How do you clear your mind?

[DeeJay]

I have been doing chair massage for several years now. I notice that with the short duration of a chair massage session (15 or 30 minutes), the clients that are prone to want to talk during the session are very quick to jump right in to very serious topics of conversation. Some are dealing with difficult decisions regarding themselves or family members, others are dealing with illnesses or legal troubles. I feel honored that I am trusted with these confidences and know I am there only to listen. After these sessions I wash my hands literally and figuratively - then go on to the next person.

What I would like to know is how other bodyworkers out there process the rapidfire rollercoaster of information that often occurs when seeing many individuals in one day.

 

[KiwiKid [new avatar]]

I forget instantly. :

 

[systemofadownfan]

Interesting... most of my chair clients don't talk all that much, and the ones that do don't tend to talk about more than the weather, the massage, etc.

Does your awareness tend to move outward and stay there, centered on the client, and then the next client, without coming back to yourself regularly? As clients are talking, do you need to let more of what they say just float by like music, keeping your attention on both their body and your internals? When you need to pay attention to your clients, do you then pay immediate attention to yourself and what's going on inside you? In between clients do you come back to yourself before going on to the next one?

 

[dsk]

Mine do this too - I thought I was the only one!

I have to work very hard to stay centered when doing chair, esp. because of this. I do two things as much as I can: I look at my hands to visualize the physical edges of myself, and to keep my aura from diving into theirs I repeat silently, "I am me; you are you."

I do good work whether I remember to do this or not. But when I forget, I come home exhausted and jangly.

 

[Maira]

I am conscious of my boundaries while the "chatter" is going on, it's the shock factor of some of the information that is hard to let fly by.
I know another MT that actually says to her clients, "I do a better massage when I don't talk." Although that is not my style, I do feel I am working at a different level when there is less talk.

 

[Yuri Gregarin]

When and if a client decides to tell me anything that is bothersome to me during the massage afterwards while I am washing my hands I think of what they told me and in my mind I am washing away what they said. I have had plenty of clients tell me way more than I really wanted to know especially right after Katrina hit here and doing that worked wonders.

 

[Obastro]

I've been doing chair massage for 7 years.......anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes each....... and I never have a problem leaving each person when their time is up. I look at each massage as a different segment of my workday "pie." Finish one piece and then go on to the next piece. Since a lot of my clients are repeats each week, I am able to listen and retain bits and pieces of their life told to me so that I can establish a repoire (sp?) the next time I see them. I don't have a problem giving total focus on each person.

When some of the clients start to talk, I listen and might make a few comments, but I don't encourage the conversation. After a couple of minutes, most of them drift off into la-la land.

I do have one lady who talks the entire 15 minute period, claiming that I'm a better listener than her therapist, bartender and husband.