Massage & Bodywork

July/August 2012

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THE POWER OF INTENTION significant has occurred because the tissue you are working on softens and melts into a normal or near normal state. Remember, massage therapists do not have license to psychoanalyze or explain the emotions a client is experiencing, so refrain from discussing the emotion during or after the session. In fact, focusing on the emotions—trying to understand them or where they came from, sympathizing, and empathizing—are all barriers to a complete release, so avoid this tendency. Instead, allow the emotions to be released by acknowledging their presence and by letting your clients know they are doing excellent work. Remind them to breathe and to allow the feelings to pass through like mist burning off on a cool summer's morning. After the session, clients might want to understand more about what happened or talk about what they experienced. This is OK; you can allow them to express what they thought and felt by being an active listener without intent to change, fix, or give advice. Avoid psychoanalyzing; remember that's not within your scope of practice. Remind your clients that we store emotion in our tissues and when ready to heal, those emotions release. There is no reason to hold on to the emotion or to get tied up in the story about a memory. If at any point you feel the client needs counseling, be prepared and provide a therapist's contact information as a recommendation. When your clients have released the emotion or experience, encourage them to explore what emotion or experience they would like to create in the space where their previous experience was housed. For some, this may be peace of mind, love, or joy. When pondering the replacement experience, have your clients think about what emotions or experiences they are missing in their lives and ask if they would like that missing feeling to replace what was released. You can help them set an intention to have their minds and bodies begin to generate a new and desired life experience. Tell your clients that more emotions may rise and be released, Remember, massage therapists do not have license to psychoanalyze or explain the emotions a client is experiencing, so refrain from discussing the emotion during or after the session. so it is important to take care of themselves by getting plenty of rest and by practicing relaxation exercises such as meditation, or by taking Epsom salt baths. Drinking plenty of water each day and eating nutritional foods, including foods rich in protein, also helps emotional and physical healing. Finally, and most importantly, ask your clients to come back. Emotional injuries take years to produce physical dysfunction, so clients cannot expect to find complete relief in one session. Generally, 6–12 sessions are enough for clients to begin seeing significant progress, including shifts in their external lives that align with their intended outcomes. SAFE SPACE Bringing your clients into a deeper state of healing can lead them to releasing old emotions, fears, and memories that block them from emotional and physical well-being. Creating a safe space for your clients to release stored emotions by setting aside your personal issues and refraining from giving advice, indulging their stories, and making judgments is essential to a deeper release. Setting clear outcome intentions with your client informs the body about what it needs to release during the session. When you let go of being responsible for changing, fixing, or healing them, this healing is more likely to occur. When your clients do release emotions, remind them that it is just old energy in motion passing out of the body's tissues. Breathing through the emotion and allowing it to pass opens up space to intend a new and desired experience or emotion be created and stored in its place. Grace Dobosz is a registered nurse and intuitive healer. For more information, visit her site at www.energeticcreations.com or call her at 303-945-9006. Celebrate ABMP's 25th anniversary and you may win a refund on your membership. ABMP.com. 85

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