Practice makes perfect. This is a saying nearly everyone has heard, and it is not a tough one to understand. The more you practice something, whether it be snowboarding or basketball, cooking or knitting, or almost anything in between, chances are you are going to improve your skills.
Of course, saying that practice makes “perfect” may be taking the truth just a touch too far, simply because it can be somewhat unhealthy to expect perfection from a human activity. However, it is a wonderful ideal to walk toward in the daily actions of our lives.
Massage therapists and bodyworkers have the opportunity to practice and improve their hands-on skills every time they work with clients. This means that those touch therapists who have been in practice for quite some time have had a large amount of time to hone and improve their skills.
When it comes to the skills of a massage therapist or bodyworker, most people think of their hands-on techniques and abilities, and rightly so. The main reason clients make appointments with massage therapists and bodyworkers is to obtain relief from pain, stress or tension through the hands-on work of the touch therapist.
However, there is more to the general skills of a successful massage therapist or bodyworker than his or her touch techniques and abilities. The other aspect of a practitioner’s skill set involves the experience necessary to know that the details count when it comes to providing the best possible massage or bodywork session. With practice, the touch therapist can better tune in to what those details may be and how they can help enhance the hands-on work that takes place in the session room.
Among these details is massage cream. It may seem minor at first, especially in comparison to the techniques and abilities a massage therapist or bodyworker possesses. With a closer look, it is easy to see why massage cream is actually one of the more major details associated with touch therapy. After all, the massage cream the practitioner chooses to use is typically the one thing between the skin of the client and the hands of the massage therapist or bodyworker.
Selecting the optimal massage cream for your clients is where the practice part comes into the equation. Only with practice, perhaps including some phases of trial and error, can a massage therapist or bodyworker figure out exactly which of the many massage creams on the market is the one that will best enhance the modality and techniques he or she employs in the session room.
It is important to remember that the seasoned touch therapist may actually keep a number of different massage creams in the session room, so he or she can choose the one most suitable for specific client conditions. Fine-tuning the details of your practice to reach this level of customer service will take even more one on one experience with clients.
Fortunately, all the practice is worth the while, for it can allow touch therapists to secure a successful practice and a loyal client base.
—Brandi Schlossberg