The Massage Pundit

I’m a musician myself.  I started learning piano when I was six, picked up the guitar at nine, and I’ve been playing in one band or another continuously since I was a teenager.  Over the years I’ve added the dulcimer, various drums, the harmonica, the autoharp, and a few other instruments into my repertoire.  If I want the  house to myself for a few hours, all I have to do is get my fiddle out of the case and my husband will develop a sudden urge to go somewhere. I can’t imagine my life without music in it.  It’s my joy and my stress relief.

Most of the music I play is not an appropriate accompaniment to massage, which brings me to the point of this week’s blog.  Do you give a lot of thought to the music you play in your massage room?

I remember when I was a massage student, I was assigned to double-team a client with an older and more experienced therapist who worked in the clinic attached to the school.  I entered the treatment room and was shocked to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd coming from the CD player.  As it turned out, the client had brought it with him, and as he had explained to the other therapist before I entered the room, he didn’t like that “wishy-washy” music that was usually played when he was getting a massage.

We’re taught in massage school to check in with the client about the pressure, the temperature of the room and so forth, but I can’t recall any of my massage teachers suggesting that we need to check in with the client about the music in the room, other than to ask if it’s too loud. 

I’ve had a number of clients over the years who asked me not to play any music at all, because they just wanted peace and quiet while they were getting their massage.  I’ve had other clients that brought in a CD (although never another one that brought in Lynyrd Skynyrd) that they wanted to hear during their session.

A few months ago I was giving a massage and playing one of my favorite CDs, which happens to be soothing classical guitar music with some nature sounds in the background.  The client asked me to take it off because, she said, it was “creeping her out”. 

One of the therapists who works in my office used to work for a chiropractor who had music piped all through the building, including her massage room, so that she (and the client) was forced to listen to whatever was playing at the time.  The day she came to my office to apply for a job, she stated to me that she had been giving a man a massage when Marvin Gaye floated over the airwaves crooning “Sexual Healing.”  There was no way for her to turn it off or even down, and she said it was just the final straw for her in working at a place where she was unhappy in her circumstances.

I have learned that not everyone likes Gregorian chants, the afore-mentioned nature CDs, kirtan, Irish airs on the harp, the Native American flute, mantras, classical music, or even the myriad of music made just for massage and labeled as such.  Just because I personally like it doesn’t mean the client does. 

My solution to this problem is just to ask the client if they would like to have music during the session, and to offer to let them choose a CD from a basket containing a dozen or so various selections. 

Music, or the lack of it if that’s their choice, should be a part of the client’s total massage experience.  We need to be tuned in to what the client finds soothing and relaxing, and realize that it might not be the same thing we find soothing or relaxing.

And if you’d care to hear me play the harmonica, you can visit my website at www.thera-ssage.com and turn up the volume!

 Peace & Prosperity,

 Laura Allen