Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/135515
free your focus When your focus is frayed • djust your table up or down A a notch in order to challenge your body mechanics and remind yourself that subtle shifts can have a big impact. • hoose one client each day C and begin working in a different position than you usually do. • hoose one client each day C to spend four extra minutes on an area you usually ignore (anterior legs, for example, or posterior arms). • t the end of a shift, see if A you can remember the name of each client you worked on. Offer a mental thankyou to each of them. • rush your teeth with your B nondominant hand in order to cultivate a new dexterity. • olunteer—not getting V paid can make your work feel more worthwhile. 62 massage & bodywork july/august 2013 his head, he looked a bit like Rambo, a comparison that, unfortunately, was all too appropriate.) He was adamant that he knew how to make his clients feel better and believed that the best way to do so was to push as hard as he could, hour after hour. His degree of focus was commendable. And yet the spa manager got repeated complaints about him, and finally he had to meet with our lead massage therapist to figure out why clients were unhappy. But the problem was clear, even though our manager never phrased it this way: that therapist cared too much. He was so determined to help his clients that he was convinced he knew the best way. The result was that he wasn't really connecting with those clients—responding to their bodies and engaging in that subtle connection between the practitioner's musculature and the client's that can elevate the work to an art form. Instead, he was just pushing his clients into submission, daring their tight spots to resist his will. Sure, some clients loved him because his pedalto-the-metal approach to massage matched theirs. But the larger problem remained: he wasn't actually listening to his clients' bodies and adapting his work to fit their needs. And seeing him slumped in the employee room after his fifth session of the day, I would say that he wasn't actually listening to his own body, either. I lost touch with him after I left the spa world to start my private practice, but I can't imagine that he is still practicing anymore; or rather, I can't imagine that he is still practicing happily. Frayed vs. Faulty Burnout implies a reductive image of our careers: a straight line, always slanting slightly downward. You start out with passion and enthusiasm, and then, as the years go on, you gradually descend toward clock watching, frustration, and injury. The other possibility is that our bodies are only capable of doing a certain number of sessions, and that after that number—which varies widely— our bodies give out, give up, or go kaput. What a depressing vision of a career that we love and—at the very least—paid a lot of money to be a part of! Why would we want to think about massage that way?