Massage Quotes On Touch and Healing
Soothing touch, whether it be applied to a ruffled cat, a crying infant, or a frightened child, has a universally recognized power to ameliorate the signs of distress. How can it be that we overlook its usefulness on the jangled adult as well? What is it that leads us to assume that the stressed child merely needs “comforting,” while the stressed adult needs “medicine”? — from Job’s Body: A Handbook for Bodywork by Deane Juhan
When the Body Gets working appropriately, the force of Gravity can flow through, then spontaneously, the body heals itself ~ Ida Rolf
People have to be able to trust you and for that to happen, you have to trust yourself. You have to know yourself quite well. People know right away what you are up to when you lay your hands on them. ~ Steve Capellini Massage Therapy Career Guide
When you touch – don’t take. Touch people only when you are giving something – reassurance, support, encouragement, whatever ~ Ken Blanchard, One Minute Manager
“The real purpose of giving massage is to foster more depth of feeling for one another in order to bring out the love that often lies buried beneath the pain of everyday suffering.” ~Robert Calvert
The sense of touch is the massage therapist’s main avenue used to affect another being and is the body’s main method of gathering information about itself. In contrast, an artist uses the sense of vision, and a musician uses the sense of hearing to communicate with others. Touching can affect us physiologically, cognitively, psychologically and emotionally. ~ Susan Salvo, Massage Therapy Principles and Practice.
Our purpose is to remind each other who we are. We are able to know ourselves better through being touched . ~ Jacquelyn Small
We need touch, but most importantly we need conscious touch, a moment when somebody is connecting with us skin to skin and is also aware that this is happening. ~ Mary OMally, Belonging to Life
On one level, massage actually has little to do with muscles and joints and hands and backs. It has to do with the person inside the body giving the massage and the person inside getting the massage. The real massage is the transmission of a message from the giver to the receiver and back again: and that message is likely to contain elements of gratitude, understanding, compassion and shared awareness.
~ Steve Capellini, Massage Career Guide
The intention of touch is to create a therapeutic physiological event in the tissues of the patient, and the rationale underlying the technique is physiological, kinetic or mechanical in nature. From the patient’s point of view, the touch has its roots in non-verbal communication or communion. She does not experience the touch as merely a technique or procedure on her body tissues, it involves her self. She is being held, cradled, stroked, caressed, valued, cared-for, healed. The patient’s experience is above all a psychological and existential one.
~ Bevis Nathan, Touch and Emotion in Manual Therapy
Compassion is a bridge between the client and the therapist. It can be argued that without compassion, no healing takes place. Not only is compassion a bridge, but it is also the container for the therapeutic relationship. ~ Susan Salvo, Massage Therapy Principles and Practice.
It is in the mind, it is not the body: my job is reaching the mind. ~ Milton Trager
Touch brings two people together in a healing journey as a guide and traveler. This mutuality is not conveyed by the usual terms, “doctor/patient, practitioner/client, therapist/client, healer/healee…in which only one party has the power. ~ Clyde Ford, Where Healing Waters Meet.
In healing touch we listen accurately to share the traveler’s pain. In response, we coordinate our hearts with our hand to share compassion through touch. ~ Zach Thomas, The Church’s Forgotten Language.
Quotes on Helping/Being a Helper
The best helpers see themselves as guides and fellow travelers- not experts on another’s situation ~ Jacquelyn Small
Because helpers ask clients to examine their own behavior to understand themselves more fully, we ask helpers to be equally committed to an awareness of their own lives. ~Corey and Corey , Becoming a Helper
Quotes on Massage Ethics
As Bodyworkers, if our need for intimacy is not deeply met in our private lives, we become highly vulnerable to the temptation of crossing this boundary ~Hugh Milne “Heart of Listening, I”
A satisfying and balanced life occurs when your values are in sync with the way you lead your life and run your business. Your values are the major conscious and unconscious influences on the decisions you make throughout your life. ~ The Ethics of Touch Cherie Sohnen-Moe, Ben Benjamin
Massage is a balance between technical and personal skills, at the heart of which lies the therapeutic relationship. Every time a therapist and a client come together in the context of therapy, this relationship is created. This relationship has a special purpose and goal: to serve the needs and best interests of our clients. ~ Susan Salvo, Massage Therapy Principles and Practice.
I have come to believe that each and every one of us has an intelligence inside that knows everything about what is going on in our lives This includes our symptoms and their meanings (if any), our illnesses, our inner conflicts and the like”~ John Upledger “Your Inner Physician and You”
Self Care Quotes
A simple way to develop our self-awareness is by listening to our inner voice. If we are to trust in our patients’ internal wisdom, we must learn to recognize our own. We must first acknowledge that we have an inner direction or intuition and that we take time to listen to ourselves. Trust in our own intuition is strengthened with practice. ~ Diana Thomson, Hands Heal
Business/Marketing
There are enough stressed out people and aching bodies to go around. Fostering a spirit of collaboration, rather than competition, among other massage therapists is the way to success. Professional jealousy is not an attractive quality in any person. ~ Laura Allen, One Year to a Successful Massage Business