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October 17, 2004
Chair massage writeup
10/18/04
Shiatsu
As I sit brainstorming for writing, I find myself searching for positive aspects to my experience on Friday. But the truth is, at this moment, I don’t think chair massage is for me.
During my time at the Welcome Center, I gave chair sessions to five people. While it was kind of neat to touch five different bodies over the course of just a couple hours, the sessions could only be superficial. Very little assessment, limited areas of the body (mostly, as expected, head/neck/shoulders), and a context that didn’t provide the same privacy and safety of a treatment room all made for a very different experience both giving and, I assume, receiving.
Perhaps my toolbox is just too small at the moment. Chair massage seems, to me, more suited for Swedish. People all seemed pleased with their experiences, but my (cynical?) assumption is that Swedish would have been more in line with their expectations and thus felt subjectively more satisfying to receive.
Given my intentions for being here, I don’t see that corporate chair massage would be satisfying work for me. Which basically relegates the technique to either the “promotional” or the “extra cash” sections of the toolbox. Nothing wrong with that; I’m withholding judgment until I’ve graduated and am in the situation. I have this vision of chair massage as being particularly useful for jumpstarting a private practice client list.
I think what I’d like to do is borrow some chairs and trek down to Garberville or Arcata
some Saturday and see how we do in the “real world”. And then perhaps as a second experiment, try again with Swedish. Such further experiences would help refine my
current thoughts and feelings.
Posted by Josh A. at October 17, 2004 09:47 PM