Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1384577
I believe the inevitability of our own tension—and idealizing that tension—is a fallacy. This ingrained idea is well-meaning, for sure, but it is wrong. You do not need to feel tense at the end of a session. And even more importantly, the amount of tension you feel is not proof you are a great therapist, and it is certainly not a prerequisite for a successful treatment. In fact, I think the opposite is true: You effect the most positive change for your clients when you feel good during the session. The more relaxed we are while we work, the more relaxed our clients will be. In other words, we help our clients as much as we are able when we help ourselves as much as we can. I believe the best way to help our clients get rid of unnecessary tension is to get rid of our own unnecessary tension. Here, I want to offer a quick and specific way to do just that: As you work, make each joint in your arms as floppy as possible. Let me explain. THE TIPS TELL US ABOUT TENSION I have been writing in this magazine for close to a decade about how we have to pay attention to our own bodies if we want to be successful and satisfied therapists. 2 And I teach multiple continuing education classes that vary in their focus, but all emerge from the same idea: You will be happier, and your clients will too, if you pour with your body weight rather than push with your muscles. My principle of pouring, rather than pushing, offers a way to assess the entirety of your body during your sessions (not to mention the movement of your breath, and those ever-present rumblings of your heart and your head), so that you can attend to yourself while you take care of your clients. This kind of full-body self-awareness is very simple, and with sufficient practice, very gratifying. But when you are just beginning to increase your own self- awareness while you massage, paying attention to your whole body all at once can feel overwhelming, so I have developed a shortcut. A simple way to get a glimpse of how your whole body is doing is to just pay attention to one tiny part of your body. This is one way I monitor my own sense of ease in every session I give and is something you can start practicing as soon as your next client is on the table. TENSION-MONITORING EXERCISE The practice is simple: With each stroke you give during a session, notice your point of contact—the part of your body that is actually performing the stroke. For some strokes, this will be the tips of your fingers or your thumbs; other times, you'll be using your flat palm, a soft fist, or the heel of your hand; and hopefully sometimes you'll also be using your forearm or even your elbow. Once you've acknowledged your point of contact, observe each joint of your arm and hand that is distal to your point of contact (in other words, the part of your body after the point of contact, farther away from your shoulder and trunk). These distal joints are what I call "the area beyond the contact." So, for example, if you are doing a beautiful effleurage stroke along the paraspinal muscles and the heel of your hand is the point of contact, then the area beyond the contact would include your fingers and thumbs. (And specifically, all the joints therein: carpometacarpal, metacarpophalangeal, and interphalangeal including distal and proximal.) Once you've identified that area beyond the point of contact, you want to observe the amount of tension in those joints that are beyond the contact. Once you start to observe this area, I'm guessing you'll start to notice that they are holding more tension than you are aware of—particularly if you are determined to be really, really good therapist and do really, really deep work. Tension in the area beyond the contact should be an immediate red flag. Any time you see those joints are stiff, rigid, or tense, you are working harder than you need to, in two ways. First, contracting the muscles beyond where you are contacting the client doesn't make the stroke any better (and as we'll explore further, might make the stroke feel worse). Second, tension in this area beyond the contact is a sign there is excess tension elsewhere in your body too. Unnecessary muscle contraction beyond the contact is like the warning light on your dashboard telling you there is a larger problem with your car. And just like with your car, it is easy to ignore the warning light for a while. But the consequences are never good. Don't ignore the warning light. Your body—and your client's body—will thank you. The more you pay attention, the more you will notice tension beyond the contact. It will feel like the warning light is constantly flashing! Luckily, the solution is easy (with apologies to Bobby McFerrin): Don't worry. Be floppy. That's it. Or another way to put it: Think floppy, not fixed. Let's explore what this means in practice. LOOK FOR EXCESS, RETURN TO EASE In every continuing education class, I tell therapists my goal for every session: Do the minimum amount needed to create the maximum benefit for the client. When I say this in class, everyone nods their heads. Who wouldn't agree with this, after all? None of us want to work harder than we need to, right? But then, what happens when those participants go back to their tables and start to practice? 54 m a s s a g e & b o d y wo r k j u l y/a u g u s t 2 0 2 1