The Heart of Massage

By Laura Fine, H.H.P., M.F.T., M.A., A.E.A.

I became a massage therapist and Holistic Health Practitioner when I was 23 years old. The decision came about as a direct result from an energy healing experience with a Polarity Therapist. It was like taking a cork out of a bottle when I experienced the rush of internal chi life force energy that I never knew existed within me. The session became a catalyst for a spiritual quest that drove me to explore every modality of body/energy healing and spiritual practice available. I was asking the big questions, what is the meaning and purpose of my life? How can I contribute something of real service and value? This question has been a driving challenge, quest and passion in my life, a force that has not allowed me to rest, and now the pieces are beginning to come into place. Several Master’s degrees, healing school certifications, one life threatening illness, the discovery of profound spiritual practice and twenty-five years later, something is finally integrating in my understanding. This understanding is gratefully blending into my teaching and practicing of energy healing in a form that feels concise, affective and relentlessly reminds me to practice humility and gratitude.

I have a passion for bridging the ‘art of massage’ with compassion and understanding of the spiritual essence of the vulnerable human lying on the table before me. My intention when I ‘touch’ is to contact that most vulnerable and delicate place in the individual. Upwelling from this core I have access to the ‘heart’ of the muscular pathology in the client. When I touch this place with my heart in my hands and my feet on the ground my hands are free to respond as energetic radar sensors. This radar is not for muscular tension but actually mental tension that manifests itself in the muscular, fascia, nervous and emotional tissue of the physiology. Openhearted compassion is not just and emotional feeling but a power, as are other spiritual qualities; the qualities of purity of intent, forgiveness, unconditional love. These simple concepts are more than just feelings. These powers, when recognized and utilized effortlessly melt the most stubborn fascia that no manner of deep tissue work can budge. My spiritual teacher says, “True wisdom originates in the heart, not the mind.” Yet this is a difficult concept to translate into our hands when we are tired or agitated, or become bored while working on a client. It is challenging when the client who is demanding or needy triggers our impatience. These opportunities self reflect an unconscious vulnerability within us and this can be difficult to own up to, to know how to respond in a productive manner without becoming defensive or reactive. When we stay present and focused, tender and accepting of our own vulnerability as well as our client’s, we can usually find a way to give them something much greater than ‘good technique’.

We all know that there is ‘magic’ in our hands but I wanted the key to that mystery, to be able to apply that key consistently and to settle that question in my own heart and mind, to give something of true value to my clients. I remember one client, a professional painter, recently explaining to me that he wanted his soul to be expressed through his paintings, and for viewers to feel that life force of his soul, come through to reflect something soulful and vibrant within themselves. I was touched by his desire, and feel that same opportunity there for me each time I make contact with a client. It requires the spiritual quality and power of selflessness to achieve that. It requires ego strength and control to be able to table my own mental dialogue about my laundry, my errands, my self, in order to stay present breath to breath in the intrigue and wonder of the life force process occurring in my client. I am in the privileged seat of the driver, but the passenger, the client, is giving the directions, guiding my hands where they are needed so that their body can naturally self-correct. My teacher has taught me that the mind is the cause of either liberation or bondage. As I work with my thoughts during the sessions with my client, they can be my greatest allies, guiding me deeper inward to the heart of the stress and distress within my client, or outward to my own ‘self’ - ishness applying a disconnected mechanical technique to my client. It’s an art that takes practice, practicing mental thinking/energetic awareness/emotional openheartedness to achieve, but an art that provides unforgettable value to the client who reaps the benefit.