THIRTEEN RULES OF MASSAGE

1. Slow down when you need to. Speed up when you don’t need to slow down. Massage that’s always slow is ultimately boring massage.

2. Palpate – how can you love if you don’t know what’s there?

3. Know anatomy – not just in general. Have memorized the origins, insertions and actions for at least the 90 most important muscles.

4. Care; really care; let your care be palpable.

5. First do no harm – to yourself! Pay attention to your body mechanics and your psycho-mechanics.

6. Don’t substitute force for intelligence.

7. Take a history; your client’s complaint arises from and takes place within their whole life. You’re working on time as much as space.

8. Try to do not more than 4 sessions a day.

9. Become a boundary genius; when you hold to impeccable boundaries it becomes a powerful part of the healing process. When you create an atmosphere of total safety and trust, the healing process is initiated.

10. Don’t hedge on the business side – you are in the massage business as much as you are assisting in the healing process.

11. Get massage. Not getting massage is like a writer never reading.

12. Take a workshop at least once a year; a vacation twice a year, and a contemplative break once a day.

13. Don’t give up. Work, exacting work, moves mountains.

photo taken at an early wonderful class in Oxford, UK