massage: warm fuzzies

If you've spent 12 minutes with any normal person, you know how frustrating and stressful and annoying and monotonous and exhausting and hard they find their work. I want to tell you something I like about being a massage therapist:

I love being able to touch people. 

People I feel the most privileged to touch are the ones who don't have other people who make human contact with them. Generally, that means singles. Of which I am a part of that category, so perhaps I have extra empathy?

I get touched. I make people hug me, kiss me, hold my hand, cuddle, and love on me. I force them. I can be quite demanding. [Just for the sake of transparency, I get my touch from family and female friends, please see all previous "WHY AM I SINGLE?" whining posts to refer to my fear of men.] I rarely feel under-touched because it is one thing I pursue. I love being touched. I am aware and know how important it is to my vitality, but it can be easy to push aside and forget. I want everyone to remember and love it as much as I do.

Sometimes I have a client that I really dread. He has bad personal hygiene. She has smelly feet. He is incredibly negative. She wants to dictate every step of the massage.

Then I remember unconditional positive regard [more on that another time] and that these people are getting need goodness from me.

So, I change my mind.
-I think about how for many, I am the only person who touches them.
-I think about how much trust it takes to allow a stranger to knead your thighs, to support your head, to help relieve pain.
-I think about how to help them enjoy their experience, I want them to have a break from whatever struggle exists for them outside of my room at the spa.
-I think about how grateful I am for my gifts and ability to move and use my body in this way. [Sometimes being grateful for myself helps me be grateful and hopeful for other's.]
-And sometimes I think about cupcakes [#4] because it's hard to be annoyed when you're thinking about cupcakes.

I love being able to unapologetically, without worry, completely touch another human being. You know when you want to touch someone, but you're not sure if they're feeling awkward about it? Yeah, you don't get that when someone comes to you specifically for that purpose.

Usually people think, "I'm going to book a massage and they're going to help me relieve my stress." or "My back and shoulders hurt, so I thought I'd get a massage."
We can work with that, but I'm here to tell you: it's so much more than that.

In my personal experience, massage has given me more knowledge and awareness of my body. Massage helps my mental health. Massage makes my muscles feel longer and leaner. Massage helps me sleep. Massage lets me get out of my head and into my body to feel completely.

It's pretty freaking awesome to get to be a part of that for others.


love you people.

xoxo,
amy