08/08/2025
When I first moved to Austin, I was working at a membership-based spa so the clients have their typical preferences.
When i looked at her chart, she usually gets extremely deep, “beat-the-sh*t-outta-you type massage”. I didn't have the mental of physical capacity in me that day to have the client dictate to me how deep i should go, so i took a different approach.
*If I am going to be doing the emotional labor for this client, I needed to know what was beneath all the pain.*
I realized I simply didn’t have the mental or physical reserves to just power through another “no-pain-no-gain-you-cant-hurt-me” session.
But I also knew, from her repeated requests for deep tissue and long list of complaints, that this woman was holding onto a whole lot more than just physical tension.
So, instead of asking her the typical "what do you want me to focus on, how deep do you like the pressure, what are your problem areas etc" I accidentally blurted out "what are your emotional needs for the day?" I didnt mean for that to escape my lips (im not a talk therapist), but it did.
She sighed long and very heavily and said “how did you know I was going through some deep sh*t?” I said I had an intuitive feeling as soon as she walked into the treatment room.
I gently let her know I think it's best that we do something different than what she normally is accustomed to… she said “ok, I really need something different… i just left my best friends daughter’s funeral and she was only 15 years old”
Oh yeah…. We are NOT doing what clients perceive to be “deep tissue” today.
I included some light breathwork, sound bowl massage, and long, slow, flowy strokes.
As i was working on her scapulas, i noticed that they were soooooo very tight......... instead of DIGGING in ad jamming my fingers under her shoulderblade etc, i instead was imagining little angel wings were trying to grow from them and thats why they felt tight.
I just THOUGHT about the angel wings. I wanted to send her some good thoughts.
After the service, she told me she felt soothed, and was imagining little angels flying around. I told her I was imagining little angel wings too.
We hugged, and I saw her again a few weeks later for the same treatment.
✨Massage is much more than jamming your fingers into “knots”
✨Massage is much more than elbowing your way to the bone
✨Massage is much more than damaging your own body for the sake of hurting someone else’s
✨Massage is much more than steamrolling the soft tissue in hopes it’ll submit and soften up
- Bodywork is much more than massage.
- Bodywork is much more than hands-on therapy.
- Bodywork is tapping into your intuition.
- Tuning into the energy your client is walking in with.
- Listening to the subtle signs your clients body is saying.
- Caring without conditions
- Nurturing without reciprocation
- Holding space for those big, big, big life-changing moments and silent battles.
-Letting your clients be seen, heard, and felt.
💫 Clients arent just a 2:30 appt.
💫 They arent just a means to an end.
💫 Clients can also feel our energy as well; they can typically tell when we have the capacity to make them feel safe in such a vulnerable space.
💫 They have their own stresses, pains, challenges, and emotional battles they are dealing with.
For everyone carrying something heavy right now let your wings unfold.
❤
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