Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/135515
free your focus I started my career in New York City just as the craze for couples massage took off. One of the reasons I loved doing those sessions was I got to watch my peers at work. I witnessed many wonderful things, from tender attention to draping and graceful body mechanics, to stunning strokes. Amazed, I promptly mimicked these mentors and continue to model their wisdom to this day. But I also saw less desirable habits on display and was alarmed by some of my colleagues' lack of self-care. I'll never forget one colleague who, while working on a client's feet, would crouch down on his knees and rest his head on the table. The result was an odd, contortionist-like posture that couldn't have been very comfortable for him and a disconnected few minutes of work that couldn't have felt very good for the client. More than one colleague stopped without warning, stepped away from the client, and sipped a cup of coffee. Others hawkishly watched the clock, then ended the session at 60 minutes on the dot in midstroke, stood up, and barely uttered a thank-you or goodbye as they left the room. I mention these anecdotes not to pass judgment. We all have our off days, and we all have sessions where the clock, the cup of coffee, or the door seems infinitely preferable to the task at hand. And yes, such breaches of professionalism make me concerned that many people out there may have a negative impression of massage therapy. But more importantly, watching my colleagues has made me concerned about our capacity as massage therapists to take care of ourselves. 60 massage & bodywork july/august 2013 Beyond Burnout Working alongside my colleagues in those days also prompted me to think about burnout. This nebulous concept was mentioned often while I was in massage school, and then rarely discussed among my colleagues at different spas. In both circumstances, burnout remained a foreboding concept, a shadow lurking in wait, rather than something that was really analyzed and understood. The statistic I remember from way back during my student days was that, at least in New York State, only half of all massage therapists renewed their licenses. After four years, when the state required us to recertify, a full 50 percent of therapists chose to let their licenses expire, meaning either they are working without a license (always a possibility), or they stopped working as massage therapists. While the statistic seems like an exaggeration—a shocking fact that's quite effective for teachers trying to convince eager, green students that good body mechanics really are important—it is clear to me that the careers of too many massage therapists are shorter than they could be, and all too often end badly.