Massage & Bodywork

November | December 2014

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F r e e m u s i c d o w n l o a d s f o r C e r t i f i e d m e m b e r s : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 89 My short answers, often delivered with a certain amount of impatience, are any combination of the following: "Get over it," "Stop trying to get her to relax," "Let it go. The massage is not about you," "Why do you care if she relaxes or not?" or again ... "Get over it." But massage isn't black and white, and this topic is nothing to be impatient about. There are many factors to consider, and the answer will vary from client to client and therapist to therapist. This question demands we dive into the complexities of treatment goals, relaxation, and communication. It's important, fi rst, to clarify what we're talking about. Are you expecting the client to fall into an almost-sleeping state? This refers to the client's mind and how/if it slows down (often bringing the body along with it). Are you looking for the client to go limp when you are moving her arms and legs around, or perhaps not stiffen up her muscles while you work on them? This is about the client's ability to relax her muscles. These are very different expectations. And to make it even more confusing, who's to say that what you think of as relaxed is what the client's mind and body reads as relaxation? Every body and mind is different. Even though there's considerable overlap in relaxation of the mind and the body, I'm going to tackle each separately. When we consider a client's mental state, and how he unwinds (or doesn't) during a massage, the very fi rst question we ask should be, "Is the client there to relax?" It's common to hear massage therapists ask the question, "What should I do when my client just won't relax? She keeps her eyes open and her body stays stiff through the whole massage!"

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