There’s a lot of emphasis placed on the idea that “it’s the thought that counts”, and I often hear this show up in the context of massage as reinforcement for the idea “that all we need is intention”.

When actually, what serves everyone best is not INtention, but instead ATtention.

Even though I’m specifically referring to massage here, this definitely also works in other areas of life.

In massage, the more attention you can pay to the work you’re doing, the more your work is worth. Both financially and also in all the other realms of worth.

Because attention is the currency of care. And the quality of massage is directly connected to how much care you can successfully impart on your client.

Even more specific than that is that your attention needs to be focused on SENSING & RESPONDING to the work you’re doing.

Firstly, how is this person showing up today? What’s their baseline? How are they holding themselves – and how do they move?

Then in the session that continues into questions/reflection of: How is the pressure being received by the body? How long is that response taking? What is that telling me about the time I need to spend there? Or which nearby areas do you need to work? How is their breath and expression responding? How does that inform your next touch or posture selection? (And so on)

Of course, your attention and the answers to those questions need to be linked intimately with your skill of technique and execution of the massage tool in order to drive real change, but the key to the door is attention.

In this way, intention is much less important, since it requires little to no attention. (And since any outcome can be supported with “but that wasn’t my intention”). You can have wonderful intentions, but if you’re distracted the entire treatment, it directly shows in the quality of your work.

Work on your direction of attention, and the results will be vastly better. You’ll also never get bored in this practice if you’re continuously searching for responses and trying to sense the requests of the tissues.

If you’re not a practitioner of massage but you’re reading this – search for someone who places more emphasis on their attention than their intention. Your sessions will feel much better and the results will follow suit.

Drew.

I’ve got a bit pf a reputation for going on the hunt for things – trigger points specifically – and that’s really detailed work aimed at getting to the source of pain.

It can also be a little intense. And sometimes your client wants something less intense – and more soothing.
[Read more…]

The other day a client asked me if everyone had tension in the same spots or if I was specifically finding the spots that needed attention.

And the answer is yes and yes.

Yes, people mostly carry tension in the same areas. Almost everyone in the last couple of weeks of treatments needed attention to the shoulders, neck and chest. And so to some extent there are patterns there that set me up for a certain degree of success (success as in, successfully finding the spots that need attention).

AND, at the same time it’s not just a matter of pressing on exactly the same spots for everyone. This is where it becomes a millimetres game. Because each of these areas have almost endless possibilities for where trigger points could be housed.

So whilst it would be a decent treatment if I were to just generally press the same areas for everyone, it wouldn’t be “mind-blowingly awesome”, which is what I’m aiming for.

That takes detail. It’s a millimetre to the left on this side of their body and 2 mm to the right on the other side. It’s an extra mm deeper in the muscle for today’s client than yesterday’s. The slight shift of the angle at my elbow makes the world of difference for the trigger point I’m seraching for right now. The extra mm of rotation of my arm takes me from being “oh so close to the right spot” to “stay there and don’t move”.

It’s in those details on a person-by-person basis that make all the difference.

It’s also the process by which this work takes on so many potential shapes, so many (almost endless) options for the application of pressure. It’s the investigation required in this process that makes the client feel like they’ve just had the most thorough massage treatment of their lives.

And on the practitioner side of things it’s also the process by which the work never gets boring.

Because when we’re working the millimetre game, you have to be so deeply attentive to what you’re doing and to the effects of what you’re doing, that there’s simply no time for feeling bored.

It’s an exploration of living tissue and at this minute level it’s remarkably different every single day, for every single person.

That’s the game I try to teach you when you come and study with me.

If you’re reading this with a keenness to explore on such a detailed level, check out our course calendar over here.

And if you hear your massage therapists mentioning that they’re getting bored of their practice – send them my way please. We’ll peel back the next layer of their explorations together.

Drew.

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You might also enjoy reading “Sometimes leave it alone.“.

You know when you get a massage and your practitioner is on the perfect spot and with the perfect pressure that it feels so intense and yet you don’t want it to stop because there’s some part of you that knows that this is exactly what you need?

I’ve been thinking how it is we distinguish between that “delicious” pain and other intensities that might not be beneficial for us?

As in, how is it that we interpret some intensities to be beneficial in the long run – and so we even like it and pay money for it (hello our profession), whereas perhaps a slightly different degree or type of intensity is understood by our brains to be undesirable and something we don’t want?

There are of course subjective elements to this equation – like how much pressure is needed from the practitioner in order to get that “delicious” sensation, but for the most part the sensation itself is reasonably universal – a shared experience by many, regardless of how much pressure it takes to get there.

I say “reasonably” universal because I’ve also come to learn over the years that there are some people who actually DON’T get that melty-good-intensity sensation in massage.

Once upon a time I wrote this article (here) and in a course soon after, a student said “there’s no such thing as “delicious” pain – pain is horrible and we shouldn’t say that it’s anything but that”.

At the time I thought “there’s definitely a deliciousness to that pain”, but I didn’t respond that way of course. I took the time to explain that we’re certainly not diminishing anyone’s experience of pain by describing certain versions of it as delicious, and also made a mental note about it. Because I wondered if that was a product of the fear of pain and perhaps having had that dimisihed by others over the years, OR if there was also something else happening there – like that this person actually didn’t feel that same melty-ouch that most others do.

Sure enough, years later, I’ve now come across a handful of people who don’t experience massage pressure this way. Instead, the sensation is tolerated because they logically understand what’s happening instead of an intrinsic feeling of benefit.

At least in a couple of these people I’ve noticed traits of EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) as well and I wonder if that has something to do with it, but it also hasn’t been a mutually exclusive relationship.

I’m also wondering, how many of you are there out there? Are YOU one of these folks that scratches their head when hearing “delicious” pain, wondering what we’re on about? I’d love to know. I’d also love to know how often you get massage – or do you? Let me know if you can take a moment.

In terms of how we distinguish between those beneficial degrees of intensity from other, less-helpful degrees – well, I had a theory back in 2017 when I wrote that article above. I’ll stand by it for now until I can come up with a better reasoning. Here’s the link again if you’d like to read it.

There are of course lot’s of things that might contribute to low back pain – but in almost all situations, the following technique can help at least a little. Try it out and let me know how you feel at the end:

Whether you give massage or receive massage, these things are good cues from the body to pay attention to. Massage has an ideal pressure – and that’s different for each of us. If we use the following 5 signals from the body as cues to avoid, then we’re giving ourselves a better chance at finding that perfect pressure.

You know the pressure is a little too much when:

• 1?? Holding breath – When the breath is being held, it signals you’ve gone past the threshold of what’s the most beneficial.
• 2?? Breathing rapidly – Sometimes people will breathe shallowly and quickly instead of holding their breath. It means the same thing – it’s beyond the comfortable intensity of good massage pressure.
• 3?? Eyes squeeze further shut – Sometimes people are really good at controlling their breath even when it’s too intense. The eyes often give them away.
• 4?? Jaw clenches – And if not the eyes, the jaw often clenches a bit to signal the effort of remaining still and keeping the breath moving.
• 5?? Fingertips and toes straighten – If all else is being controlled, usually the extremities will be outside of their awareness and will respond to too much intensity with extension.

Whether it’s you giving the massage or getting the massage, paying attention to these cues (and backing off a bit when they show up) is going to lead to a better massage experience.

It’s important to remember that more pressure is not necessarily better – and that especially holds true once you start getting these signs from the body.

Make your work firstly about soothing the nervous system and do your best to avoid getting these responses.