Personalized Massage

Written by Shawn White, LMT

Creating a personalized massage is challenging, whether you are just starting out or are an experienced practitioner. In the beginning, you just don’t know enough to customize the session to address specific issues. Many lack the foundational training to be spontaneous or use their imagination to discover new methods. As an experienced practitioner, you will likely perform the same routine every session. This happens because you will default into using what works, maybe you get bored, or you believe you have discovered the best possible approach. Both result in a one-size approach to massage and yield a cookie-cutter experience.

Creating a completely personalized massage is challenging to achieve because it requires a vast toolbox of techniques or the ability to freestyle throughout most of a massage. Freestyling in of itself is an advanced skill, because winging a session can easily cause a potpourri effect. The potpourri effect is when a massage feels like it is comprised of random and disjointed techniques.

In this article, we will discuss how you can develop your ability to perform a personalized massage by using the qualities of both worlds. You will integrate the benefits of using a routine with freestyling.

How did I learn how to provide a personalized massage experience? When I went through massage school, I was not taught how to perform or create a routine. I wasn’t even taught the five basic Swedish massage techniques. This made the learning process exceptionally difficult. No matter how much I begged or pleaded to be taught by my instructors, they refused to show my class how to perform a massage. Instead, we were left to our own devices to learn. This is the worst way to develop as an aspiring massage therapist. Thank God I have a passion for massage, otherwise I would have long ago washed out of the industry.

My massage school experience was a blessing in many respects because it forced me to dive deeply into the intricacies of massage. This meticulous approach became the foundation of my practice. As a result, I reflect on each technique, so I can intimately understand its function and application on every level.

Every technique used in my sessions has a purpose, because each second has significance. Just like in life, no moment is worth wasting. When people come to us, they want to explore how it feels to be at the center of another person’s undivided attention. They want to reconnect with their humanity and feel fantastic. When I teach massage, I focus on helping you understand the techniques and methods that will allow you to achieve these results.

Routine & Freestyling

In the beginning, you need a foundation to build from. Without it, you will feel lost, become frustrated, and likely stop practicing. You could bumble through the initial steps without a prebuilt routine, but it would not be to your benefit. Starting out, you need a path to walk, one that is purposeful, effective, and fun to practice. It won’t be a personalized massage, but at this stage, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t understand the basics, you will never be capable of using advanced methods.

Your first routine should be learned in person, by someone who is willing to take the time to show and watch you perform every technique. This is important because the bad habits you pick up in the beginning will haunt you later. Something I tell my students is, if it hurts, stop doing it.

We have the tendency to ignore the little aches and pains because we don’t think they are that big of a deal. When we are going about our lives, this may be appropriate. In massage, we continuously repeat the same movements, and if we are using poor body mechanics, it will cause injury. Having an instructor who is attentive, perceptive, and patient will help you avoid pain and discomfort when performing a massage and after.

Transitional Spaces Lead to a Personalized Massage

The routine should flow and tell a story. Each technique needs to naturally lead to a transition space. A transition space is an area where you can use a freestyle technique to seamlessly move from your current area to the next. If you are massaging the arm and you plan to move to the neck, you need a few techniques to get there. This is an opportunity to create something new that feels good and maintains a continuous line of touch.

Every technique used must be applied at least three times. I call this the rule of three. We do this because it offers the client the opportunity to vocalize that they like a specific sensation. Most people don’t even realize they like something until the second time it has been applied. Using the rule of three also increases the likelihood you will remember it later, and it helps reduce the perceived chaos of a session.

With a good routine, designed to encourage creativity, under the tutelage of an instructor who is invested, you will quickly develop a large collection of techniques. Routine, plus the ability to freestyle, is the fastest and most effective way to develop a personalized massage experience. Over time, you will transform your transitions into purposeful techniques that are valuable in isolation. From these new techniques, you will create new transitions that may one day become their own unique method, and the pattern will continue.

If you take the time to dive into the benefits of each technique, you will discover how to use them in focused applications. When this happens, the foundation of offering a truly unique, purposeful, and effective personalized massage approach is born.