Massage has been an important part of medicine for over five
thousand years. It is also a major topic in the first medical
texts printed. The first medical texts were used by early
physicians who were primarily men. These men commonly practiced
the art of massage therapy when treating and caring for their
patients. I only mention this because I have spoke to many
people who find it surprising in today’s world, that there are
men who are professional Massage Therapists. Today Massage
therapy is primarily a career chosen by women. Whether your
therapist is male or female should not be of importance, unless
you have a specific reason that makes you uncomfortable getting
a massage from a female or male therapist. What is important is
that your therapist is licensed or certified in the type of
massage that will help you most.

The massage therapy profession has been severely abused by
prostitutes that use massage therapy as a cover up for illegal
sexual activities. The places where they work are often referred
to as “Massage Parlors”. That is why massage licensing and many
city ordinances were put into effect. Professional licensing
requires people who want to pursue a career as a massage
therapist to get a specified number training hours from a school
or college of massage. Most states also require that these
students pass a national certification exam that shows that that
person has the ability to identify specific pathologies and has
a good understanding of the human anatomy. This helps to make it
more difficult for illegal parlors to exist and helps to protect
you as a consumer. In recent history the profession has been
abused and still is in some places. If you are interested in
getting a professional, non-sexual massage you should not only
ask if that person is licensed or certified, but also be sure to
ask if they have had any specific training in the area you are
wanting massage for.

Hippocrates, who is considered “The Father of Medicine” was
highly respected in his findings. He is probably the most
respected man in medical history. That is why he is known as
“The Father of Medicine”. I have read many historical books that
stated that Hippocrates said, “The physician must be acquainted
with many things and assuredly with rubbing” (Massage Therapy).
Hippocrates had an oath for Medical Doctors to take. I
personally feel that this oath is ignored often when it comes to
the use of Massage Therapy and other fine sources of alternative
health. One version of the Hippocratic oath is printed below if
you are interested in reading it. The first few lines of the
oath seem to be conveniently avoided or forgotten by many of
todays Physicians. I have asked many of my clients if their
physician has ever recommended they get a massage without being
asked about it specifically. Very few of them have ever told me
yes. I have had a few clients that asked their physician
specifically about the benefits of getting a massage in order to
help them with their specific condition or problem. My
experiennce has been that less than half of these people report
that they were ever told by their Physician to pursue treatment
by a Professional Massage Therapist. On the other side of the
argument, I have several Physicians and Nurses that are clients
of mine and they have told me that they often refer patients to
get Massages. Most of these Physicians and Nurses have told me
they feel the reason that their patients do not always pursue
their recommendation is because massage is seldom covered by
medical insurance. Over the past years there have been many
studies providing an abundance of proof that certain kinds of
massage therapy are very effective for treating many conditions
when used as either a primary or secondary type of care. Many
insurance companies have put an end to paying for massage
therapy because of a few massage therapists that have billed the
insurance companies for massages that were not considered the
appropriate type of massage for that patient or clients
particular condition. Insurance companies expect hard evidence
from clinical studies that have shown that a particular massage
modality or technique has helped with a specific condition,
before they want to reimburse anyone for it. I can’t say that I
blame them for that because I would not want to pay for gasoline
if I was given a tank of water. Giving someone a simple
relaxation massage or Reiki treatment may be helpful, but isn’t
necessarily the best type of massage treatment for someone with
a specific condition such as low back pain, frozen shoulder,
carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, lymph drainage, migraines, sciatica
and many other conditions. Whereas a professional Massage
Therapist with proper training in one or more of these areas
would be much more effective in treating a specific condition
that they have been trained for.

Most of todays society has been conditioned to believe that
drugs are the fastest and best way to get better. Our society
today wants and expects a drug or procedure that can be
prescribed and can quickly cure whatever is bothering them. I am
not against the use of medical drugs or Physicians. In fact I
highly recommend that you find a Physician who is knowledgeable
about the use of certain drugs and when it is appropriate to use
them. Find a Physician that will take the time to really listen
to you and explain what is wrong, what drugs or other treatment
or procedures you may need, and why it will be of benefit to
you. I say this because I have had several clients that have
come to see me about muscular pain that they have been having.
Muscular pain that they have often seen more than one Physician
or other professional about. These clients tell me that they
still have no idea what is wrong with them or why they have the
pain. Many of them come to see me as a last resort, because they
have exhausted all of their other options. I often ask what they
were told or how they were treated for the pain that they are
having. I often hear them reply that they were given a
prescription for some type of pain reliever and told to rest.
Most of these pain relievers will either help to relax the
muscles because of the effect on the central nervous system or
help to reduce inflammation. These pain relievers often help to
reduce pain and that is about it. What I have found with these
clients is that they have been taking pain relievers for a long
time and have tried many different therapies, rest, heat, cold,
traction, ultra sound, etc… without any lasting results. Many
of those treatments can be helpful for many people but do not
always solve the problem. Massage doesn’t always solve the
problem either, but it has been my personal experience that many
of my clients have told me that it did do the trick for them and
that they are very thankful that they gave massage a try.
Sometimes, regardless of all they have tried, the pain continues
because the injury may have an excess of painful scar tissue or
keeps getting re-injured because of their daily activities. It
can even be because of swelling or tension in the muscle that
has caused a lack of blood flow to the area that causes it to
become ischemic (lack of blood flow). Blood flow is needed to
carry the cells that help to heal an area. Without good blood
flow it is unlikely to heal properly. Ischemic tissue may
collect toxins from the slow moving blood around it. Many of
those toxins cause trigger points to develop and cause pain in
the muscle.

So what can a professional Massage Therapist do that is
different for this type of muscular pain? The proper massage
given by a professional with knowledge of how to treat your
specific type of muscular pain may use friction and compression
to help reduce the amount of scar tissue in that area. Scar
tissue is not very flexible, but with massage it can be made to
be more flexible, thus reducing the amount of pain you may have
in that area. A good Massage therapist will be able to tell you
what muscle or muscles are likely to be causing your pain. They
should also be able to tell you what actions or movements these
muscles are responsible for making. This is important to know if
you need to rest the area, so that you do not re-injur it by
doing the same activities or movements that may have caused the
pain or aggravated an old injury. Massage will also help to
increase the blood flow in the affected area, allowing your own
blood to circulate better in the area of injury. This increase
in blood flow will carry cells that your body already uses to
heal injuries. These cells can then get to work on helping you
heal faster. The increase in blood flow will also help to carry
away any toxins from the affected area and help your body to
naturally dispose of them. In almost every case massage will
result in more flexibility, less formation of scar tissue, and
also help the area to heal properly.

So you see, pain relievers more often help to relieve the
symptoms and do not always treat the cause. Very few medical
drugs made will help your body to heal. They mostly cover up the
symptoms you are having. Although I have been told there are a
handful of drugs today that are used for specific conditions,
and I’m told that they can help the body to heal. Mostly they
are newer drugs and not commonly prescribed for everyday
conditions due to the expense and newness of them. Maybe in the
future we will have more medicines that will help the body heal
and can also be used on everyday conditions. But for now I
suggest that you have both a good Physician and a good Licensed
or Certified Massage Therapist on your side. Both that are
willing to work together to help you recover from whatever
conditions you may have. Your Massage Therapist as well as your
Physician should be willing to let you know if you have a
condition that requires someone else’s expertise or a
combination of therapies and treatment. Massage is not always
appropriate for all conditions and Massage Therapists do not
diagnose or treat disease. Massage Therapists do not heal you
because they simply use their skills to help facilitate your own
bodies ability to heal itself. Massage therapists are not
Doctors, but a good Licensed or Certified Massage Therapist will
have the training and skills to know when it may be necessary to
refer you to see someone else.

I was in New Zealand teaching a group of Massage Therapists about a year or so ago. I was conducting a lecture about writing brochures for a massage business. I found that Massage Therapists had one thing in common that stopped them writing their massage brochures. It was definitely not a lack of intelligence or will power, it was not knowing ‘how to get started’ on writing their massage brochures. Not knowing how to get started on writing a massage brochure is not the same as not having the ability or capability. In fact creating your massage brochure is pretty easy. The secret to massage brochure writing? It’s all about following a system.

Following a writing system when writing your massage brochure will cut down hours of ‘writers block’, frustration, feeling in adequate and overwhelmed. It’s true; you can feel all these things when you start your massage brochure writing. So now, I’m going to teach you how to start feeling confident, satisfied and proud of your massage brochure writing. With practice you’ll become a master at creating your own massage brochures.

Let’s get started on the system of writing your massage brochure. Not just any old brochure, a fabulous massage brochure that clients will love.

Firstly, it’s important for your massage brochure experience to be a positive one. Clear your mind and make a decision that you will not bring any past negative feelings “to the table” when you sit down and begin to write your brochure.

Your massage brochure needs to reflect utmost professionalism. In your experience as a massage therapist you’ll know that people have loved your massage and wanted more. This needs to be reflected in your presentation. Only use the highest quality paper and the best printing service in town. You have a significantly higher chance of impressing potential massage clients them further with your skills in the marketing and business side of things as well. Whether you do Trigger Point massage, Swedish massage, Bowen therapy or deep tissue massage all massage therapy modalities need to be reflected in this way.

Secondly, you need to understand that potential massage therapy clients are not looking for the features of massage therapy such as “increased blood flow, increased muscle tone, improved oxygenation to the muscles” or “helps disperse lactic acid build up in the muscles.” Yes, it’s all great that massage therapy does that, but it’s not what clients are looking for in your massage brochures.

Think of it this way. When you yourself are looking for a massage from a colleague, what is going through your mind at the time? Is it “I must get a massage so I can disperse the lactic acid in my muscles” or “this neck pain is really bad, I must get a massage to relieve it”? The latter of course! Well that’s exactly what your potential massage clients are thinking too! When they pick up your massage brochure they are undoubtedly thinking about how they can get relief from something. And they will search for it in your massage brochure. So make it easy for them to make a decision to have your massage treatments by stating the benefits of your massage treatment straight away rather than the features in your massage brochure. (People start looking for massage therapy when the pain has become a problem and usually not before.)

Thirdly, always use ‘easy to understand’ language. We often forget that as massage therapists, our potential clients are seeking benefits in the form of relief from discomfort. What I mean by this is what is going through their minds is the language that we must use in our massage brochures. If they are thinking it, we must say it. That’s why it’s important for us to state in our massage brochures phrases like “my treatment will give you relief from neck pain, allowing you to move freely and without pain. After just a few of my massage treatments you’ll be feeling more flexible and free again.”

Just remember that with all massage brochures you must ‘get into your clients head’. Speak plain language in your brochures and don’t use your qualifications upfront as a strategy for attracting clients. Most of our massage therapy clients have no idea about massage or the school we went to or the hard work we did to become skillful at it. And that’s ok! Right now our goal in writing massage brochures is to make it easy for them to decide to want to have massage with us and offer our massage therapy in a way that’s easy for them.

Nakedness and what it evokes is a real issue for bodywork therapists, especially female therapists because of how some clients, men or women, will use the massage session to display sexual behavior.

For this article we are not dealing with how bodywork therapists and massage persons can attempt sexuality with their clients, but only about clients displaying sexuality during the session.

I speak as a former Licensed Marriage, Family and Child Relationships counselor in the State of California, USA. I have done bodywork myself as part of the therapy I do. I have had many years of bodywork done with me, as well as a number of training courses in bodywork therapy.

I speak from counseling massage therapists in my own practice. I also am familiar with psychotherapy for sexual uses, including therapeutic sexual massage that is effective.

Sexual massage is more practiced outside the United States than in the States because of severe sexuality issues and attitudes in the United States differing from Canada and Europe.

Here is a sexual issue example:

A man asks the woman massage therapist over the phone: do you include the genitals in your massage work? This is rather direct. The presenting problem may be more, do you work with sexual problems as part of your massage work?

How is a male or female massage therapist to respond? Is this a sexual come-on? Or is this a cry for help?

A massage therapist comfortable with their own sexuality may be willing to take on a client who does have sexual problems. Many females are upset that they cannot orgasm. Males may easily get erections, but while in a woman be unable to orgasm.

It would be unusual indeed if at least half the people who come in for massage treatment do not have sexual problems. What is the massage body-worker to do?

Some forms of massage do include massaging the naked body of the client, with a towel over the pelvic region or not. Other forms work with light clothing on and consist more of stretching movements.

Rolfing works with the naked body so as to see the alignment. There is hardly a chance in this form to feel pleasure responses because Rolfing itself is to break up muscles and facia that have been emotionally tense for years, and so the work can be extremely painful.

It is rare that a male client will directly attack a female massage therapist, but it is still considered good practice not to give massage to persons you do not know fairly well in places where you have no protection should you need to call for help.

WARNING – It is the generally accepted practice to never work alone with a massage client in a building alone. Always work were there is someone who knows you within calling distance. Work where your live-in partner is at home next room over, or in a building with other therapists or businesses.

Once I did a screaming session with a member of a therapy group in a new place and the motor car salesmen and manager from downstairs came running up and loudly banged on the door. They thought someone was being murdered. We had not told them yet that we did therapy with people!

Of course a male client may not tell you he has sexual problems on the phone, but just come in and then tell you.

ISSUE EXAMPLE – The Man Who Spontaneously Orgasmed

- Was this on purpose? And how should the therapist handle it?

One female massage therapist reported to me about a male client who would get an erection every time and have spontaneous orgasm. She never touched his genitals. She had to have a box of tissues nearby so that he could clean himself up. This was Essalen massage combined with Shiatsu pressure-point massage, which deals especially with freeing blocks in the body.

The male client did not try to have sex with her or get her to touch his genitals. Was this a genuine case of being too orgasmic? What would be the best treatment?

I advised her to instruct her male client to practice full-body awareness as he was being massaged.

Indeed, a chief value for anyone being massaged in many different styles of massage is to relax totally into sensual, bodily awareness. Some fall asleep during this relaxation, which is not necessarily healing for the client but acceptable.

For this male client orgasming he was either impressed with his ability to orgasm spontaneously without touching himself, and needed a female to witness this, or he was indeed a seducer. However, what if he simply was by nature a spontaneous orgasm type male?

Let’s deal with seducers first!

Men who fixate on being seducers are only interested in getting a female so open to them through their ways of seduction that they do succeed with having intercourse with her.

Thus some men have developed a seduction technique and try to make it work to perfection on female massage therapists. They are not interested in an ongoing life relationship. They want only seduction and conquest and are willing to pay the massage fees to set up these kinds of situations.

To my knowledge with the female massage therapists I have known, they were never trained through role-playing in how to handle seductive clients.

The massage therapist should keep a massage session always on a professional level with a client, not just for reality reasons of keeping one’s license to practice, but to keep the massage situation objective and therapeutic.

With the man who spontaneously orgasmed while his body was being massaged he was emotionally and physically too focused on his erect penis and its ability to display and spray sperm.

So what, we might say. The therapist has to accept many peculiarities with clients, whether it is a massage session or not.

I also counseled the massage therapist to take the first five or ten minutes to talk objectively about the client and his behavior. How does it feel to orgasm here? Are you making it happen? Is it spontaneous? What happens with your own lovers?

These simple questions make the client an object of treatment. They de-potentiate the session of its potential sexuality. The female therapist asserts her professional role as a helper and not a partner. Things are kept within structure. The client is made to feel responsible for his own behavior.

In this real-life example, when my friend, the massage person, made the massage sessions objective as suggested, the man stopped coming. The object to seduce the therapist was no longer possible.

Of course, unconsciously, some do get fixated on seducing mother or father substitutes as a way of ‘getting back, getting even,’ an unconscious power-play that makes the seducer feel dominant in self-esteem, whether truly so or not.

ISSUE – EXAMPLE – The Man Who Spontaneously Orgasmed During Massage Who Was Not A Professional Seducer

The first edition of this article has in its first year been tremendously popular, and as author I have wondered why. Could it be that there are enough men and some women out there who do spontaneously orgasm while receiving a massage? One concerned man about the first edition of this article thought it implied that someone who spontaneously orgasmed was a seducer.

I thank him for giving his concern and I revise this article here to make it clear that for those who spontaneously orgasm, male or female, IT MAY BE A SOCIAL PROBLEM, BUT IT IS NOT WRONG, NOR EVEN A SEXUAL PROBLEM. NOR SHOULD YOU BE CONSIDERED A SEXUAL SEDUCER OR PERVERT.

Sorry for the implications I made in my original article. And many thanks to the reader who voiced his concern with me.

I would suggest that all massage body-workers have paper tissues, or even clean hand towels available, if a male or female spontaneously orgasms. Approach such a situation with positive feeling, acceptance and awareness.

“Oh, it looks like you have had a spontaneous orgasm. Don’t worry about it here. Massage is meant as relaxing, and sometimes this happens, and can happen with most anyone. Would you prefer paper tissue or a hand towel to clean yourself up.”

“I feel ashamed to do it in front of you. It just happens . . .”

“We can talk about it if you like. Massage is for knowing your body better and accepting it. Relaxing and letting go is a process of self-awareness and accepting your own body.”

“Thanks, I’ll take the towel. Maybe if you don’t look for a moment.”

“Fine.”

“Why does it happen?”

“Try not to stay in your head as you receive my massage. To let go means letting go control, and that may mean pleasure feelings start happening, including with your genitals. If you feel an orgasm rising, just say so to me as I massage you, and see what happens. You are learning self-acceptance of your body.”

“Does that mean you will massage my genitals?”

“I don’t do genital work in directly touching your genitals. But I am certainly not against your having orgasms as part of your process. Are we clear? Or do you have any questions still?”

“Let’s get on with it.”

FOR THE CLIENT WHO SPONTANEOUSLY ORGASMS

Of course, it is your process that is important, however it happens. But why not pre-select the massage body-workers you work with?

Simply tell them on the phone, or in person is better, that you sometimes spontaneously orgasm and it embarrasses you. Ask that person you are meeting for the first time, how they might handle such a situation with you. Then make your decision on the spot, saying you will try out a session or not. You are buying the service. It is your right and necessity to feel safe with the person you work with.

Tell that person that you feel either safe or unsafe with them. Be honest and straightforward. Reality is best. Reality is healing.

ISSUE – The Massage Therapist’s Responsibility

The bodywork therapist is also responsible for the effects of her treatment with any of her clients. A bodywork therapist should not think of themselves as just giving a good massage. The effect on the client is also their responsibility.

Thus I have counseled therapists on the issue: can you as a therapist handle this behavior on the part of a client and work with it to some resolution?

If you are a real therapist of course you want to take on challenges and handle every situation. But can you?

Working on the body is often a temptation to be or feel sexual. Relationships have started up between client and therapist, and always will, such is the human condition.

It is important to keep the therapeutic situation non-sexual, unless you are trained in sexual massage therapy and can practice this form, certainly a developing form in Europe and even America, despite repressive attitudes everywhere.

Thus our advice is to keep defining your boundaries as a massage therapist. It will not be just acting out sexuality that you will sometimes be dealing with. Other clients may be more into anger and you will have to structure your relation to this other great instinct as well.

We have raised some issues here. Instead of giving rigid rules we have explored the issues in terms of their human meaning and trying to be the best massage therapist you can be. You know full well it is more natural than unnatural to face the issues of human sexual feelings and expression inherent to living in a body, your body, and the bodies of your clients.

When faced with unusual or intense situations in your practice, do your best to bring the dynamics into reality.

The Man Who Never Came Back – Some Questions

Remember the man who used spontaneous orgasms to seduce?

Was he then just a seducer, using as his field of available women female massage therapists, some of whom might well be seduced by his genital expression?

He exhibited seductive innuendoes in his conversation.

Or did he simply get the point that maybe he could get over his fascination with his own behavior and seek intimacy with a sexual partner he also ate dinner with, showered with, and slept in bed with.

For in the end much of sexual expression is the expression of the need for bonding and intimacy with another human being. The goal of most massage therapy is not simply bodily expression but body-awareness that is relaxing, pleasurable most of the time, and balanced in its expression, sex, sports, sensual expression, caring, anger expression, whatever.

Sexual Expression

Why do we all mostly seek sexual expression?

Ah, you want to know everything, don’t you?

So do I!

Right now I am working with the concept that at essence we are all seeking sexually to have tremendously intensified sexual experiences to know and to maximize our experience of existing.

We exist but we want to know that directly as experience of existing.

But more on that elsewhere!

Feel free to visit our web sites and explore.