What Makes A Good Massage?
You are entrusting a massage therapist to provide a safe place to seek treatment. I pledge to provide all my clients with respect and utmost care regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age or disability.
Communication style and massage technique preferences are going to be different for everyone. At the beginning of the visit, we will discuss your concerns and preferences, as a guidelines of whats to be expected. I listed below important traits to consider when searching for a great massage.
Massage Basics
- Communication – This is the basic foundation of a good therapist. A therapist needs to listen to you and have a clear understanding of what type of massage you are looking for. At the beginning let the therapist know if you have pain or injuries that need to be addressed. Are there any physical or emotional health conditions that may be affected from a massage? What pressure do you like? Do you prefer no talking during a massage? A general rule is a therapist should only talk when necessary. When I massage, I am concentrating on what muscles I am working on and how they are responding to the treatment. Good communication between you and the therapist will create a safe place, so you can feel comfortable with their care. Did your therapist listen to you and treat the areas you wanted?
- Massage Techniques – Swedish, Deep Tissue, Trigger Point, Myofacial Release, Gua Sha, Shiatsu, Cranial Sacral, Hot Stone, Reflexology, Sports Massage, etc….it all gets very confusing because there are many different styles. If you know what style you like, great! But otherwise let your therapist know what your objective is and ask them what they would recommend to achieve it. Or ask if they perform the style you are looking for before the appointment.
- Pressure and Speed – Depending on what you are looking for and the objective, this will vary with everyone. At times your muscles may need to be woken up and activated, so a more rigorous style is needed. For painfully tight muscles, a slower deep tissue style may be used. One day you could be in the mood for a relaxing light massage. On the other hand, it can be very disappointing if your grumpy muscles really needed deep tissue and the pressure just wasn’t deep enough to get the results you were looking for. Or you felt like to your therapist did a generic routine and did not listen to what you wanted.
- Music – I am putting this in here as an important part of the massage experience because if you are listening to music the therapist selected and its just not your cup of tea, you are not going to be happy. Everyone has there own tastes in music. Thus, if you have a suggestion or want to play your own music let me know. (As long as it is not offensive and not too heavy) Music and sounds are often an overlooked part of massage, but it has a huge impact on your mood and your body also.
So what’s my style? One that works and gets the results you want! My massages change with each individual and my goal is to have you feeling better leaving my office, than when you arrived!