short-lived.

If you perform your massage too far onto the intelligence side, your client may feel disconnected or that you're very smart, but it dodn't feel good, or again that their needs are ignored. Or perhaps that the massage addressed everything but left them feeling like something was missing.

If you are intuitive, take steps to think things through and plan your strategy. If you're intelligent, work on setting yourself free from the shckles of your thoughts and feel what the client's body tells you - put yourself in their skin.

The hands inform the head.
The head guides the hands.
The union of your intuition and intelligence is wisdom

And that's the Happy Medium.

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Massage and Money

Money. It's a word that has a lot of baggage tied up with it. And it's something that I have noticed that many people seem to be uncomfortable with. Especially massage therapists. I have had plenty of students and seen plenty of practicing MTs that have an unhealthy relationship to money. Why? Massage is about relationships, and this post is about a massage therapist's relationship with money.

I've heard many people misquote the Bible as saying that "money is the root of all evil". Actually it says that the "love of money is the root of all evil." A big difference and a lot more true. Money itself is just a tool. A medium of exchange. A knife isn't a good tool or bad tool, it's how you use it.

Another heavily quoted line is "do what you love and the money will come". A lot of people do what they love and money doesn't come, so what gives? This statement has the priorities right, but misses the mark. I choose to interpret it as

"do what you love (follow your passion with a systematic plan) and the money will come (if you respect it for what it is and what it means to you)"

So why do so many people have such an antagonistic relationship with money?

First off, some people hate what money represents. They have seen what some people do to others to get it and don't want to be associated with that. It could be a matter of worth or value - the the therapist doesn't feel that they are worth the money - a self esteem issue. It could be a sense of idealism or a genuine desire to help without need for compensation.

Money can seem hard to come by. It can seem like there is a chronic lack of it. Especially in these economic times. A person can get used to thinking that there is never any money for them, hating it all the while. Some people pursue money as an end to itself, a way to keep score, as if just having money affords the status or life that they want.

The problem with the pursuit of money is that money is a very poor motivator for happiness. People (and studies prove this) don't gain a whole lot of satisfaction or improved quality of life from having more money. Ironically, the reverse is true though, that not enough money is a huge de-motivator and a source of distress and unhappiness. Money can't buy happiness, but not having any leads to sadness.

Putting Health and Money at Odds

Our society often seems to pit health and money against each other. When we hear studies of the impact of some diseases on the poor and the exclusion of 40% of americans from our health care system because they can't afford it, there is an association with money. In fact, the increasing inclusion of massage in health care may make massage more exclusive instead of more accessible.

Many massage therapists have an idealist streak that creates guilt about charging money for what they do. Massage is like a divine gift, something that is present in all of us and can sometimes feel like charging for bottled water when people can get perfectly good water out of their tap.

Unfortunately, this can lead some MTs with a burden of guilt about money and their business. It sets the stage for a struggle with their career. After struggling in their private practice, they may get a job at a massage business and harbor resentment towards the business for collecting the money the therapist feels guilty about charging! Sometimes the MT grows disillusioned, thinking that the bodywork itself was tainted when it was their attitudes and beliefs about money that were the problem. They end up moving into a profession they don't really care about but is more "reconcilable" with their ideas about money.

Cultivating a Healthy Attitude About Money

If you already have a healthy attitude about money, you can skip this next part. This is for any MT who feels at all guilty about collecting money for their services.

Money isn't evil. I'll say it again. Money isn't evil. You say it. Really. That wasn't so bad, was it? The first step to cultivating a healthy attitude about money is to acknowledge that, at the risk of being redundant, money isn't in fact evil. It's your attitude that is.

You have to realize that you need to make a living. If you can't make a living doing massage, you'll need to make a living doing something else to pay the bills - which means that you won't have nearly as much time to give the gift of massage. Massage-wise, everybody loses that way. You aren't doing what you love and your clients won't get to receive the benefits of your work. I suppose your new employer would benefit from your awesome-ness, but that's not quite the point.

A healthy business supports both you and itself. And when I say supports, I don't mean just squeaking by. It should support your lifestyle and help you to achieve your dreams.

Example. I knew a massage therapist a while back who had been working longer than I had. She'd been out of school for maybe four years and still had plenty of clients that were paying her student rate - half her regular rate. I found this out after asked some questions following her wondering why she was having trouble making her car payment. When I asked why a significant number of her clients were still paying such a reduced rate, she told me that she was afraid of losing them if she charged them more. Several weeks after we spoke, she did decide to raise her rates. Not all the way, but much closer to her going rate. She did lose a few clients, but most stayed with her, and a few even told gher straight out that they had wondered why she hadn't raised her rates a long time ago. She ended up making more from the remaining clients than she did with her full load at the prior rate. The clients that left only came to her because she had the cheapest rate around, not out of any loyalty.

There Is Plenty Of Money To Go Around

You may not believe it, but there is. For example, here in the Bay Area we have around 7 million people and a median household income of a little over $70,000 per year. If we estimate an average household as 4 people then we're looking at somewhere around $120 billion every year flowing through this area. That's a plentyhuge pie to capture a very small slice of.

The other thing is that that money is going to be spent anyway. Either they go to buy a car, or they go to the mall, they order an iPod online, or they invest it somewhere - but money is changing hands all the time. All you want to do is have some of it pass through your hands first. There's no need to feel guilty about that. Shed the attitude that just because you make money, somebody else loses it. It's just not true. All you need to do is figure out how to tap into that flow.

Tapping the Flow

Think synergy (boy am I full of cliches in this post!). It's not really a competition. When you do well, your clients do better, you do your part to keep the economy chugging along, et cetera. Synergy is when the sum is greater than the parts. In this case, your massage + your clients' money = better lives for everybody. Really, your work helps to make your clients' lives better, and isn't that what they are out there earning money to do? Gee, I hope your guilt meter is starting to read zero by now!

Think Win-Win-Win

Thinking synergy involves thinking win-win-win. You win, your employer or business partners win, and you client wins. Everybody likes to play when they can't lose. Think of money as the tool that it is - a device to help everybody win.

Another way to look at money to develop a positive attitude about it is to look at it literally - as a means to an end. Money by itself doesn't do much for you. It's what it allows you to do that makes it important. Think about the things that enough money will allow you to do - expand your business, take that vacation you've been longing for, take scuba lessons, whatever. Look at money as a stepping stone to your goals (see my last post for more on defining success).

Parting Thoughts

Think about money differently. It is not a dragon to be slain, a mountain to be conquered. It is a tool of the trade. A necessary tool that will allow you to continue helping people while also experiencing what life has to offer. Now get out there and tap into the flow.

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Defining Success

Me: “So what are your goals as a massage therapist?”
Student: “I want to be a success…”

Every time I teach my business classes the subject of success comes up. So what is it? Students want to be successful… who doesn’t? The problem is that people seldom know what they mean by “success”. It’s made more difficult by the fact that it means something different to everybody. Let’s take a look at this thing called success.

Dictionary.com defines success as:

1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like
3. a successful performance or achievement
4. the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted

What is Success?

The first three definitions above sound good, but when you get right down to it, do they really mean anything? How do I know if I am successful? I could argue either way about my success to this point and I would be right – if those are the criteria. The fourth definition is a little bit better – it introduces a concept of planning and a desired outcome. It turns out that that is the key to finding success – knowing what you want in the first place.

Intention & Priorities

You have to start by asking yourself what you want to accomplish. Simply saying that you want a successful business isn’t enough. What do you want to get out of it? And who do you want it for? You could say “I want to help people”. OK, a little better. Wait, you want a business that earns money too? Now you’ve got more than one person involved! How much money? “I want to be rich” is often the facetious reply to that question (and I’ll tell you now that there are much easier professions to grow rich in). My reply is usually, “How rich is rich?” In essence, you need to make it definable.

I like to use visualization in this process. How do you picture success? I want you to get that image in your head and then start to think of all of the elements that make your vision so appealing to you.

What gets me is that many people don’t really think about what they want to get out of their “success”. Money is one way to define it, but certainly not the only one. Do you want freedom – financially and with time? Esteem, reputation, honors & accolades, respect, credibility, recognition, gratitude, satisfaction, or any of the other things that can be derived from your work? These can all be measures of success.

There, I said it. Measure. It is one of the key points in attaining success. In order to do this right, you should list out all of the things that you want you or your business to accomplish. Then you should prioritize them in order of importance. Finally, you have to find a way to measure it.

For example, you could define success as:

1. Having work that allows you to earn a full-time income on 30 hours a week
2. Operating a business that earns enough to support you and itself (be sure not to short-change yourself and set this number as the bare minimum to pay the bills – it has to support your lifestyle)
3. Being able to take a 2-week vacation to another country once a year.
4. Owning a home (again, be specific about the type of home and where…)

…or a combination of things. Setting SMART goals is an effective method that helps you to define and attain success for yourself. More on that later. The most important thing for defining success though is being specific.

Stay on Target

Knowing what you want helps you to stay on track and not go astray. I have witnessed massage therapists let their career get away from them – either drawing in clients that weren’t their intended market or growing so dissatisfied with their jobs that they leave the profession. I would say that this is most often an alignment problem – that their internal (and undefined) idea of success and what they were actually doing were worlds apart. Defining your idea of success gives you a gold standard to compare everything to – a set of criteria. If what you’re doing doesn’t fit in with your vision of success, if it doesn’t move you closer to those measurements of success, then it’s not for you.

The best part of setting measurements of success is that you know when you get there. Do you ever wonder why kids always ask “Are we there yet?”? It’s because they don’t have a measure of how far you’ve gone or have to go. As we get older, we do have those tools. We see a sign that says 20 miles and we can instantly figure out that we’ll be there in 20 minutes – counting down the time all the way. It makes the long trips easier (and your career).

Having a specific measure of what success is to you provides motivation as well. You’re on the way. Your path. To a place that you know you want to be. And when things get tough, it’s the light at the end of the tunnel.

What to Measure

That being said, think carefully about what you measure. Make sure it really is what you’re looking for. I get asked all the time by my graduates “They pay this much at this spa. Is that good”. I don’t know, is it? The real question is, does it get you where you want to go? I’ve seen many people, in many different kinds of jobs, lose focus of what they really wanted and leave a better, lower paying job for a higher paying, higher stress job that they hate and tears their family apart. Or they do it for benefits. Or sometimes worse, they settle. Don’t do it just for the money.

If I measured my success based on money, then in my eyes I’m a failure. I won’t tell you what my definition of success money-wise is, but I can tell you that I’m not making it on a teacher’s salary. I did not say that I’m not a success though. I’m esteemed in the eyes of my colleagues (OK, so that is hard to measure). I just finished a degree. And here’s my favorite one. I’ve personally graduated and changed the lives of 120 students who by the averages are out there having made a combined $8 million! If only I got royalties!

That is a serious measure of success in my book.

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