Good Massage v. Bad Massage
A client's perspective on her negative massage experiences
A few weeks ago, we put out a free guide titled “How to Make Every Massage a Great One.” Within the guide, we shared 10 tips to empower and equip you to make your next massage a great one, and we’ve also been posting about each of the 10 tips on our social media channels (you can follow us on FB here and IG here if you don’t already). We hope this has been helpful.
Last week I had a new client come for a 90-minute massage. At the beginning she shared that she has received both good massages and bad ones in the past. Out of curiosity, I asked her what made the bad ones bad for her. What she shared was insightful and helped me know what to avoid with her, to help her have a positive experience. With her permission, I’m sharing them here so that they can help you too, as you consider what makes a great massage for YOU.
The two things that made the bad massages bad were:
The massage therapist did not listen to her. She explained that the massage therapist did not adjust their pressure when she told them it was too much. She did not feel heard and as a result was in pain throughout the massage.
The massage therapist did not pace their time well throughout the massage. She shared that they spent too much time in one area, and then the end felt rushed to get through everything. She did not like feeling that parts of her body did not get the full massage, due to the poor timing and planning of the massage therapist.
How about you? If you’ve had a negative massage experience, what were the contributing factors? I would love to hear about it. Some other things I’ve heard before:
The massage therapist talked too much
The room was dirty
I got a headache because of the essential oils being diffused
These are all things that are within the massage therapist’s control, and can make a world of difference for the client’s experience. Here at Studio A, it is my hope that everyone walks out of here feeling like they just received the best massage ever. I regularly hear at the end of a massage session something along the lines of, “Wow, that might be the best massage I’ve ever received.” I don’t say this to pat myself on the back, but rather to highlight the experience that I strive to give the clients at Studio A, and the difference that getting a “trauma-informed” massage can make, even if you do not feel that you’ve been through trauma per se. (Because really, at the heart of it, being “trauma-informed” is recognizing that everyone wants and needs different things in order to feel safe/comfortable, and so proactively making accommodations for that and inviting the client’s collaboration can make all the difference in it resulting in a great massage.) Even if someone feels that the massage techniques in themselves weren’t all that great, our goal is that clients will nonetheless ALWAYS walk away feeling heard, understood, and that they got what they paid for. When you come to Studio A for a massage, that 60, 75, or 90 minutes is yours. I will do my best to meet the goals that you set for the session. If you want to spend the whole time only on the upper body, I can do that. If you would like me to spend extra time in one area, I can do that. If you want it evenly spaced out, I can do that, too. If you want to keep all your clothes on, I can do that. I will listen to your needs and wants, make adjustments as necessary, and ensure that my space is always clean and welcoming.
If you’ve never experienced a trauma-informed massage at Studio A, I can guarantee that it will be different that most other places you’ve gone before. Leave all those bad massage experiences behind, and try something new at Studio A.
Healthy Helpers online course
Just a reminder that Allie’s online course for “helpers” (therapists, bodyworkers, coaches, first responders, clergy, social workers, addictions counselors, etc.) is starting on February 28! Healthy Helpers: Developing Therapeutic Longevity is an affordable course that will teach helping professionals how to navigate “vicarious trauma” that can happen as a result of working with clients’ difficult stories and traumatic material, in a somatic (body-based) way. Using the body to help move through and out of hard stuff, she’ll teach on creating healthy boundaries and buffers, how to somatically process the most difficult aspects of the work as a helper, and how to sort through and hold space for your own nervous system responses to your clients’ material.
She’ll be teaching it live, online, on Fridays from 12:15-1:45pm, for 6 weeks beginning February 28 and ending April 4. If you’re a “helper” of some kind, don’t miss this opportunity to learn somatics as it applies to the unique role of helping others! Learn more and sign up here, via the “On Demand” channel of Studio A.
Enjoy the rest of the week, friends!
~Callie