It has been a great pleasure to be a bodyworker for the last 20 years. I have managed to do what many colleagues have not, namely create a sustainable business offering deep, therapeutic massage that addresses actual pain and dysfunction and do it day after day, week after week without stressing myself or others out in the process. I used to think everyone worked like this, but I have come to understand that most practitioners do not.
Recently I worked on a deep tissue licensed massage therapist. I asked her where she typically went for bodywork and she told me she didn’t because no one “could go deep enough.” This is ironic, because she could go deep enough but couldn’t find anyone who could go deep enough for her, so she rarely received bodywork herself.
The problem with her was, although she was the “deep tissue” therapist that everyone went to, she found me because she was nursing a wrist injury and could not work. Every part of her was hypertonic and way too tight. She was able to do deep tissue massage but over the years, needed to first shave down the hours per day she could work, going from 8 hours to 4 or 5 hours and then later on, shave down her days. Before she got injured, she only worked two days per week and still felt tired after those shifts.
I don’t know about you but I cannot survive on only two days per week! In order to make ends meet, she needed to do gig work. Does this sound familiar? Is this you, lovely bodyworker that has found my blog or is this a colleague that you know? Or perhaps instead of doing what my LMT client did, you simply gave up bodywork altogether or transitioned into subtler energy work and non-intensive modalities like craniosacral instead?
I have nothing against non-intensive modalities. I have received a great deal of relief over the years from craniosacral massage and other forms of non-deep tissue bodywork. However, despite the incredible value these other modalities offer, is it any substitute for the deep, consistent “squishing” so often our overworked, overstressed bodies crave? Perhaps it is the intense society we find ourselves in, but I for one will always desire a deep, all over massage from time to time. My body and my mind need it. It is that simple and others need it too.
Therefore, there will always be a demand and need for the deeper styles of bodywork. I am not particularly athletic (although I used to be), and I am not particularly strong. I absolutely hate using my thumbs and there are all kinds of moves my body simply doesn’t like to do anymore (or never to begin with), but the one thing I know how to do really well is honor my needs while still finding deep, lasting relief for my clients. I am a living testimony for what is possible in the realm of deep tissue massage for my entire career. If I can do it, (not being particularly special), then anyone can do it.
It is not magic, it is bulletproof body mechanics in every single moment. It is never, not for a second, doing a move that hurts the practitioner’s body, while at the same time, finding a different way to achieve the desired ends. Deep results still need to be achieved. The only difference between my injured LMT client and myself is “the how” of the bodywork we did.
How many bodyworkers right now are feeling injured or on the verge of injury? How many are silently suffering thinking that they “have to”? How many are ready to quit? It is a shame. The world needs more skilled healers.
I wish I had found this client 5 years ago, I may have been able to help her before she got injured and had to take time off. This is my next 20 year mission. I want to help the LMT’s of the world learn how to work in a way that honors themselves while still offering deep tissue if they want to. If a practitioner doesn’t want to do deep work, absolutely okay, but if they actually do but feel as though they cannot for various reasons, give me a call! I will help you and it won’t cost nearly as much as a forced early retirement or an expensive surgery!
Many blessings my dear LMT’s.
Chārutā Cubela, Licensed Massage Therapist
Owner of Self-Transformations Massage
Specializing in Therapeutic Barefoot, Myofascial Release, Deep Tissue & Trigger Point Therapy