Something nobody told me about MT

[Jessykabeth]

Nobody told me how FAST an hour can go by! We did our first hour long massages on each other last night in my Intro to MT class. Basically we put the whole routine together that we've been learning all quarter to do the whole massage.

We were supposed to spend 20 minutes on the back. I could have spent the whole hour there. I swear it felt like I was massaging for abut 15 minutes instead of an hour.

Does this happen to anyone else????

 

[Bebee]

Definitely this happened to me when I was in massage school. If you're anything like I was, you're learning all these new techniques, and want to try them all out in one session. In real-life, you pick and choose which techniques work best for each person; your techniques also become more effecient, so they take less time. Also, in the beginning, I would slow down or pause as I tried to figure out what was going on in my client's body; I'd also slow down/pause to try and remember what comes next in the routine. These moments may feel so short they wouldn't make a difference, but they add up over the course of a session. With more experience, these pauses disappear. Your assessment becomes second-nature; your transitions become seamless. Eventually, you will be able to do a great full-body massage in one hour. But you might end up always preferring to have more time. Some members on this board specialize in 2-4 hour sessions. The longest massage I ever did was 3 hours (and it was one of my practice sessions during massage school. The time just flew by! : ) Now, the longest massage I'll do is 2 hours, and for me, 90 minute sessions are my favorite. However, I can do a great 1-hour session, and have many clients on budgets who prefer this.

Enjoy the learning process. It's fun! On your home-work practice clients, take your time. Then, in the school clinic setting, challenge yourself to finish in one hour. Don't speed up your strokes; just do less of them.

 

[cookie25]

Isn't it amazing? They don't tell you because you wouldn't believe it! People constantly ask how you can keep massaging for so long. "I get tired after rubbing someone's shoulders for three minutes," people say!

 

[Parisshiloh]

Welcome to the club! :

 

[LasNoches]

Its all about stamina and pacing yourself. Take your time and spend time assessing and massaging the body,generally about 5 minutes on the extremities,10-20 minutes on the back,shoulders and neck,and about 20 minutes on the chest and abdomen,and you may have some time left for some tapotement if you trim off some time on the regions,if you desire. Just enjot learning!

Namaste'
Johnny

 

[molloyboy3]

I find when I get a massage it takes about an hour or so, maybe more My massage therapist is great and takes her time with me. I have a lot of issues with health so getting one every once in a while is such a help for me. I figure about an hour to an hour and 20 minutes is what I have seen and heard some say. I do not actually start my program of study until the fall but it will be well worth it

 

[owlbeback]

Concratulations on getting bit by the massage/bodywork bug. Yes an hour often flys by when where in the altered time dimension of bodywork. I find for myself that I can't really do what I really want unless I give myself an hour and a half to two hours.

To me an hour is just a tease so I focus my practice on people who want to commit that amount of time to themselves.

Bodywork is the toughtest job you'll ever love!

God speed and enjoy your new profession.

Jason

 

[Abby A]

Something nobody told me about MT

Does this happen to anyone else????

Indeed! And when a client comes in with more than one "problem area" I think 'Oh, no! I'll never have enough time!' Particularly with hips/low back and upper back because there are so many layers to work through, such deep work to be done.....I can just get lost in the tissue issues of those areas so that time passes so fast and I force myself to move on!!

When someone is willing to let the therapist "lose themselves" and really work the areas that need work, an hour goes by so fast. But one of my clients likes really superficial stuff.....an hour of effleurage is very very very long!!

 

[Pompal 09.]

An hour and a half massage in our lab is the norm.

I, too, thought I'd never get a massage to last an hour when I first started class. But, after I learned the routine plus learning different modalities, an hour most times isn't long enough.

 

[Clare [:]

It's funny because before I started MT school I would get tired of massaging after about 4 minutes. It's all changed now. lol! I could go on and on. It's so relaxing for me.

 

[Ann M]

When I first starting doing Clinicals, the hour flew by! Each massage I did varied regarding the time I would spend on all the areas of the body.. I have found that no 2 massages are the same. Every body is different and their likes and dislikes vary from person to person.. I was afraid that the massage would be the same for everyone, how dumb is that?? lol! As I gain more experience, I hope to expand my knowledge of techniques..

 

[LFCfan]

I was so worried about mastering 'the routine' when I first started my hands-on stuff in school, but as I massaged more and more I never really did and I realized that I was a much better therpaist for it! So many of my peers stuck to the 'cookie-cutter routine' as my mentor called it, and I know that it is because I didn't that I was able to become a more intuitive therpaist. Doing the same thing over and over makes time crawl. When in session, before I know it the time has already flown, and my experience (in massage as well as Reiki, I beleive) has opened the little eyes on my fingers and closed the ones in my head so I can address the intentions of my clients more effectively and make the absolute most of that hour. As I was told as a student, 'Remember, there are no wasted strokes--every one should be intentional. Even, and maybe especially, when applying lubricants as it is the best time to scan the area with those eyes on your fingers. Then you just know what to do next.' So true!

 

[ladypam60]

I was amazed too when I found this out. I was one of those 3-minute massagers that was absolutely pooped (before beginning MT school). Of course I didn't know what the heck I was doing either...teeheehee...