Our Teaching Emphasis
Presence. Learning techniques well will help you better serve the clients you work on in your massage therapy practice. And you will learn countless effective techniques for treating your clients’ problems. But will you be a good therapist?
*The* most important thing you can bring to the table when you give a massage is your presence.
I don’t simply mean “physically being there.” ….When I use the word “presence” it means you bring your spirit, your consciousness, into present interaction with the client’s spirit and consciousness. You are not daydreaming, feeling bored, or just there to make a buck. You bring your whole being into conscious participation in the massage, focusing on the tissue at hand, and the whole being and history of that person that made them into who they are today that they had to come to you for help in relieving their tension or pain with a massage.
Being present at any time is not an easy task for most of us. We like to withdraw to our own private universe or talk and talk and talk and never talk about anything real. We all have a thousand different techniques for *not* being present, for hiding and pretending nothing is wrong.
Mountain Meadow Massage School focuses on this all important issue. Our program is holistic. We spend lots of time learning techniques, anatomy, and other details. But we also spend ample time practicing being present, and learning about all the things that *keep* us from being present. So that when finally the client has a moment of vulnerablity and openness, we don’t rush past it, or grind harder into their muscles, and let the opportunity pass to find real healing, which does not come in the body alone, but in the heart.