I recently worked at the Aviva Half Ironman massage tent and it was quite an experience! When John & Su from V-Spring first asked if I could help out because they were short of a therapist, my initial reaction was to say NO.
“Will they be sweaty when they come in?”, “Do they take off their shoes?”, “Is it smelly?” I asked a million questions. This would after all be my virgin sports massage (the impromptu pre-event rubs for the Brother-In-Law, Paul and rubs for friends at parties of course do not count!!!)
I realised very quickly that I was not approaching this in the right spirit. Massage is after all an exercise in giving; to give freely and without judgement. To give your best regardless if your patient is fat, thin, beautiful, ugly, young, old……
In any case, it would be great experience. When else was I going to get to work on 15 bodies in 1 day! So, ego aside, I went down to East Coast and checked-in (late as usual). True enough, the athletes arrived in quite a state; smelly, dirty, and very much in pain! I don’t mean to relish in someone else’s agony, but it was kind of exciting to get a person in extreme pain come in….. It was good fun to work on those cramps!
All in all, I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to participate in this. Not only did I get to try out some of Dr Myk’s special techniques, I had an important revelation at this point. The relationship between the therapist and patient is one of master and servant. OK, that may be pushing the analogy a bit, but a therapist is basically there to provide a service, much like a waitress or a salesgirl.
This was quite a departure from the way I have viewed massage practise so far. As a yoga massage therapist, the act of giving a massage is as precious as receiving one. The practise benefits both parties and the objective is that the energies of both can become one. The massage is a meditative dance between receiver and giver, and when the giver manages to release the blockages in the receiver, this is then mirrored and will also provide healing for the giver…… Well, that is at least how I have been trying to practise, and it is quite incongruent with the Master Servant relationship that is the reality.
So, now I am confused….. haha.
“Will they be sweaty when they come in?”, “Do they take off their shoes?”, “Is it smelly?” I asked a million questions. This would after all be my virgin sports massage (the impromptu pre-event rubs for the Brother-In-Law, Paul and rubs for friends at parties of course do not count!!!)
I realised very quickly that I was not approaching this in the right spirit. Massage is after all an exercise in giving; to give freely and without judgement. To give your best regardless if your patient is fat, thin, beautiful, ugly, young, old……
In any case, it would be great experience. When else was I going to get to work on 15 bodies in 1 day! So, ego aside, I went down to East Coast and checked-in (late as usual). True enough, the athletes arrived in quite a state; smelly, dirty, and very much in pain! I don’t mean to relish in someone else’s agony, but it was kind of exciting to get a person in extreme pain come in….. It was good fun to work on those cramps!
All in all, I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to participate in this. Not only did I get to try out some of Dr Myk’s special techniques, I had an important revelation at this point. The relationship between the therapist and patient is one of master and servant. OK, that may be pushing the analogy a bit, but a therapist is basically there to provide a service, much like a waitress or a salesgirl.
This was quite a departure from the way I have viewed massage practise so far. As a yoga massage therapist, the act of giving a massage is as precious as receiving one. The practise benefits both parties and the objective is that the energies of both can become one. The massage is a meditative dance between receiver and giver, and when the giver manages to release the blockages in the receiver, this is then mirrored and will also provide healing for the giver…… Well, that is at least how I have been trying to practise, and it is quite incongruent with the Master Servant relationship that is the reality.
So, now I am confused….. haha.
