When I first started out 20 years ago, there was no such thing really as a job in massage. People became massage therapists because it was more of a lifestyle choice. People were looking for independence and the freedom to do as they pleased while making a good living.
Today while the statistics from ABMP and AMTA don’t quite reflect the increase in job opportunities websites like www.citytowninfo.com make it out to be. Our professional associations still say that more massage therapists start their own business. I am not sure if that is still true or not. These type of career and salary sites show such a wide variety of salary ranges it is impossible to really know what is going on out there.
I do know that having more massage franchises has opened up more job opportunities but with the rate of pay so low is that really an advancement?
I get more emails from massage therapists asking me to hire them or tell them where the good jobs are which show me they are really lacking in job seeking skills to begin with. But the trend from being self employed business owners to more employees seems troublesome to me. People looking for jobs are seeking security in the form of a job and income. While there is nothing wrong with that really, it is the rest of the things that go with it. Massage used to be more of a calling and a way of life. People came to the massage profession wanting to help others and learned to be of service to others. Now people are just looking for a job to fill their time and get paid.
How will these recent job trends influence the massage profession? We don’t even really know since we seem to get such conflicting statistics.
I was also wondering about the increase in the number of Massage Envy like places and was wondering if it would be possible to have franchises that charge more and pay the massage therapists more and also use tools like supervision (not in the usual sense but as in clinical supervision ) which would seem like more of an advancement to me.
I was also reading a really good book by Robert Kiyosaki called “The Cash Flow Quadrant” which describes the employee, self employed person and business person really nicely. You can read more about it on my blog but it got me thinking that maybe more Franchises are needed that do provide better working conditions, better massages, and charge a reasonable fee (as compared to the cheap fees of some franchises.)
Since jobs seem to be on the rise we may as well figure out how to provide more and better paying jobs.
I came across an interesting thread on the indeed.com job forums (very enlightening reading!) asking what to do about being bored when doing massage. I have to say that I was quite shocked to think that people are bored doing massage. I have been doing it for 20 years and I have to say I have been a lot of things – burned out, frustrated, sad, excited, sick, tired but never bored. There is too much going on to be bored.
In The Heart of The Soul, Gary Zukav says,
“Boredom is a flight from what is important. Like workaholism and perfectionism, it is a way of distracting yourself from inner experiences. It occurs when you look outward and do not find anything to engage your attention. Instead of feeling your emotions – becoming aware of the functioning of your energy system – you become bored. Boredom … is a flight from your higher potential. It is fear of the transformation that wants to occur, and will occur in you, when you explore your emotions. It is your resistance to spiritual growth.”
When I posted that on the forum I got people telling me that boredom is genetic and all sorts of things. Then one person said she has gotten massage from someone who she knows is bored and she couldn’t tell the difference.
I for one would not want to be going to a bored massage therapist. I can tell when people are working on me what their focus is for the most part.
It is hard for me to understand why people remain in a profession if they are bored. Time is too short to waste.
If you are bored and are looking for some answers the quote above seems like a good place to start. I guess I am never bored because every person seems like a new situation to me even though I do have weekly and even clients who come 2x a week. I focus on what I am feeling in my hands, the clients body and my body and time flies. I work with people to engage them in the process of massage often asking them to compare sides after working one arm or asking them how things feel when I feel tightness. Letting them give words to what they are feeling helps people focus inside.
Yes and staying present is the goal and challenge at all times. Sometimes it is easier than others. Presence is what creates the therapeutic relationship which is really the basis for healing. Having presence requires that you are able to look at your own feelings and have them without acting on them. Clients will be able to heal better and faster when in the presence of someone with presence. It will enhance your ability to use your intuition in massage sessions. It is also the key to preventing burnout which is so common in the massage profession. Working with presence can leave you feeling refreshed after a day of doing massage. Creating presence allows you to go beyond your techniques and connect with people on a very deep level. It is also the key to overcoming boredom while doing massage.
Suzanne Scurlock-Durana talks about it on her blog here at Massage Magazine and her website www.healingfromthecore.com which has a few really great articles on creating presence.
Just wondering if there are others out there are bored and why or what are you doing about it or are you just fine being bored doing massage?
