05/01/2016
The Secret to a Great Massage? Communication!
How many people like going to the Doctor? Not too many of us. The professional term to explain the feeling you get is "Power Differential". You are going to someone who is going to ask you a lot of questions that may make you uncomfortable, and worse yet ask you to strip down to nothing for them. You are exposing yourself to them at a level to which you allow very few people. You are placing yourself in a position of vulnerability and hoping the other person is professional enough to realize this and will try to make you comfortable.
A Massage Therapist is trained to be aware of the power differential and work with you to make you as comfortable as possible, but every single therapy session with the Client is a continuous learning process of how to do this better, and Massage Therapists are human too. During treatment a Massage Therapist is trying to measure and balance all of the information you are giving them, visually, physically and most importantly verbally.
Each treatment session should start and finish with a brief conversation to determine the goals of that session and to discuss how you can take care of yourself to complement the treatment you have just received until your next session. These conversations occur while you are dressed and looking the therapist in the eye. Communicating while you are lying with your face in a cradle is completely different and can be very intimidating and challenging for you as the Client.
Communication during the session can take many forms. For some, it may be a running conversation throughout the treatment, but this tends to interfere with both parties' ability to focus on the treatment. At its most basic, it may be a grunt of discomfort or a sigh of relief. Try to reach for somewhere in between. Let the Massage Therapist know when where they are working feels really good or conversely really bad. Let the therapist know if you want them to keep working through an area or to stop working there entirely.
The more comfortable you are with communicating with your Massage Therapist the more you will get out of each treatment.
