Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72093
THE VALUE OF SHARING YOUR VALUES about Peru is almost part of the healing experience," she says. Green Spa Network has tips on greening your practice. Members have access to green business strategies, training, and conferences. http:// greenspanetwork.org. GreenBiz offers news on businesses and environmental issues, including a section on green business marketing and communications. www.greenbiz.com. At ABMP.com, members can create their own website and marketing brochures, which can be customized to also include their social/environmental responsibility practices. A FEW CAVEATS For Parris-Raney, the only challenge now—albeit a minor one—is to keep massage sessions focused on the clients. She says she finds that balance by making sure clients know the massage is their time. Some clients want to hear the latest news during the session, while others prefer to be quiet during the session and chat before or after the massage. Maintaining focus is just one of the caveats to observe when weaving shared values and compelling projects into the therapeutic relationship. Allen also stresses the importance of carefully choosing which causes to bring into your professional life. She'll support almost any local cause that's inclusive and positive, and she says no to the rest. For example, she sponsored a meet-the-candidate forum because it was nonpartisan, but she said no when a client invited her to a politically divisive rally on the courthouse steps. My own experience illustrates the importance of these caveats. These days, I help run a volunteer organization that builds fenced yards for dogs who were previously chained. In the process of unchaining 200 dogs, we've gotten a fair amount of media coverage, and my clients still love to see their massage therapist in the paper. They also value the cause, much like they applauded my work at the animal shelter. Helping neglected dogs and cats is an excellent shared value that virtually all of my clients want to discuss and support. In comparison, my veganism and more progressive animal activism appeal only to a few. In successful value-based communication, shared values are key. Maintaining focused sessions is another minor challenge, because even if clients ask, details about animal neglect aren't a good fit with therapeutic massage. Like Parris-Raney, I often hear clients say they couldn't do my work, but many welcome the chance to support the cause from a safe vantage point. EMPOWERMENT AND TRANSFORMATION With these general boundaries in place, our social and environmental efforts can become valuable assets to our professional lives. Communicating values can benefit both clients and practitioners in profound and unexpected ways. "Where people come to us for transformation, there's more opening to develop a relationship and growth and learning," Stusser says. When practitioners are particularly passionate about their work, they create an environment that clients enjoy being a part of. When that happens, massage and bodywork offer something empowering and healing for body, mind, and spirit. As Parris-Raney says, "I definitely think my clients are invested in the initiatives I have in place, and they get excited. Sometimes it even inspires them to do something they've wanted to do as well." Note 1. Cone Environmental Survey, "Cone Releases 2009 Consumer Environmental Survey," accessed March 2012, www.coneinc.com/content2032. Michelle Blake, MAIS, LMT, has a private practice in Salem, Oregon, and teaches at the Oregon School of Massage. She is passionate about the interchange of social change and personal action. She can be reached at mblake@massagetherapy.com. Celebrate ABMP's 25th anniversary and you may win a refund on your membership. ABMP.com. 59