There are still a lot of schools of Thai massage and Thai-inspired manual therapies who teach massage protocols. One posture, followed by another posture, followed by another – in the same order, every time. Both in the classroom and out in the wild when working on clients.
Many will suggest a degree of benefit to that. Most commonly, the reason given is that it takes you “out of your head and into the flow of the practice”.
On the surface, that might seem like a logical reason, but here’s my counter-proposal to it:
We do our best work for people when we’re IN our heads. Thinking about what we’re doing. Paying attention to the cues of the body to determine: the best pace, the best pressure, how long to apply pressure, when it’s best for us to finish a technique, and also where it’s best to move to with your next one (among other things).
At least, that’s what I want out of my practitioner when I’m getting a treatment. I want you thinking about as many details of your work as possible. Don’t you want that? I mean, do you want the Uber driver taking you around the city to be thinking about what they’re doing? Or do you want them to be less thinking, more flowy?
I promise you that thinking about what you’re doing also does not have to come at the cost of flow. I don’t know who put the idea out there that the two are even connected. I’m also not sure why we should be valuing flow over doing our most detailed work we can. But to clear that up, the two are NOT in an inverse relationship, where one goes up causing the other to go down by default (or any relationship at all, really).
You can be spending a lot of time/energy thinking about and focusing on your technique application, AND maintain a sound flow that feels like a seamless experience from one moment to the next.
It’s even more likely that clients will feel more fluidity when you DO think about the next steps because more often than not, when you consider your next steps before taking them, they’re better steps. As in, they’re usually more likely to be exactly what your client asked for and needs – than simply the next posture in the protocol.
If you give a lot of time to a part of the body that doesn’t need as much attention, simply because it’s what’s in the flow, then your client is likely going to be thinking “yeah that feels fine, but my shoulders really needed more time”, or something along those lines. That feels like impending disappointment and an overall experience that’s less seamless/fluid.
Protocols also miss the ability to really help your clients the most you can within a limited window of time. Time passes wildly fast in the Thai-massage time vortex [it’s a thing we talk about in class], so you have to make every second count.
All of those reasons are why we don’t use protocols out in the wild, at Navina. So no two treatments are EVER the same.
The name of the game is customization and responsiveness to the needs of the person in front of you.
Having said that, we do employ protocol-style work in one setting – and that’s the classroom. For one reason alone – to have everyone in the room doing the same thing at the same time, so that the coaching, cues, nuance and advice we’re offering are instantly relevant.
That’s the only time we use a sequence that’s the same.
Rest assured though, we then teach you how to step away from that sequence, because once you’ve built proficiency in each technique, then your focus switches to taking the best care of your clients possible. To set you up for that, we take you through our 5 P’s of customization.
The thinking and focus thing is also why we suggest Navina practitioners do as little talking as possible in treatments. Obviously we don’t miss opportunities to connect, but we also try to keep conversation to a comfortable minimum – because talking is distracting and takes away thinking power. Leading to a treatment that’s just a bit less detailed, a bit less exactly what you needed.
Think about that the next time you get a repeat treatment with your massage practitioner. Might be time to ask for a little something different – “skip the ____ for me today – I really need that time allocated to ____ instead please”. And if you’re a practitioner who’s only learned in protocols, do your best to take chunks out so that you can meet their request.
If you liked this one, you’ll also probably like “Just Because It Hurts Doesn’t Make It A “Deep Tissue Massage”.“
The Uber driver imagery! So good. What immediately came up for me reading this is that when we lead every single person through the same sequence, we run the risk of thrusting an external experience onto them, as opposed to actually working WITH them. And while it may feel pleasurable for them at times, I think instinctively their system knows it isn’t being listened to – guardedness remains, the stretch reflex is triggered more often (now I have the language for what’s happened to me countless times!), and ultimately it becomes harder for the body to invite the work in.
When I was first introduced to Thai massage in Thailand (as a receiver and in early training), I remember it felt thrilling and like the body was being lead through a dance. I’m glad that I had that initial introduction to what can be a beautiful and fluid treatment, and I can note now that actually, a lot of the time the application did not feel specific to my needs. And in giving treatments early on, I fell into the trap of getting attached to a specific flow – wanting to show people what I thought Thai massage is. And while they still felt some benefit, I now recognize that that very attachment blocks presence and attentiveness. So yes, customization is the name of the game and that happens only in real time, by letting go of a pre-conceived idea and freeing up real estate in the mind to be receptive to what the tissues themselves are telling you. The receiver feels more cared for in the end, and I think it ends up feeling MORE fluid because their systems can respond instead of react, inducing deeper relaxation and flow state.