The gift that is touch

It seems that the human animal not only likes, enjoys, relishes and seeks out touch but, it needs to be touched. A good many studies have been done to show this. Healthy babies, healthy kids, healthy adults all experience touch regularly.

I spend 20 +/- hours a week touching people. That’s my job. What I went / am going to school for. To be able to knowledgeably, thoughtfully, effectively and carefully touch people.

For a long time I looked at is as just that,a job. Something different to do, something cool to talk about. Not everyone is a massage therapist. Most people know one or have at least experienced one but, still not so common. ( I would like to have been a blimp pilot, now that is a rare occupation!)

When I got into it, it paid really well. Kinda fallen off the chart with the proliferation of low-cost clinics. The double edge sword. The attitude toward body work has changed. The value of it is recognized now. Not just a luxury or opportunity for a happy ending. With that however, the wage had dropped and the quality of therapist has also dropped.

What I am good at is therapeutic work, helping people with injury, new or old, to feel better. To heal and function better. I am not so reckless as to call myself a ‘healer’ as some do. I simply assist a body that is already wanting and trying to get better to do so. It may have lost its way or become stuck in rut. My job is to offer a bit of help to get it back on track.

Now that I work in a massage mill, body after body after body I was worried that the connection to the individual would be lost. That the work would become more a chore than a joy. It happens. Massage is not only a physically demanding way to spend your day, it is mentally, and emotionally challenging.

Going over the anatomy in your head. Reviewing your options from so many hundreds of training hours to choose the modality and course of action. Communicating with your client in a way that works for you both. (The latter is not as easy as it sounds!) Teaching them how to help themselves. All of this is a limited amount of time.

Although I have found my body suffering more than I would like or had expected, the worry that I would ‘loose my touch’ has faded. I am surprised everyday by a few things doing massage. These are a few of them.

1) The sales associates do a great job of putting the kind of client I work best on in my room. This is a conscious effort on their part. BUT – the number of people who come in, that need what I have to give, is amazing to me. Not only that but – the number of these people who have become ‘my regulars’ is truly stunning to me. The connection – wow.

2) The willingness of a stranger, to trust, accept and allow me to try and help.

3) The energy I gather, experience, feel in me, after working my ass off all day! I should be exhausted or at least worn out. I am ‘tired’ but not like it sounds. Hard for me to explain. Much like the feeling after being on stage. Tired and Invigorated at the same time

It occurred to me the other day, whatever it is I offer, do, accomplish, share with the people I touch, is only half of the deal. Sure, I am all beat up and sore and looking at the long term damage this kind of work does to a ‘body’. I feel that already. What I had not really looked at, accepted before was how much I get out of it on the most basic level.

Touch is a two-way street. I touch people all day long. They in turn, touch me back. Not just the physical part – which is there, real and wonderful but, they leave me with a gift as well. I get to go away knowing that even if I did not make a difference, I was allowed to try.

Recently I heard this quote. It was attributed to Bill Cosby’s son Ennis but I cannot confirm that. “Many people want to make the world a better place. Just make yourself a better person. You can do that and it will have the same effect.”

I went to school for one reason. I found something completely different came of it. I am becoming a better person in my efforts to help other people get better. I am learning to appreciate other people as I learn to accept appreciation from them. I am learning to trust as I experience trust. I am healing as I facilitate healing in others.

I am receiving the gift or touch as I am privileged to give it.

Thank you to those that let me take your gift in.

A V

Yea – those are my hands – fresh from a manicure but also with paint still on them. I do more that touch people with my hands. I get to touch their imaginations with my set designs and builds! Ahhhh, life!