05/15/2026
Most of you know that I don't do massage that often anymore. My role has changed a little since our therapy practice has expanded. I'm the intake coordinator for our practice and sometimes do massage, mostly when someone injures themselves and is falling apart.
It's different. It's challenging, chaotic at times and also rewarding. I'm not a therapist but sometimes people tell me things because they just need someone to talk to until their appointment. I get to celebrate a little when they share that they have a new grandbaby or a new job and I get to console when they lose someone. Between jubilation and heartbreak it reminded me that the tether between both my separate jobs is connection.
Massage isn't always about the massage. People come to me stressed, overwhelmed, tired and/or in pain. Sometimes they aren't even aware they are in pain. Sometimes I massage someone and they rarely come back and other times they tell me that I helped them walk or keep their mobility or fixed their frozen shoulder. It's easy to take the credit for the magic and easy to take the blame for when they never come back. But the truth is something special happens when they lay down on my table. Space is created in that room, at that time for them to become unburdened. They breathe, except help and make a connection. My job has never really been to "take away the pain". It's a byproduct of my work. Relaxation decreases pain and regulates the nervous system so I can introduce some reeducation to the nervous system. Breathing slows, heart rate slows and the mind lets go. Connection is made. I listen, not only to information from your body but also sometimes you share all the details of your life. You share the good, the hard and the beautiful parts of your lives with me and really that's where the healing comes in. The practice of connection. Yes I fix your tennis elbow but really I'm facilitating rest and repair and creating a reset between the body and the nervous system, restoring communication. In that sense my job role hasn't changed all that much. I'm still resetting communication and connecting with people.
