One of the first lessons in massage training [ours at least].

There’s a lot of this type of approach out there in massage. I’m jumping in here though to suggest that it’s the wrong approach even though it might sound like perhaps the right thing to do for your clients (what they “need” instead of what they want).

In the beginning any training, there’s a foundation that we need to establish, which includes things like:

• • The 4 foundational principles
• • Our 4 favourite mantras
• • The mindset of remaining a facilitator (as opposed to claiming the title of “healer”)
• • The idea that touch sensitivity has no limit or point at which we can no longer develop it further.

And another one is the idea that it’s not our treatment. It’s a treatment for the client.

That might sound simple enough. However, the body is tricky and the human experience is even trickier…

This is where we return to the claim of many practitioners who propose to “give you the treatment you need, not the one you want”, with the assumption that they do this for the maximum benefit of the client, because they know better what’s happening in the clients’ body.

And you know what – that might even be true – since the body is complex and not everyone in the general public knows that sometimes your back pain comes from your feet (as a really simple example).

Of course, there are also practitioners out there that are a bit overconfident and probably don’t actually know much more than their clients. And yet, even for those that ARE correct in being able to read the body of their client with more accuracy, it’s important to learn that the treatment is not for you, it’s for your client.

Why? Why not try and get them what they really need, the fastest?

Well, here’s a few of the reasons:

• • If they’re in pain right now, they don’t care if you can help prevent it in the future after 4 treatments – they want the pain to be gone right now. That should be your focus.
• • Sometimes what they need gets them what they want but in a way that they don’t realize; or worse, sometimes it can take longer to get them out of that pain and they won’t be happy about that, especially if you haven’t even come close to what they’ve asked you to do.
• • You have the greatest impact with people over the long-haul. A single treatment is like a blip on the scale of life and so you have the best chance to facilitate meaningful change over various treatments, over time. If you don’t give people what they WANT, they won’t come back. Even if it’s what they really needed.
• • Pain is not as simple as certain points alone. There is a psychological component to the experience of pain and its continued presence, and sometimes if you don’t go and work the areas of the body requested, your client is sitting there the whole time probably having a stressful experience wondering why you haven’t done what they’ve asked for. In some instances this could actually be complicating the mix of sensations they’re experiencing.

From the beginning we teach you to approach your work this way. In a way that is client-first. Centre their wants first and then build a rapport over time that will allow you to build towards the work they need (or at least the work that you think they need). That’s collaborative and ultimately it gives the best results. Happy clients are clients who return.

The upside is, that obviously helps you too as the practitioner to sustain your business.

Focus on them – not on showing them your extensive knowledge and training. Instead, using your knowledge and training to do what you can, when you can, in a collaborative fashion.

With a cornerstone like this, your practice thrives.

Drew.

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For more reading like this, check out these other articles:
“Sometimes leave it alone.”
or
“Just Because It Hurts Doesn’t Make It A “Deep Tissue Massage”.”