I just read an article in Massage Magazine that I found to be very interesting. It was written by Amy Bradley Radford, L.M.T., B.C.T.M.B.

I am going to use an excerpt from her article here so you can see what I am going to be writing about. Take a look:

“Many years ago, a wise massage therapist taught me about this concept, what it means to those who care for another person’s health, and how healing works for both your client and you.

First off, she gave me the best definition of what a “healer” is. A healer is merely someone who creates the space within another for them to heal themselves. She explained to me that ultimately my job was to help find misused energy and redirect it for vital use.”

She goes on to say that at first she was fully convinced that she could cure every client’s ills with a strong, deep tissue massage. But over time she began to realize there was more to massage, and she started to listen to what her client’s bodies were telling her.

Why is this interesting to me, a massage therapist? Well, for one, it shows me where some therapists come from when they start a practice. For another, it is actually affirming something I have always intrinsically known.

Some of my clients will call me their healer. And although it’s a flattering label, I am not certain I fully understood what they meant until I read this article.

You see, I tend to work on a body and explore until I can feel where there pain or discomfort is coming from. NOT just where the pain is, but where it starts.

Sometimes that pain is a pulled muscle or a sprained rib, but just as often it is a broken heart or a ball of stress that has landed in their body and because they haven’t addressed the issue, it’s lodged itself in there, just causing a low level of pain, sometimes for years.

What I often do is start the work of dislodging those pockets of pain, and once I do that, I offer advice as to how people can move and exercise in order to help that pain go away. In effect, I “create the space within them for healing” I like that term.

I didn’t think it up, that’s true, but it is something I do for people. I release enough of the built up pain so that people can move better and allow themselves to heal. Sometimes people will cry on my table as I massage them. Not because I am being too rough, but because when that ball of pain begins to unravel, that sadness seeps out and moves on. That’s okay, because maybe it’s what they needed to do all along, and just wouldn’t let themselves. They may feel a little tired after, but the next day, they will have more energy and their body feels a little lighter and more flexible.

With a few good massages, a good friend to chat with and some gentle exercise, I think more people could make their own space for healing.

Valentina Boonstra