Invest in the Art of Receiving Massage

Tim Sullivan is a yoga teacher and massage therapist in training. You can find him at www.timyasa.com and americainshort.com.

I remember a conversation I had with the desk staff at a local spa. It was when I had first signed up for massage school, and they said I should book my appointments now because after I start school I won’t be able to enjoy it anymore. Like a backseat driver who is always secretly judging everything the driver does, I would be the same with massage – concentrating too much on the routine, they reasoned.

I wouldn’t be able to relax because my analytical mind would be on hyperdrive. It was a decent pitch. That said, since going through the Lauterstein-Conway Massage School program, I’ve found quite the opposite to be true.

Massage school teaches us to be more in touch with our bodies, to know our own inner landscape. In school, I did almost as much receiving as I did giving. Yes, I learned myriads in school on how to give massage from a traditional Swedish Massage routine to how to find and release tibialis anterior, but perhaps the greatest gift I received was learning the art of receiving. I learned to truly melt onto a massage table, how to deepen my breath in order to follow the sensations in my body, how to listen to the signals received through touch to communicate with my nervous system. I learned how to truly feel in this body of mine and through that, I’ve become an informed receiver. The benefits of each massage I receive now are tenfold. 

Yes, there may be and, in all likelihood, will be a successful career ahead for me as a massage therapist, but if nothing more, the Lauterstein-Conway Massage School, by simply getting me more in touch with my own sensations, has been an incredibly worthwhile investment toward my own wellness and longevity.