Many years ago I worked in a therapy centre in Manchester, UK. Even fairly early on in my career as a holistic therapist, I had developed my own treatment style, I noticed a question that kept coming up, other therapists working in the centre who were sports massage trained and clearly more active than I in their daily life kept asking me “how can you do such strong treatments all day and not be tired? Aren’t your hands sore?”. I was just working away, thinking that doing back to back full body massage was a normal thing. The first few times I was asked this question I brushed it off as the therapists were fairly newly qualified, but the subject came up repeatedly and with more experienced therapists.. I really had to stop and think for a moment, what was I doing that was different, I had a reputation for strong treatments but I felt energised after them, and still now over 17 years later my hands and wrists are still fine….
After some reflection, treatment exchanges (any excuse for one of those) and chatting with my colleagues, I was reminded of my first day working at the Manchester Therapy centre, a regular client was booked in and I remember the manager checking with me first as this client was known to be “hard work” I looked him blankly and said I’ll be fine…this client was over 6 foot, plated basketball and did a lot of weight training, the manager had meant physically hard work. In all honesty I think this is the worst massage I have ever done in my whole career, I still remember the look of disappointment on his face, he told me I could work deeper if I wanted (a very tactful way of putting it) I couldn’t, I was putting all of my effort in to this treatment and simply could not provide anywhere close to the pressure needed. While the client was very nice about it, I walked out of that room and made a promise to myself that no one would ever look that disappointed in my treatments again.
Assuming that everyone else had already figured out how to work deeply and not knacker themselves out with every treatment, I knew I needed to find a way to work which would I came to the conclusion that Thai Massage was the element which made my treatment style stand out. I was never one for following a routine so my massage style had already been evolving, when I studied Thai massage, the beneficial elements of passive stretching, using body weight in treatments all naturally flowed in to my massage. I lowered my table in order to incorporate more of the Thai style, leaving me with a type of massage which is popular, effective and doesn’t leave me feeling drained after a few treatments.
This was the spark which quickly transformed my work, and Thai Massage was the key to this. In Thai massage we use our bodyweight and whole body movement to create deep pressure and incorporating some gentle stretches and movements to help release stiff joints was all that I needed to create a style of treatment which was easier on my body and meant that the client who was so disappointed in me, would now only book with me.
This in itself should be enough to persuade many therapists who love their job but are struggling or concerned about the long term effects of strong massage on their joints!
With more reflection on how I work, I realised that there is more to it than that, as a teenager, I learned Aikido, a Japanese martial art, I didn’t get the bug for these activities that the rest of my family had so I did not continue the practice, but I realised that the basic teachings that relate to energy flow for strength, all movements coming from your centre and bending knees to allow for better balance, all stuck with me and became instinct.
As I began my teacher training I did a lot of reflection on my own learning experiences and observed others teaching styles. I quickly realised that while my other experiences had helped me to work in a way that didn’t injure or put strain on my joints, the massage training alone that I had received would have left me in the same state as many other learners. I reflected on this and designed a lesson plan which incorporated the use of bodyweight for pressure and a focus on posture and balance to ensure that therapists would have a good grounding to begin their journey in to holistic therapies.
I love teaching and sharing my skills, and for many reasons, Thai Massage is my favourite treatment to give, receive and teach, It is my hope in developing the Thai Massage course offered by Barefoot Therapist Training, I incorporated all of this to ensure that therapists attending the course will gain not only quality training in a new therapy, but the knowledge that learning the skills and principles will have a positive effect on all of their bodywork. Studying with The Barefoot Therapist is a step towards working in a way which protects your joints and energises you.
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