Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1384577
L i s te n to T h e A B M P Po d c a s t a t a b m p.co m /p o d c a s t s o r w h e reve r yo u a cce s s yo u r favo r i te p o d c a s t s 59 • Allow the fl exors and extensors of your forearm, as well as your biceps and triceps, to soften just slightly. You can still hold your arm parallel to the ground without your arm being quite so rigid. • Let the muscles around your shoulder joint soften. Same with your glutes. Notice how your body is still accomplishing its task but with less tension throughout your body. The same subtle shift is possible as you massage. While the concept of excess effort is easiest to see—and to feel—in the distal joints of the hand, the same idea applies throughout your whole body. As you become more aware of excess tension in your hands, expand that awareness further up the arms. Notice, as you work, how often the joints of your elbows, shoulders, or spine are locked and straining. Practice fi nding, instead, a position for your upper body that is stable but not rigid—you want to stabilize but not strain. Throughout your client sessions, see if you can do the same work with less effort, and gain the maximum benefi t with minimum effort. Your body will thank you. And your client will thank you. They will feel the difference, even though they won't be able to articulate it. The other problem with excess effort, as should be obvious by now, is that it doesn't do any good for the client, just as it doesn't do any good for us. It is rare that a client can actually identify when we are over- efforting, and yet the client's body can—consciously or not—feel that excess tension. Any excess tension in your body will feel to your client like you are pushing or poking, instead of pouring and sinking. Excess effort causes clients to guard and hold rather than sink and soften. Thus, removing excess effort is probably the single best thing you can do—better than learning a new modality, incorporating fancy new techniques, or adding hot towels and essential oils—to make your sessions more effective. Create the possibility of ease in your treatment room, starting with your own body, and your clients will embrace that possibility in theirs. ADAPTING TO EASE The idea of observing the joints beyond the point of contact might seem laughably simple, but often the best habits are the simplest. When therapists practice on each other in my continuing education classes, one of the most useful things I do is to walk from therapist to therapist, without saying a word, and place my relaxed hand atop their stiffened fi ngers, or around the shoulder that is climbing up toward the ear. Nearly always, the therapist smiles, shakes their head, or rolls their eyes. Excess effort seems so obvious once I point it out, and yet the therapist was, most likely, completely oblivious to it just a moment prior. Tension so easily creeps, unnoticed, into the body—even when you are taking a CE class that is all about becoming aware of tension! But the beautiful part happens next: Once they get over their embarrassment, the awareness spreads elsewhere in their body. I see them soften a little, like they are settling into their stroke, able to contact their partner both with greater ease and with a renewed sense of purpose. That is what your client wants. And that is also what you want. It is hard to let yourself work less hard. It is diffi cult to let yourself fi nd ease. So start small. Just observe the joints beyond the contact. And then allow yourself the freedom that comes with being fl oppy. NOTES 1. Thomas Hanna, Somatics: Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health (Cambridge: Da Capo Life Long, 1988), 15. 2. Find all of Lobenstine's articles in the digital editions of Massage & Bodywork magazine. "Under Pressure for More Pressure: The Client Who Demands Deeper," May/June 2020, page 68; "Less is More: A More Effective Way to Use Lubricant," January/February 2020, page 80; "The Solution is the Sides: Approach the Body from New Angles," March/April 2017, page 58; "Breath: Your Most Powerful Tool," May/June 2016, page 74; "Pour, Don't Push: How to Massage with Greater Depth and Ease," November/December 2016, page 64. David M. Lobenstine, BA, LMT, BCTMB, has been massaging, teaching, writing, and editing for over 15 years in New York City, with a focus on clients at all stages of childbearing. He is a co-author of Pre- and Perinatal Massage Therapy (3rd ed.), and also designs and teaches his own continuing education workshops, both across the US and online at Body Brain Breath. For more information, visit bodybrainbreath.com. SCAN AND WATCH "Find Your Floppy" 1. Open your camera 2. Scan the code 3. Tap on notification 4. Watch!