My Recent Spa Experience

I was lucky enough to be invited to provide some massages at a spa a few days ago, and since I have not done that before, it was a wonderful experience. One of the first things we learned in school was how to provide a relaxing massage. If the therapist is nervous, distracted or even too focused, the person on the table can sense it and will not be fully relaxed. In some cases it might be a mild annoyance, but the other end of the spectrum is that the person might feel very uncomfortable and question the therapists skill, creditability or intentions.

Of course, once the school starts to teach about injuries and diseases and the like, it's quite easy to let the problem solving mind-set take over. The treatments start to take on an athletic body work therapy flavour and the they can become far less relaxing.

In a clinic most people would go there to have a problem resolved, and it's reasonable to assume that if they're happy that they will come back to continue care. The particular spa that I was at, is located in a high traffic tourist area. All the clients that I saw were from various locations across the province and some had RMT's that they saw on a regular basis back home. It was pretty clear to me that while they might have had injuries or ailments, their goal or desired outcome for treatment was to leave their life back home and relax.

It was incredibly refreshing to provide massages in that setting, and I found that I was getting back in touch with my not-so clinical side.

Dan