blog
january 19, 2010 01:40pm
Communicating With Your Massage Therapist
The best way to receive the massage you need and desire is to be very clear with your massage therapist about what you would like to experience. It also depends on your ability to speak up and provide them with feedback during the massage. While many therapists will prefer to maintain a quiet atmosphere while doing massage, both for your benefit to help keep you relaxed and for their own so that they may fully concentrate on the work they are doing, however, your therapist will appreciate you letting them know if the work is too deep and intense, or if you would prefer more pressure.
Many people find that their massage therapists are very intuitive in their work, and so assume that the therapist can tell what you want them to know. True, if your therapists applies pressure to a muscle, and you tense up, they'll know to back off and work some of the tension out before applying that kind of of pressure. This is merely an example of the way their training teaches them to read your body. A massage therapists cannot, however, read your mind. They may not know that you experience an aching pain in your neck if all the tension is between your shoulders. They cannot know how much intensity or sensation you experience with pressure to know when to work deeper...unless you tell them.
Assuming you and your massage therapist have done a comprehensive intake before your massage, here are a few experiences that should be due cause for your speaking up during a massage:
You are experiencing pain
You would prefer more or less pressure to be applied to the body
You experience tingling that runs down your limbs- indicative of nerve involvement
You are cold (this will cause you to tense up)
If you feel uncomfortable for any reason
If you are having an emotional response- massage relieves tension we've held in our body, which is sometimes connected to emotions. Massage therapists are educated in the body-mind-spirit connection and will be accepting of your experience, and may be able to share with you more about the process you are experiencing.
Obviously, this is simply a basic version of the conversation that will be happening between you and a massage therapist. The thing to know and understand is this: the more information they have about what you want, need and desire to experience, the better they can work with you during the massage to achieve your goals. Be open to listening to your massage therapist about any advice they might have for you- what they learn from your body language, tension, and muscle structure will likely be valuable information for you to work with.
