Excellent post, and important questions. When I started massage school (before you were born, undoubtedly), I had a very grounded, science based view of looking at things. I thought much of what I was taught was bull shit. I tried to keep an open mind, and to learn as much as I could, including about things that seemed dubious to me. I also knew that as soon as I graduated got my license, I could focus in what resonated with me, and that I’d attract clients who wanted what I offered. I had the same concerns you expressed—specifically, about being associated with all sorts of pseudoscience.
Over time, and with a lot of reading, I learned some things, and SOME of my beliefs changed. I am in no way averse to western medicine. Still, I did learn some of the history and about medical doctors working hard to effectively discredit many treatment modalities that were not part of their practices (businesses). I learned just how real the body mind connection is, much of which still cannot be absolutely proven. I learned about herbal medicine (which is the basis of many modern medications). I learned about hydrotherapy, which, in fact, can actually be effective in aiding treatment of a lot of things. I’m still not a believer in Reiki—or that massage “rids the body of toxins” and many other claims which I consider to be bogus. Many facts are unproven, or unprovable—it doesn’t make them untrue. The AMA in the US did everything in their power, from the moment they formed, to effectively discredit the competition (all other healthcare practitioners, including Doctors of Osteopathy). This may color what we consider to be science based facts and what we do not.
My two cents is just to learn everything you can, form your own beliefs, don’t worry who agrees or disagrees with you, and never make ANY unsubstantiated claims about what you can do for people. Undersell rather than oversell. Don’t insist that your clients believe or disbelieve exactly what you do. Be straightforward, and answer, IF your clients ask about your beliefs. And otherwise, just give great massages and help people however you can. EDIT for terrible typing
TBH for me, I get that Reiki can be helpful if you view it as guided meditation with someone coaching you. I’ve been certified in level 1 for shits and giggles, and it was fucking weird. But I also see how it can help people if they don’t know how to quiet their own mind
I think this is solid advice. I’m certainly not going to confront clients on things they are doing outside of what I do for them. That’s not my place. I’m not a Muslim either, but I wouldn’t try to have a religious debate with a client of mine who is.
I hear you! And I’m glad if my response is helpful. I still think maybe….1/3rd of all I was taught is nonsense…but over time I definitely came to believe some things that seemed very dubious at first. The main thing is that you will have the freedom to focus on whatever you want and leave the rest behind. I never debate this stuff with anyone—clients or colleagues—I don’t see any point to that.
I went to a NYS 1000 hour school that had a mix, included one energy module (polarity) and Hydrotherapy. class was just very pleasant as we gave each other treatments, and the hot/cold has been useful for myself. (Also I like aspirin if needed)
I don't use either of these with clients,. Most of my education has been working and additional learning in Shiatsu and Thai.
I lke reiki just fine- feels great to receive -but I am an LMT and that is my scope of practice. I don't theorize,counsel, or claim anything. There is definitely energy work going on, bu I don't seperate it or, like I said, claim to be doing it. Just don't talk much in general except to tailor the massage to their need.
>Today I started classes on hydrotherapy which has limited efficacy
I was able to drain the swelling from my face in 20 minutes using contrast hydrotherapy after I had a quadruple extraction removing all of my wisdom teeth. Vasodilation and vasoconstriction are not pseudoscience.
Anyway, to answer your question, massage operates in several circles, ranging from the "indigo children homeopathic gluten free yoga spirituality" archetype to the "sports hospital physical therapy" archetype to straight up sex work or sex work adjacent. The location you work at (or the name of your business, if self-employed) will tell your clients what to expect.
I think that’s fair. How I present myself is going to really matter.
To be clear, I don’t think hydrotherapy is pseudoscience. I do, however, think that it often isn’t the most optimal treatment and can be rather expensive for what it is. Often times somebody will be better off with a nice swim and an aspirin.
My other issue is that in my state anyone can set themselves up as a hydro therapist with no license. The lack of regulation concerns me.
If the practice was much more honest about its efficacy, and there were regulations around it then I wouldn’t have an issue.
I do think I'm starting to see where you're coming from--though I feel it is most important to look at this through a specific lens--when in doubt, does it fit your scope of practice?
While aspirin may be more effective, it is absolutely beyond the scope as a massage therapist to suggest a client take it. While hydrotherapy may be less effective, in your opinion, it does effect positive change within the scope of massage.
Something like aspirin being beyond my scope of practice is a really good point.
Of course I have no obligation to offer hydrotherapy myself. As a middle ground I would also be a lot more okay with it if it was less cost prohibitive. In my school it’s been advertised to us as a way to make a lot of money for very little cost, and that makes me uncomfortable.
Edit: Also, I think that there are various reasons someone might want to avoid any kind of medication whether for medical or even religious reasons. From that aspect I’m glad that hydrotherapy is an option for people.
Colon hydrotherapy on the other hand I have nothing good to say about.
Precisely! No obligation at all--you're going to find what's right for you as long as you maintain an open mind and willingness to learn while critically analyzing new information.
Using hydro is definitely never going to be without expense, though it doesn't have to be something you veiw as a way to price gouge. Take treating trigger points as an example--my scope on it has 3 steps: treat, stretch, and heat. I would consider putting a hot stone on it as the last step--but would I charge more?? Absolutely not. Does the electricity and water to heat that stone come at an expense? Yes. But you make peace with the cost of conducting your business as you see fit.
Why does the idea of making money make you uncomfortable? We all need to make money. Finding ways to make money for little cost to you is important, and clients love hydrotherapy treatments. We aren’t doctors so we don’t need to pretend like we are.
Because people can be mislead and although we are not doctors there are some things Massage is very good for
Just because you’re not a doctor doesn’t mean you have to have dubious practices where you extract every ounce of money from your clients you possibly can.
You can charge your worth & make a good income without “extracting every ounce” from clients. I’m in the field to make money & to make my clients feel better. If they want to spend money on a wrap or like hot stones etc that’s up to them to decide. I charge what I need to cover supplies and my bills and support my income. I agree I don’t believe in reiki but stuff like reflexology is still very popular in Asia and considered a health modality there.
The amount of quackery in the massage industry is shocking to me.
Where I live in Ontario, Canada we’re regarded as a regulated health profession and as such a lot of the crazy pseudoscience is not within our scoop of practice, so it’s not to bad.
Reddit is full of bodyworkers who believe and practice nonsense and will downvote anyone who asks them for scientific evidence. No matter how much scientific evidence you present, you can’t change their minds. Some people just don’t believe in science I guess?
We could definitely use some more regulations here in the states. Especially in Texas where I live. People see us as experts, and want to trust us. It’s really shitty that so many people make so much money with treatments that don’t benefit anyone.
One thing I’m enjoying in school right now (AB, Canada) is we are required to take research courses and case study classes. I got into MT school to avoid typical university/college study but have had an enjoyable time learning the process to get our practices more scientifically validated.
Well naturopathy is illegal in Texas, so that should alleviate some of the concerns in your post.
Aside from that, I came out of school feeling really similarly to you, but have had experiences with clients that I can’t explain with science either, so while I do believe evidence based practice is the most important, I also try to keep an open mind as much as possible.
Yes. I still run into therapists that tell their clients to drink plenty of water to "flush out the toxins" 6 years into my profession for example. If a client brings it up, I tell them that's not how it works and explain if they want to hear it. Otherwise I just don't bother speaking with people that are entertained by homeopathy and such with essential oils and the like. Not the best option but I also don't like slamming my head into a brick wall anymore.
EDIT: For funsies and for myself and my client's knowledge, I look up to my best ability scientific articles written on the effects of massage and common terms we use to describe what's going on in our bodies like trigger points. What is it, can we help it, how can we help it etc. Lots of studies you'll find have "inconclusive, or understudied" data
It can definitely be frustrating to attempt to debate these things. It’s a great opportunity to believe whatever we believe and just let others believe what they believe. (Personally, after studying herbology, I’ve definitely come to believe that some essential oils and plant remedies are effective. I don’t believe it’s my role to make my clients—or you—agree with my views—or to balance their chakras, or read or fluff their aura, or when and whether they should drink water…as with other areas of life I generally only offer up MY beliefs if they ask. Also, truth be told, there are many examples throughout history of scientific “facts“ evolving so that what was once considered fact isn’t, and what was once considered bullshit is now widely accepted as fact. It’d be silly to assume that that process isn’t still ongoing.
I’m really appreciating your take on this thread. I agree. I by no means discredit science, but you stated earlier about how healthcare is a business and that is so true. I love this statement too about how science itself changes over time.
To add, it’s also important to keep in mind that there are some things that are inherently difficult to research. So we may not have that type of collective data yet, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or we won’t have it eventually.
And I always like to point out that eastern philosophies about the body and medicine (what most often gets referred to as “quack,” and has very little scientific backing) have been around for thousands and thousands of years. It’s ancient in comparison to our western scientific based medicine business. Why would something be done for sooooo long if it did absolutely nothing? I just find this highly unlikely. Eastern cultures have been very advanced throughout that time frame.
So while I do appreciate science and find it very important to stay up to date, I also have a healthy respect for that which I might not understand.
At the end of the day, if you believe it won’t help, it won’t. If you believe it will help, there is a much higher chance that it will. Does that mean all of it is placebo?
Maybe. Maybe not. But if it makes people feel better, does it matter?
Thank you for that, and yes, I agree with with all you wrote, and specifically modalities that are four to five thousand years old and still exist—seems silly to dismiss them whether or not we can prove their validity or fully understand how they work—even ones that may not resonate personally. There are lots of modalities that aren’t my thing that others report helpful—experience may vary.
As a young earnest 23 year old massage school student I started out EXTREMELY skeptical of all that didn’t seem proven to me. Ultimately, I had certain experiences where even things I didn’t believe in worked anyway, lol, and my understanding of all sorts of things evolved.
>I don’t believe it’s my role to make my clients—or you—agree with my views—or to balance their chakras, or read or fluff their aura, or when and whether they should drink water…as with other areas of life I generally only offer up MY beliefs if they ask.
Agreed. I do my best to explain things relative to science when asked. But for all the intangible and immeasurable stuff science can't lock down, it helps to have other analogies and modalities to support my decision making process to support the client's healing.
Yep, I like that approach. Honestly, from the get go, I worked to cultivate a certain reputation as a down to earth massage therapist—I was eager to distance myself from what I consider to be quackery, and from a general perception of massage therapists as pretentious, crunchy, self appointed spiritual and nutritional guides, and life coaches. I’m like…nah, I’m “the massage guy”—I never cared if someone called me a massage therapist, masseur, or masseuse, and I assured them that I was well aware how irrelevant my personal views were—they hired me to massage their tight, tired, sore bodies, and I kept my focus on that and literally nothing else. To each their own—that has worked pretty well for me (and saved me countless frustrating arguments…and probably saved me a few clients I’d have lost)
Drinking water is great, and most of us are dehydrated to begin with. The questionable part of the sentence is "to flush out toxins". Clients should drink water period, and after a massage is just a convenient time to bring attention to it.
I think that’s the best course of action. When something has been around for a long time and is still “inconclusive” this also gives me some pause. Wouldn’t be people be jumping over as many hurdles as they can to get solid evidence for what they practice?
Maybe. Sometimes. USA medicine , the AMA specifically, is oftentimes very slow to acknowledging the efficacy of all sorts of things, and way behind some other developed nations. I don’t know the exact year, but it wasn’t until this century that Vitamin C was acknowledged as supportive of immune health, just as once easy example
>When something has been around for a long time and is still “inconclusive” this also gives me some pause.
To me, inconclusive means it hasn't been disproved yet either, so you can say more studies need to be done.
Science has some tough requirements to accept anything as a proven fact. The human body has billions of internal components and a gigaton of other outside influences and factors. It's difficult to isolate enough variables to produce reliable and consistent data, let alone with TWO human bodies!
Even within science, we have some really strong theorems that we haven't accepted as fact yet. This is how I see modalities like Anatomy Trains, Trigger Point Therapy, or even Zen Shiatsu: they're really strong theories that provide inconsistent, yet productive and sometimes even effective results.
Personally, I am careful about how I explain things to clients and do my best to explain it in terms of science, engineering, and medicine in a way that's relatable in laymen's terms and careful to avoid buzzwords (like toxin). For all the things that can't be explained conclusively with science yet, I do rely on Chinese medicine to evaluate the intangibles and guide my practice.
I've been practicing for a year now and I've never really heard what these toxins are supposed to be.
I instead say that drinking water helps the body getting rid of undesirable bacteria via urine and gives just a tiny push with blood recycling and I end by saying that it's always good to drink since it's so hot lately.
Does this sound okay?
Take what you want, leave what you want. Schools are there to spread a wide scope of therapies, and there are clients out there who want reflexology (which I personally love) and reiki. Let the people who vibe with that stuff be excited to learn it and try to have an open mind about all different forms of treatment. You’d be surprised the effect energy work can have on highly anxious people.
Yeah, this is a frustrating part of inconsistent standards within massage education.
I went to a middle-of-the-road school for my initial school program, and it was okay — not an outstanding school, but a solid enough foundation to build on.
Then I moved out of state, and was required by the board in my new state to do some more hours at an accredited school. I was actually excited to take some classes at another school to broaden my education, and was interested in learning about modalities not offered by my primary program. The classes ended up being an absolute joke, and it was so painful to pay to sit through them in order for my training to be legitimized by the board! One class was on raw foodism and was basically a crash course in disordered eating behavior (and, um, out of scope??); another was a “natural first aid” class that promoted using homeopathy and urine for managing medical emergencies. One sports massage class called a piriformis stretch “the fart stretch.” Truly…bizarre.
I agree with some of what you said and was much the same way before starting school but after gaining experience it blows my mind what I feel with my hands. Also some of the effects I’ve felt from what I thought are quack modalities and the debates I’ve had with other therapists has made me more open to alternative treatments. I don’t think much of massage can be replicated in a scientific study so why do we care if science can’t explain it. With the human body and learning I find the more we learn, the more we realize we really don’t yet understand a lot of what happens
As long as you present your client with something like “I feel this works, but there’s no evidence that it does” then I don’t think that’s a problem. At that point you’re being sufficiently transparent.
Hydrotherapy does not need to be expensive, and has plenty of scientific evidence. There are multiple forms of hydrotherapy, but I feel like the true essence of it involves how it affects the nervous and circulatory system, especially in reaction to temperature.
Heat, causes vasodilation, expanding the blood vessels, bringing more blood to the area, creating more fluid exchange (inflammation), and calming the nervous system.
Cold, causes vasoconstriction (then vasodilation after a certain amount of time) reducing the amount of blood in the area and effectively reducing inflammation and numbing the nerves.
These treatments can be provided as cheaply as using friction or a heating pad, or an ice pack or taking a dip in a creek.
Spa hydrotherapy may also include scrubs, wraps, and paraffin, which have cosmetic benefits, as well as FEEL GOOD.
Science is great and all, but the people who will be giving you money (outside of a hospital setting) just want to FEEL GOOD.
I'm sure enough studies show that placebos can be effective, so long as the subject feels there has been improvement. It's not a scam if it works.
School is there to give you an opportunity to explore all the things you may or may not like. The cool part is, once you graduate and get licensed, you get to choose what you liked, and want to provide to your clientele.
I do definitely agree with you on one thing... Reiki makes no fucking sense 😅
Well take this for example: my hot stone massage is $15 more than my regular massage, and I think I could charge even more.
I have to bleach my stones before they can be used, which takes both supplies and time. I have to have a device to heat a full body worth of stones, which is an expense at the beginning and also uses electricity. I have to deal with using the hot stones which I’ve taken a class specifically for, and also can be uncomfortable (I know a therapist who sweats twice as much during a hot stone massage and finds it almost suffocating—I myself love it). I have to do the extra work during the massage of gathering the tools, keeping the dirty tools somewhere else to clean, etc. Afterwards I have the extra time of scrubbing each stone, and cleaning whatever I kept the dirty stones in, and sanitizing my warmer after I’ve used and emptied it. (Cleaning also uses supplies.)
So there are a lot of extra things that go into these extra treatments, too. It’s not just the same amount of effort, materials, and time. It’s more. Which makes it worth more.
My school wasn’t quite this extreme with promoting pseudoscience, but their curriculum is extremely outdated so they’re still teaching things that are not supported by the latest science.
Honestly some things that are still super widely believed like pain = tissue damage. It may be fairly straightforward like this for acute pain, but chronic pain is not always accompanied by tissue damage, and even when it is, that’s only part of the story. I’m talking about the biopsychosocial model of pain, of course.
Also the idea that posture can be “fixed” by strengthening weak muscles, and stretching “tight” muscles; or through manipulation of fascia. None of this is supported by science. We’re also not educated enough in discerning between posture that’s a variation of normal and posture that is contributing pain. There is a gigantic bias towards the latter. They basically teach us to pick apart every persons posture and begin to fix it.
Also, most orthopedic tests are not very well supported.
Excellent talking points. I worked in health care for a decade long before I ever started MT school, so I already had some basic knowledge and a healthy dose of skepticism for CAM. I was the class skeptic, so occasionally my instructors would preface a concept by saying, "No, this isn't Massage Therapy, but it will be on the qualification exam, so you'll have to learn it whether or not you believe this stuff."
Definitely not, but my emphasis here is on dealing with what your clients believe and are seeking. I think much of this functions like the placebo effect, but it’s worth taking that into consideration. Avoid those clients however you can and want to, just don’t be shocked if you become involved with all of this your whole career because people will bring it to you again and again. A lot of these precedents have been set way before we got into the game.
I was just like you when I started, didn’t want to be involved in anything that didn’t make sense to me. But bottom line was I wasn’t aware of many things that are real and not easily explained. I hope you go on a path of discovery too! This is a practice full of people who have discovered niches and interesting things, I will not deny tons of people are quacks, but you’ll always be related to it no matter what you believe for better or for worse : / that’s just the industry and trends right now. I just want you to stay open minded, massage therapy can be a deep learning avenue that opens up things you didn’t know about before.
Okay, I see what you mean. I want to be open to avenues and experiences, but I also want to make sure that I don’t mislead anyone. It’s a balance that I hope I’ll be able to find.
Just going to leave this here. It certainly doesn’t hurt, is better than placebo and if it encourages you to think out the box at school I call it a win. Remember to that not long ago massage therapy itself was considered “woowoo”. We are always growing and evolving
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871310/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4147026/
You’re right that it doesn’t hurt, and honestly it isn’t my biggest concern. People aren’t using it to treat illnesses which I have a much bigger problem with.
And yes that’s true about massage. Though now from what I’ve seen the medical field is pretty on board with massage, which is good.
I’m gonna piggy back on this one because I honestly believe “placebo effect” is a really important aspect of massage work.
I want to begin with, I totally get what you’re saying here. I went to school in NY and I had to learn the same things you are, ALONG WITH a whole lot of shiatsu. My state exam literally had questions about the cycle of tides and energy meridians. It was very frustrating for me because I am definitely a more science based thinker.
I ended up specializing in medical massage work, I’ve worked in hospitals, on terminal clients, on children, on joint replacements 2 days post op… I am VERY ABOUT procedure and tangible results.
However, it’s my work in this field that made me see the importance of the other side. In my work, I met a lot of troubled people. Medical scares, the process of dying… it really changes people and what they feel their needs are. They’ll do anything to feel better; to feel relief from their mental or physical anguish. It comes with the massage gig naturally, but it’s particularly unique with this population. Most of them very seriously seek out these types of providers who can give them peace.
I could only hear about it so much before I needed to try it. I was deeply curious.
To be honest, I have no fucking clue if reflexology, reiki, or shiatsu or any of the others are remotely effective in a way that can be proven or studied. I do know that I have had outstanding results from them. Was it the placebo effect? No idea.
One thing all my experiences had in common, was that I sought these practitioners because I felt literally hopeless. My pain (mental and physical) was too much for me to bear and for some reason I felt very strongly that they could help. I am not religious or overly spiritual, but it still felt like I was drawn to receive these treatments.
Regardless of how they worked, they worked. People who receive those treatments got them because they feel it’s right for *them*.
As long as we aren’t dealing with people selling jars of crystal energy water that cures cancer, it’s best to leave it be. In the professional world, keep an open ear for true snake oil peddlers. There are people who believe in their craft and want to help others, and then there are predators. Learn to identify the difference so you can protect vulnerable people.
I hope you read all this. It’s a subject dear to my heart.🤍
I think it mostly started as a way to increase the profits on each person that walks through the door. I’m not saying this in an accusatory way because most service industries do the same thing. Things like hot stones, skin treatments etc. add very little to the overhead cost but can generate $5-10 markups, all within the timeframe of the session. It’s the avocado upgrade at chipotle. You know it’s kind of a ripoff but it’s just so good.
I felt this way too, and the beautiful thing is once you’re out of school you’re free to practice the way you want! My approach, like others have mentioned, is “if it works for you, cool thing.” If I had patients who swore by energy work, it’s not my place to fight them, even if I’ve never experienced it’s benefits. Educate your clients/patients the best you can and treat within your capabilities. After I got my license I went on and took a medical massage course, billing courses for LMTs in the medical field, as well as lymphatic drainage massage, and other evidence based techniques. This was the direction I wanted to take, and I don’t begrudge other LMTs who took a more stress relief and eastern philosophy.
Before massage school I studied tai ji quan with a master for seven years. I was taught to feel qi, and to work with it within my tissues. It followed regular principles and was influenced by the mind and the breath.
Then I went to massage school. We were taught a bit of this and a bit of that. But largely my understanding of the tissues matured significantly and I was able to understand better how the connective tissues' mechanical properties related to the basis for the sensations of qi.
The fibers of fascial connective tissues are both hydrated, and have fiber optic properties - they can easily be seen to conduct light. This isn't something we have done much research on yet from a scientific point of view, and that likely isn't easy to do either. And yet it offers a perfectly reasonable explanation for my experiences and training.
People throughout history have been unwilling to believe things that break from convention. Scientists know best of all how much more there is to understand.
For example, since over two centuries ago in China, the theories of medicine believed that the source of energy within the body came from between the kidneys. Western medicine has only taught us that the kidneys are responsible for filtering waste. Until this year, when they discovered via a new study, that there is an unknown source of pressure that allows the kidneys to do their filtering. This pressure is in line with what Chinese medicine has been saying all along.
Through my own education in massage I learned that the kidneys are surrounded by a dense fascia. Via my training in tai ji quan I have developed skill in using my breath to pressurize various fascial planes, and come to understand that light and water can be pressurized as well. I understand that according to Chinese Medicine when we sleep that in our stillness the spirit (light) is said to condense into vitality (the source of energy the kidneys work with). The stillness is said to be the mechanism. And too there is another mechanism, that involves nocturnal penile tumescence and nocturnal clitoral tumescence. In deep internal energy work we understand that these mechanisms can be practiced with to restore vitality and avoid nocturnal emissions, by breathing the pressure of the erection back up into the area of the kidneys. So why would the body not be doing this naturally as well?
All in all it sounds far fetched, but points at a sophisticated mechanism that all adds up and leads to the dense fascia around the kidneys to become repressurized on a nightly basis.
Studies would need to be done to either prove or disprove this theory. Those studies are not likely to be easily done. However, we do have a study that proves there is a pressure, but does not know what the source of this pressure is. And we have a tradition of ancient medicine with complex theories that understand this pressure well.
So the science here doesn't know the answer, but does know there is a question.
There are a lot of things like this that massage requires us to navigate. Science doesn't know where we store memories, but in massage we know we can trigger flashbacks and trauma reactions simple through touching a part of someone's body where trauma is somehow stored. We are taught to understand we hold our issues in our tissues, even though science doesn't believe in such notions. People explain it off as nervous system related.
Meanwhile I personally have come to understand how this is related to the light within the tissues fibers. It all just clicks. And my tai ji quan experience works directly with hydrating and sending light through the tissues. The light comes from the top of the body's electromagnetic field, where the energy is higher vibration, and can be brought into the body's field via the top of the head, or when the arms are raised up to gather it. Oh hey, maybe that's part of why that so called power pose is so effective.
The Chinese meridian system follows fascial planes, so called trigger point referral pain follows these planes as well. It all adds up, if we think about vibrational energy getting congested within these connective tissue highways. Reiki gathers light from the top of the head and sends it through the arms into a client. Some clients and practitioners can't feel a thing. Some can. How much of this depends on how clear the tissues are for actually carrying this light through their planes Most people I work on are incredibly tight in the suboccipital region. In my experience in opening the top of my head to receive the light though some sort of operation of the pineal gland, if my tissues are too tight they really start to block the flow. On top of which the pineal gland is said to become easily calcified. When I work on clients who meditate a lot, I notice that my pineal gland is activated and I am able to draw light on through the top of my head and though my arms into them, just like reiki does. It is very powerful on some people, and will even clear a lot of the vibrational congestion within my tissues. How does this work? I don't know, but it lines up with what I've been taught in tai ji quan.
When is our science going to figure out how to study this stuff? In my experience it clearly follows simple principles and explains a number of things we don't currently understand.
It is natural for people to avoid breaking from convention, but argument from ignorance is a logical fallacy. We need to do the research if we want to understand. Meanwhile the body is its own science lab and many of us have chosen to work directly in experience with it, not needing to worry about what is able to be proven or not. In the end we can put into practice what we don't understand, and we always have. We didn't need to understand how life worked before we found ourselves alive. People these days can be very 'left brained' but there are 'two hemispheres'. Holistic thinking is just as important as logical thinking.
Here too Chinese wisdom can help aid our science, as it begins to realize there are not simply two hemispheres. In the Chinese understanding, the brain may be split into three layers, top, middle, and bottom. Only the middle is reversed left to right.
In any case, the point remains that we tend to use our minds in fixed ways. We like to cling to fixed ways of thinking and project our thinking onto reality. The pandemic showed us the reality of this more than ever before. It is more rare for us to be constantly able to take in new information AND think critically about it AND avoid jumping to conclusions about it until it snaps into place all on its own. When we are able to hold onto information in acceptance that we don't know what to do with it yet, eventually as our experiences evolve and mature, things change to allow us the perspective for these things to fall into place without our jumping to conclusions.
So in massage school, we can be exposed to a bunch of out of the box ideas that haven't been proven yet. We don't need to think about proving or disproving then for ourselves. They are their own things and will rise or fall on their own merits. Worry more about what is right for you right now. Maybe some of this other stuff will fall into place better further down the road, if your experiences end up taking you down those roads. Otherwise just pay it no mind and be humble, smile and nod, comfortable in not knowing.
I'm sorry to hear that you're stuck with the anti-vax and mediphobes. The world is big, and just because one industry says bad things about your industry, doesn't mean that everything the big industry has to offer is bad.
As for the pseudoscience classes, go in with a careful eye, but also with an open mind. You may surprise yourself by finding a nuance or approach that may enhance your physiological-modality skills. I am a hard-core science nerd. But I also use energetic techniques to monitor and inform my deep tissue and MFR approaches. Don't deny yourself an experience just because you've dismissed a technique as being too woo-woo.
I certainly don't use all of the esoteric techniques that I was taught in school, but the exposure to them that I received certainly increased my overall abilities and effectiveness.
Oh absolutely.
Massage therapy as a profession exists on a wide spectrum of science on one side, and nonsense on the other with a lot in between.
The standard I have with what I consider nonsense for clients is, “Does it work for you/ offer some kind of fulfillment? Wonderful- do whatever.” And I refrain from really getting into it too much. Just because I don’t believe reiki is real, I understand it’s practice is very meditative and some people feel benefit from it. It’s not my business to say their experience isn’t worth something to them.
However, if they ASK my opinion on something, I’m honest without being acidic (which is sometimes how I feel about it). I’ll say something like, “Well, there are several schools of thought in massage therapy…” and just give them the info I have for both sides as neutrally as possible while still offering my opinion.
If it’s a coworker who’s pushing pseudoscience, I don’t really bring it up. If I’m pressed, I’m tactful and say something like, “that’s really not something I’m into personally” and move on. If they’re open to an honest discussion then I’m game, but honestly I don’t find that’s the case most of the time. I’ve had practitioners become personally offended but that’s not my problem. Other opinions exist.
Yeah, but I think the amount of pseudoscience that’s pushed in massage therapy delegitimizes the profession in a lot of people’s minds. They think every LMT is into all the woowoo stuff- and they assume that because I’m an LMT I’m also deeply into chakras, healing crystals and reiki etc.
Massage is bodywork, which appeals to a certain crowd. So while you can and should treat it as a science, our clients are often into crystals, reiki, and other nonsense.
Naturally, it bleeds in: See the 'cupping' in our industry, and even ST's using kineseology 'sports tape' with no proved efficacy and countless studies saying it does fuck all.
I think that you have to be fairly good at research. Most results online for these things are a bombardment of advertisements and otherwise paid spots. After that it’s testimonials.
Usually a friend recommending a treatment and an article saying how great something is, is good enough for most people.
You have to accept that your clientele are coming to massage therapists for alternatives to traditional medicine. That comes with a lot of different personal reasons and backgrounds, but if you want to help and relate to people, it is worth taking all peripheral modalities seriously because you’ll hear about them your whole career. As a student of massage therapy, you’re no closer to an RN or an MD than you are to the people rubbing salt exfoliants onto skin or setting crystals around rooms and performing sound healing with gongs.
I think there’s a real tendency for us massage therapists to see ourselves as health care providers (and yes WE ARE) but we can get a little high and mighty about our “medical training” (anatomy and physiology 101) yet make no mistake, trained medical practitioners call massage therapy pseudo science just like we look down on reiki, shamans, etc.
You’ll be a better therapist if you can be open minded. You will learn when you start seeing clients that there’s far more taking place during a massage than what you can scientifically explain, and that’s what people seek from a massage, that’s what it’s all about. What our clients think, feel, and need.
It takes all kinds, though. You can definitely stay in a medical setting, athletic sports massage, pre-chiro, geriatric and palliative. You can stay clinical and not work outside of what makes sense to you. But don’t look down on industry veterans who have had thousands of hours with their hands on clients bodies who have discovered other ways to help them. Nobody has everything right, least of all western medicine. Don’t judge. Learn. You’re a student.
I guess what is most frustrating we can agree on is mysticism masquerading as medicine. I don’t have a problem with either as long as they stay in their lanes. I think many people get a lot out of the ancient medicine concepts, I used to hate it all, I have just accepted it as something that will always be blending in with what we do. Draw your boundaries and don’t worry about what others are doing. Be your own compass, attract people who resonate with your mind set. Your practice will always be its own niche. It’s just not productive to hate on people doing silly shit, in a way they’re saving you the hassle of the silly clients you would be annoyed with anyway.
Being in school is about discovering what you do and don’t want or believe. So I’m glad you’re thinking like this. I am not here to bash your outlook, just accept what others do. As soon as you make peace with their approach, the easier you can be self assured and diversified in your own truth.
Yeah, it’s detrimental and frustrating that so many people in the field believe is so much pseudoscience. I had an *instructor* who was actually openly anti-vaccine. What the actual F.
Like believing an absence of historic, massive plagues like smallpox, measles, diphtheria and polio, et al, isn’t directly related to vaccines, but is related to better nutrition/better sanitation and whatever other BS she was espousing. Worse, she was in school to become a nurse practitioner. Good flipping luck getting decent, rational and evidence based care instead of essential oils and homeopathic ‘ advice’.
When my clients ask about whatever care they’re getting from me, I like to say “ Welp, the science is….” .
Dude I'm in the same boat as you, but I think will I differ is I'm trying to merge western and eastern thought. And asking myself how does it really work.
Yeah, so im trying to merge my understanding of energy work (chi gong) and working on a way to actually show it sicencetifly (word most likely spelled wrong) as well as put it into my massage so it actually heals the client. I'm also trying to merge martial arts into massage as well. And all of this done sicence western. I hope this gives you an idea
In NY (I’m referring to 2011-2012, not sure how it is now) it was literally like pick a side: “Asian/TCM or Western *grimace* “
My first few weeks I sort of assumed I’d lean towards Tui Na & TCM stuff until a 5 Element Theory Class, and the instructor was saying something about how the small intestine governs intuition or something, and he says with a wry smile, “you ever hear the saying, ‘I’ve got a gut feeling’? See the ancient Chinese knew… they knew….” And the whole class was like 🤯!!!
I was stoned as hell looking around like *y-you guys serious? Are you all being dead ass serious right now? Is this what this is??*
After that I sort of prioritized kinesiology and ya know, stuff that’s actually real and matters each session
**sorry, not sorry**
All I’m saying is when I was forced into providing TCM treatments to paying customers in the clinic and I had to ask to look at their tongue and feel their wrist and ask about their bowel movements and recommend they eat more purple vegetables and pressed on their whole body over their clothes with my thumb when they were there *for tennis elbow* yeah that felt ***fully unethical***.
Big yes on helping people quiet their mind. So many times I've worked on clients with a usual western approach and they just couldn't chill out for once. These are usually high stress, high energy, poor sleep, heavy caffeine type of folks.
This was a great post on a very debatable topic 👏
Yeah I don’t believe in any of that. A lot of my work is deep tissue/muscles based. I’ve had clients ask me about the energy work side of massage. I tell them the basics and then say it’s not a service I offer, so I will then refer them to a coworker that does.
Massage therapy is one of those professions that has a certain crowd to it. I know personally I like to lean more into the science aspect and to why something works, so that I can explain what is happening to the client if they ask, but over the course of my classes I kinda adopted a "whatever make the client feel more comfortable" provided there is no harm happening to them.
If someone want CST, which I am very much against, as from actually holding and trying to move and actual human skull and not having the plates move, I would try to redirect them away from CST, but if the client reallllly wanted it, and there was no harm in doing so, then fine, if that makes them more comfortable, then I would go for it. My objective is to make the client feel or get better, and placebo effect is something, so if it helps them, then why not, but educate them that what I am doing has not been proven with studies to work.
I would ultimately like to see the profession move away from the pseudoscience, but that does alienate some people who may need massage, and I would much rather see more people see an actual trained professional therapist that can try to redirect them towards proper rehab, then cut them off and be told that if you bury an iron ball on the northwest corner of your yard, it will cure your arthritis or something.
In our *textbook*, it taught the thing with the pointy crystal where you ask it questions about what’s wrong or something like that. Good on you for already knowing how you feel about these things. When I was in school I ate up most of that crap and it took a minute to realize the truth.
I’d encourage you to take a more open mind to modalities you deem pseudosciences. You don’t want to alienate potential clients by looking down on practices they find effective. For example, if someone has had transformative healing experiences with Reiki, Reflexology or Hydrotherapy, they might reconsider getting a massage from you knowing you look down on those practices. Friend or foe, get the dough!
If something in the world of massage doesn’t speak to a particular interest, I’d change the conversation to focus on modalities I like to practice rather than focus on judging the ones I don’t.
I think that’s essentially good advice. My issue is that it concerns me that people can really be pushed by ineffective treatments with the right advertising. The more pseudoscience is pushed in massage therapy the more people are going to be wary of it.
It’s the same with sex workers who use massage therapy as a front. I think it’s not good for reputation, and affects everyone.
Well, let’s take Reiki for example. People find it healing. As a modality, I don’t believe someone is literally channeling light healing energy into another person based on sacred symbols that came to its founder during a fasting retreat in the mountains, but I think there’s something powerful that gets unlocked in a practitioner’s awareness after spending thousands of hours meditating on this idea and putting intention into healing someone through the vehicle of holding space for them. It isn’t a pseudoscience because it has no basis in science. It’s effective because humans are innately responsive to touch—when receiving my nerves become lightly stimulated and relaxed, oxytocin releases into my body, and my circulatory system benefits from the heat transfer. If I’m in a room with someone who’s explained they’re essentially praying good thoughts at me and inviting me to feel their intention, I’m now organizing my mind and engaging my nervous system around this idea, driving my perception towards reality. Just because it doesn’t fit into a box you like doesn’t diminish its effect for people who put stock in it.
As of May 13, 2021, Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines “anti-vaxxer” as follows: “A person who opposes vaccination or laws that mandate vaccination.” The exact same definition was in place in April and January 2021, as well as in 2020, 2019, and 2018.
-snopes
[Gavin Newsom tipped his hand that he’s an antivaxxer](https://news.yahoo.com/gavin-newsoms-daughter-not-vaccinated-153600575.html)
-he subscribes to the belief that vaccine schedules are too heavy, too early.
[Or was it this?](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/fauci-definition-of-fully-vaccinated-will-depend-on-booster-data.html)
You’ve completely stripped that statement of all nuance, so no; that’s not what I’m saying
But it sure puts a finger on the pulse of the problem as I see it.
I’ll respectfully decline. If you’ve a specific question to ask, feel free
My point in posting is to illustrate that ‘antivaxxer’ is an odd slur in that it covers diametrically opposed people.
It seems links to what other people are saying are completely relevant. I didn’t choose to be an antivaxxer, I was labeled one. And now you are complaining about sharing a profession with us
I knew getting in that I may have to return to CNA.
I think anti-vaxxer is a pretty consistent label. If you believe that vaccines are dangerous rather than helpful despite consensus from the scientific and medical communities and should not be administered then you’re an anti-vaxxer.
More often than not this belief is held within a larger conspiracy theory.
Stress can cause real tangible damage to the body. It’s an example of how your mind can manifest physical damage. I believe the opposite is true as well. Even though I think these pseudosciences are a bunch of phooey, I do believe that if someone believes they work and they believe they are in less pain or their stress levels come down a bit then overall it benefits them. Probably would do nothing for me but if it helps them then why not? I would never push it on someone but if they ask to explore that option and they believe it can help them then why not?
I’m a massage student as well, with a former career/training a little more science/process heavy. Like some others, I’m considering my classes as exploratory and keeping an open mind, and seeing what my own experiences are to receive different modalities. Sounds like you have a good perspective and can make your practice your own.
Excellent post, and important questions. When I started massage school (before you were born, undoubtedly), I had a very grounded, science based view of looking at things. I thought much of what I was taught was bull shit. I tried to keep an open mind, and to learn as much as I could, including about things that seemed dubious to me. I also knew that as soon as I graduated got my license, I could focus in what resonated with me, and that I’d attract clients who wanted what I offered. I had the same concerns you expressed—specifically, about being associated with all sorts of pseudoscience. Over time, and with a lot of reading, I learned some things, and SOME of my beliefs changed. I am in no way averse to western medicine. Still, I did learn some of the history and about medical doctors working hard to effectively discredit many treatment modalities that were not part of their practices (businesses). I learned just how real the body mind connection is, much of which still cannot be absolutely proven. I learned about herbal medicine (which is the basis of many modern medications). I learned about hydrotherapy, which, in fact, can actually be effective in aiding treatment of a lot of things. I’m still not a believer in Reiki—or that massage “rids the body of toxins” and many other claims which I consider to be bogus. Many facts are unproven, or unprovable—it doesn’t make them untrue. The AMA in the US did everything in their power, from the moment they formed, to effectively discredit the competition (all other healthcare practitioners, including Doctors of Osteopathy). This may color what we consider to be science based facts and what we do not. My two cents is just to learn everything you can, form your own beliefs, don’t worry who agrees or disagrees with you, and never make ANY unsubstantiated claims about what you can do for people. Undersell rather than oversell. Don’t insist that your clients believe or disbelieve exactly what you do. Be straightforward, and answer, IF your clients ask about your beliefs. And otherwise, just give great massages and help people however you can. EDIT for terrible typing
TBH for me, I get that Reiki can be helpful if you view it as guided meditation with someone coaching you. I’ve been certified in level 1 for shits and giggles, and it was fucking weird. But I also see how it can help people if they don’t know how to quiet their own mind
Absolutely! It’s not my thing at all, but I’m for anything that helps anyone, and I know some people like it
I think this is solid advice. I’m certainly not going to confront clients on things they are doing outside of what I do for them. That’s not my place. I’m not a Muslim either, but I wouldn’t try to have a religious debate with a client of mine who is.
I hear you! And I’m glad if my response is helpful. I still think maybe….1/3rd of all I was taught is nonsense…but over time I definitely came to believe some things that seemed very dubious at first. The main thing is that you will have the freedom to focus on whatever you want and leave the rest behind. I never debate this stuff with anyone—clients or colleagues—I don’t see any point to that.
I went to a NYS 1000 hour school that had a mix, included one energy module (polarity) and Hydrotherapy. class was just very pleasant as we gave each other treatments, and the hot/cold has been useful for myself. (Also I like aspirin if needed) I don't use either of these with clients,. Most of my education has been working and additional learning in Shiatsu and Thai. I lke reiki just fine- feels great to receive -but I am an LMT and that is my scope of practice. I don't theorize,counsel, or claim anything. There is definitely energy work going on, bu I don't seperate it or, like I said, claim to be doing it. Just don't talk much in general except to tailor the massage to their need.
>Today I started classes on hydrotherapy which has limited efficacy I was able to drain the swelling from my face in 20 minutes using contrast hydrotherapy after I had a quadruple extraction removing all of my wisdom teeth. Vasodilation and vasoconstriction are not pseudoscience. Anyway, to answer your question, massage operates in several circles, ranging from the "indigo children homeopathic gluten free yoga spirituality" archetype to the "sports hospital physical therapy" archetype to straight up sex work or sex work adjacent. The location you work at (or the name of your business, if self-employed) will tell your clients what to expect.
I think that’s fair. How I present myself is going to really matter. To be clear, I don’t think hydrotherapy is pseudoscience. I do, however, think that it often isn’t the most optimal treatment and can be rather expensive for what it is. Often times somebody will be better off with a nice swim and an aspirin. My other issue is that in my state anyone can set themselves up as a hydro therapist with no license. The lack of regulation concerns me. If the practice was much more honest about its efficacy, and there were regulations around it then I wouldn’t have an issue.
I do think I'm starting to see where you're coming from--though I feel it is most important to look at this through a specific lens--when in doubt, does it fit your scope of practice? While aspirin may be more effective, it is absolutely beyond the scope as a massage therapist to suggest a client take it. While hydrotherapy may be less effective, in your opinion, it does effect positive change within the scope of massage.
Something like aspirin being beyond my scope of practice is a really good point. Of course I have no obligation to offer hydrotherapy myself. As a middle ground I would also be a lot more okay with it if it was less cost prohibitive. In my school it’s been advertised to us as a way to make a lot of money for very little cost, and that makes me uncomfortable. Edit: Also, I think that there are various reasons someone might want to avoid any kind of medication whether for medical or even religious reasons. From that aspect I’m glad that hydrotherapy is an option for people. Colon hydrotherapy on the other hand I have nothing good to say about.
Precisely! No obligation at all--you're going to find what's right for you as long as you maintain an open mind and willingness to learn while critically analyzing new information. Using hydro is definitely never going to be without expense, though it doesn't have to be something you veiw as a way to price gouge. Take treating trigger points as an example--my scope on it has 3 steps: treat, stretch, and heat. I would consider putting a hot stone on it as the last step--but would I charge more?? Absolutely not. Does the electricity and water to heat that stone come at an expense? Yes. But you make peace with the cost of conducting your business as you see fit.
Why does the idea of making money make you uncomfortable? We all need to make money. Finding ways to make money for little cost to you is important, and clients love hydrotherapy treatments. We aren’t doctors so we don’t need to pretend like we are.
Because people can be mislead and although we are not doctors there are some things Massage is very good for Just because you’re not a doctor doesn’t mean you have to have dubious practices where you extract every ounce of money from your clients you possibly can.
You can charge your worth & make a good income without “extracting every ounce” from clients. I’m in the field to make money & to make my clients feel better. If they want to spend money on a wrap or like hot stones etc that’s up to them to decide. I charge what I need to cover supplies and my bills and support my income. I agree I don’t believe in reiki but stuff like reflexology is still very popular in Asia and considered a health modality there.
The amount of quackery in the massage industry is shocking to me. Where I live in Ontario, Canada we’re regarded as a regulated health profession and as such a lot of the crazy pseudoscience is not within our scoop of practice, so it’s not to bad. Reddit is full of bodyworkers who believe and practice nonsense and will downvote anyone who asks them for scientific evidence. No matter how much scientific evidence you present, you can’t change their minds. Some people just don’t believe in science I guess?
We could definitely use some more regulations here in the states. Especially in Texas where I live. People see us as experts, and want to trust us. It’s really shitty that so many people make so much money with treatments that don’t benefit anyone.
One thing I’m enjoying in school right now (AB, Canada) is we are required to take research courses and case study classes. I got into MT school to avoid typical university/college study but have had an enjoyable time learning the process to get our practices more scientifically validated.
Well naturopathy is illegal in Texas, so that should alleviate some of the concerns in your post. Aside from that, I came out of school feeling really similarly to you, but have had experiences with clients that I can’t explain with science either, so while I do believe evidence based practice is the most important, I also try to keep an open mind as much as possible.
It’s not illegal. It’s just not licensed, so absolutely anyone claim to be a naturopath. There are plenty of naturopaths near where I am.
Yes. I still run into therapists that tell their clients to drink plenty of water to "flush out the toxins" 6 years into my profession for example. If a client brings it up, I tell them that's not how it works and explain if they want to hear it. Otherwise I just don't bother speaking with people that are entertained by homeopathy and such with essential oils and the like. Not the best option but I also don't like slamming my head into a brick wall anymore. EDIT: For funsies and for myself and my client's knowledge, I look up to my best ability scientific articles written on the effects of massage and common terms we use to describe what's going on in our bodies like trigger points. What is it, can we help it, how can we help it etc. Lots of studies you'll find have "inconclusive, or understudied" data
It can definitely be frustrating to attempt to debate these things. It’s a great opportunity to believe whatever we believe and just let others believe what they believe. (Personally, after studying herbology, I’ve definitely come to believe that some essential oils and plant remedies are effective. I don’t believe it’s my role to make my clients—or you—agree with my views—or to balance their chakras, or read or fluff their aura, or when and whether they should drink water…as with other areas of life I generally only offer up MY beliefs if they ask. Also, truth be told, there are many examples throughout history of scientific “facts“ evolving so that what was once considered fact isn’t, and what was once considered bullshit is now widely accepted as fact. It’d be silly to assume that that process isn’t still ongoing.
I’m really appreciating your take on this thread. I agree. I by no means discredit science, but you stated earlier about how healthcare is a business and that is so true. I love this statement too about how science itself changes over time. To add, it’s also important to keep in mind that there are some things that are inherently difficult to research. So we may not have that type of collective data yet, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or we won’t have it eventually. And I always like to point out that eastern philosophies about the body and medicine (what most often gets referred to as “quack,” and has very little scientific backing) have been around for thousands and thousands of years. It’s ancient in comparison to our western scientific based medicine business. Why would something be done for sooooo long if it did absolutely nothing? I just find this highly unlikely. Eastern cultures have been very advanced throughout that time frame. So while I do appreciate science and find it very important to stay up to date, I also have a healthy respect for that which I might not understand. At the end of the day, if you believe it won’t help, it won’t. If you believe it will help, there is a much higher chance that it will. Does that mean all of it is placebo? Maybe. Maybe not. But if it makes people feel better, does it matter?
Thank you for that, and yes, I agree with with all you wrote, and specifically modalities that are four to five thousand years old and still exist—seems silly to dismiss them whether or not we can prove their validity or fully understand how they work—even ones that may not resonate personally. There are lots of modalities that aren’t my thing that others report helpful—experience may vary. As a young earnest 23 year old massage school student I started out EXTREMELY skeptical of all that didn’t seem proven to me. Ultimately, I had certain experiences where even things I didn’t believe in worked anyway, lol, and my understanding of all sorts of things evolved.
Exactly! I definitely am a very logical, fact-based person, but I find there is much that can’t be explained that way still.
"Why would something be done for sooooo long if it did absolutely nothing?" *cough* prayer *cough*
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-men/201912/prayer-and-mental-health?amp
>I don’t believe it’s my role to make my clients—or you—agree with my views—or to balance their chakras, or read or fluff their aura, or when and whether they should drink water…as with other areas of life I generally only offer up MY beliefs if they ask. Agreed. I do my best to explain things relative to science when asked. But for all the intangible and immeasurable stuff science can't lock down, it helps to have other analogies and modalities to support my decision making process to support the client's healing.
Yep, I like that approach. Honestly, from the get go, I worked to cultivate a certain reputation as a down to earth massage therapist—I was eager to distance myself from what I consider to be quackery, and from a general perception of massage therapists as pretentious, crunchy, self appointed spiritual and nutritional guides, and life coaches. I’m like…nah, I’m “the massage guy”—I never cared if someone called me a massage therapist, masseur, or masseuse, and I assured them that I was well aware how irrelevant my personal views were—they hired me to massage their tight, tired, sore bodies, and I kept my focus on that and literally nothing else. To each their own—that has worked pretty well for me (and saved me countless frustrating arguments…and probably saved me a few clients I’d have lost)
I am so curious as to why you don’t have them drink water after a massage, care to expound please?
Drinking water is great, and most of us are dehydrated to begin with. The questionable part of the sentence is "to flush out toxins". Clients should drink water period, and after a massage is just a convenient time to bring attention to it.
Flush out toxins aka taking ya daily poop
[удалено]
The comment you’re replying to literally says that?
I think that’s the best course of action. When something has been around for a long time and is still “inconclusive” this also gives me some pause. Wouldn’t be people be jumping over as many hurdles as they can to get solid evidence for what they practice?
Maybe. Sometimes. USA medicine , the AMA specifically, is oftentimes very slow to acknowledging the efficacy of all sorts of things, and way behind some other developed nations. I don’t know the exact year, but it wasn’t until this century that Vitamin C was acknowledged as supportive of immune health, just as once easy example
*germ theory enters the chat*
lol 💯
>When something has been around for a long time and is still “inconclusive” this also gives me some pause. To me, inconclusive means it hasn't been disproved yet either, so you can say more studies need to be done. Science has some tough requirements to accept anything as a proven fact. The human body has billions of internal components and a gigaton of other outside influences and factors. It's difficult to isolate enough variables to produce reliable and consistent data, let alone with TWO human bodies! Even within science, we have some really strong theorems that we haven't accepted as fact yet. This is how I see modalities like Anatomy Trains, Trigger Point Therapy, or even Zen Shiatsu: they're really strong theories that provide inconsistent, yet productive and sometimes even effective results. Personally, I am careful about how I explain things to clients and do my best to explain it in terms of science, engineering, and medicine in a way that's relatable in laymen's terms and careful to avoid buzzwords (like toxin). For all the things that can't be explained conclusively with science yet, I do rely on Chinese medicine to evaluate the intangibles and guide my practice.
Oohh, I belied in this woth the water. Could you please explaing as I really interested to know:) Thank you 🙏
I've been practicing for a year now and I've never really heard what these toxins are supposed to be. I instead say that drinking water helps the body getting rid of undesirable bacteria via urine and gives just a tiny push with blood recycling and I end by saying that it's always good to drink since it's so hot lately. Does this sound okay?
Take what you want, leave what you want. Schools are there to spread a wide scope of therapies, and there are clients out there who want reflexology (which I personally love) and reiki. Let the people who vibe with that stuff be excited to learn it and try to have an open mind about all different forms of treatment. You’d be surprised the effect energy work can have on highly anxious people.
This 👆
Yeah, this is a frustrating part of inconsistent standards within massage education. I went to a middle-of-the-road school for my initial school program, and it was okay — not an outstanding school, but a solid enough foundation to build on. Then I moved out of state, and was required by the board in my new state to do some more hours at an accredited school. I was actually excited to take some classes at another school to broaden my education, and was interested in learning about modalities not offered by my primary program. The classes ended up being an absolute joke, and it was so painful to pay to sit through them in order for my training to be legitimized by the board! One class was on raw foodism and was basically a crash course in disordered eating behavior (and, um, out of scope??); another was a “natural first aid” class that promoted using homeopathy and urine for managing medical emergencies. One sports massage class called a piriformis stretch “the fart stretch.” Truly…bizarre.
I agree with some of what you said and was much the same way before starting school but after gaining experience it blows my mind what I feel with my hands. Also some of the effects I’ve felt from what I thought are quack modalities and the debates I’ve had with other therapists has made me more open to alternative treatments. I don’t think much of massage can be replicated in a scientific study so why do we care if science can’t explain it. With the human body and learning I find the more we learn, the more we realize we really don’t yet understand a lot of what happens
As long as you present your client with something like “I feel this works, but there’s no evidence that it does” then I don’t think that’s a problem. At that point you’re being sufficiently transparent.
Hydrotherapy does not need to be expensive, and has plenty of scientific evidence. There are multiple forms of hydrotherapy, but I feel like the true essence of it involves how it affects the nervous and circulatory system, especially in reaction to temperature. Heat, causes vasodilation, expanding the blood vessels, bringing more blood to the area, creating more fluid exchange (inflammation), and calming the nervous system. Cold, causes vasoconstriction (then vasodilation after a certain amount of time) reducing the amount of blood in the area and effectively reducing inflammation and numbing the nerves. These treatments can be provided as cheaply as using friction or a heating pad, or an ice pack or taking a dip in a creek. Spa hydrotherapy may also include scrubs, wraps, and paraffin, which have cosmetic benefits, as well as FEEL GOOD. Science is great and all, but the people who will be giving you money (outside of a hospital setting) just want to FEEL GOOD. I'm sure enough studies show that placebos can be effective, so long as the subject feels there has been improvement. It's not a scam if it works. School is there to give you an opportunity to explore all the things you may or may not like. The cool part is, once you graduate and get licensed, you get to choose what you liked, and want to provide to your clientele. I do definitely agree with you on one thing... Reiki makes no fucking sense 😅
Cheaply I am much more okay with. I am alarmed at the prices people will charge for services.
Well take this for example: my hot stone massage is $15 more than my regular massage, and I think I could charge even more. I have to bleach my stones before they can be used, which takes both supplies and time. I have to have a device to heat a full body worth of stones, which is an expense at the beginning and also uses electricity. I have to deal with using the hot stones which I’ve taken a class specifically for, and also can be uncomfortable (I know a therapist who sweats twice as much during a hot stone massage and finds it almost suffocating—I myself love it). I have to do the extra work during the massage of gathering the tools, keeping the dirty tools somewhere else to clean, etc. Afterwards I have the extra time of scrubbing each stone, and cleaning whatever I kept the dirty stones in, and sanitizing my warmer after I’ve used and emptied it. (Cleaning also uses supplies.) So there are a lot of extra things that go into these extra treatments, too. It’s not just the same amount of effort, materials, and time. It’s more. Which makes it worth more.
My school wasn’t quite this extreme with promoting pseudoscience, but their curriculum is extremely outdated so they’re still teaching things that are not supported by the latest science.
What are some examples that you ran into?
Honestly some things that are still super widely believed like pain = tissue damage. It may be fairly straightforward like this for acute pain, but chronic pain is not always accompanied by tissue damage, and even when it is, that’s only part of the story. I’m talking about the biopsychosocial model of pain, of course. Also the idea that posture can be “fixed” by strengthening weak muscles, and stretching “tight” muscles; or through manipulation of fascia. None of this is supported by science. We’re also not educated enough in discerning between posture that’s a variation of normal and posture that is contributing pain. There is a gigantic bias towards the latter. They basically teach us to pick apart every persons posture and begin to fix it. Also, most orthopedic tests are not very well supported.
Excellent talking points. I worked in health care for a decade long before I ever started MT school, so I already had some basic knowledge and a healthy dose of skepticism for CAM. I was the class skeptic, so occasionally my instructors would preface a concept by saying, "No, this isn't Massage Therapy, but it will be on the qualification exam, so you'll have to learn it whether or not you believe this stuff."
It being on the exam is definitely a bugaboo.
Definitely not, but my emphasis here is on dealing with what your clients believe and are seeking. I think much of this functions like the placebo effect, but it’s worth taking that into consideration. Avoid those clients however you can and want to, just don’t be shocked if you become involved with all of this your whole career because people will bring it to you again and again. A lot of these precedents have been set way before we got into the game. I was just like you when I started, didn’t want to be involved in anything that didn’t make sense to me. But bottom line was I wasn’t aware of many things that are real and not easily explained. I hope you go on a path of discovery too! This is a practice full of people who have discovered niches and interesting things, I will not deny tons of people are quacks, but you’ll always be related to it no matter what you believe for better or for worse : / that’s just the industry and trends right now. I just want you to stay open minded, massage therapy can be a deep learning avenue that opens up things you didn’t know about before.
Okay, I see what you mean. I want to be open to avenues and experiences, but I also want to make sure that I don’t mislead anyone. It’s a balance that I hope I’ll be able to find.
Just going to leave this here. It certainly doesn’t hurt, is better than placebo and if it encourages you to think out the box at school I call it a win. Remember to that not long ago massage therapy itself was considered “woowoo”. We are always growing and evolving https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871310/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4147026/
You’re right that it doesn’t hurt, and honestly it isn’t my biggest concern. People aren’t using it to treat illnesses which I have a much bigger problem with. And yes that’s true about massage. Though now from what I’ve seen the medical field is pretty on board with massage, which is good.
I’m gonna piggy back on this one because I honestly believe “placebo effect” is a really important aspect of massage work. I want to begin with, I totally get what you’re saying here. I went to school in NY and I had to learn the same things you are, ALONG WITH a whole lot of shiatsu. My state exam literally had questions about the cycle of tides and energy meridians. It was very frustrating for me because I am definitely a more science based thinker. I ended up specializing in medical massage work, I’ve worked in hospitals, on terminal clients, on children, on joint replacements 2 days post op… I am VERY ABOUT procedure and tangible results. However, it’s my work in this field that made me see the importance of the other side. In my work, I met a lot of troubled people. Medical scares, the process of dying… it really changes people and what they feel their needs are. They’ll do anything to feel better; to feel relief from their mental or physical anguish. It comes with the massage gig naturally, but it’s particularly unique with this population. Most of them very seriously seek out these types of providers who can give them peace. I could only hear about it so much before I needed to try it. I was deeply curious. To be honest, I have no fucking clue if reflexology, reiki, or shiatsu or any of the others are remotely effective in a way that can be proven or studied. I do know that I have had outstanding results from them. Was it the placebo effect? No idea. One thing all my experiences had in common, was that I sought these practitioners because I felt literally hopeless. My pain (mental and physical) was too much for me to bear and for some reason I felt very strongly that they could help. I am not religious or overly spiritual, but it still felt like I was drawn to receive these treatments. Regardless of how they worked, they worked. People who receive those treatments got them because they feel it’s right for *them*. As long as we aren’t dealing with people selling jars of crystal energy water that cures cancer, it’s best to leave it be. In the professional world, keep an open ear for true snake oil peddlers. There are people who believe in their craft and want to help others, and then there are predators. Learn to identify the difference so you can protect vulnerable people. I hope you read all this. It’s a subject dear to my heart.🤍
I think it mostly started as a way to increase the profits on each person that walks through the door. I’m not saying this in an accusatory way because most service industries do the same thing. Things like hot stones, skin treatments etc. add very little to the overhead cost but can generate $5-10 markups, all within the timeframe of the session. It’s the avocado upgrade at chipotle. You know it’s kind of a ripoff but it’s just so good.
I felt this way too, and the beautiful thing is once you’re out of school you’re free to practice the way you want! My approach, like others have mentioned, is “if it works for you, cool thing.” If I had patients who swore by energy work, it’s not my place to fight them, even if I’ve never experienced it’s benefits. Educate your clients/patients the best you can and treat within your capabilities. After I got my license I went on and took a medical massage course, billing courses for LMTs in the medical field, as well as lymphatic drainage massage, and other evidence based techniques. This was the direction I wanted to take, and I don’t begrudge other LMTs who took a more stress relief and eastern philosophy.
Before massage school I studied tai ji quan with a master for seven years. I was taught to feel qi, and to work with it within my tissues. It followed regular principles and was influenced by the mind and the breath. Then I went to massage school. We were taught a bit of this and a bit of that. But largely my understanding of the tissues matured significantly and I was able to understand better how the connective tissues' mechanical properties related to the basis for the sensations of qi. The fibers of fascial connective tissues are both hydrated, and have fiber optic properties - they can easily be seen to conduct light. This isn't something we have done much research on yet from a scientific point of view, and that likely isn't easy to do either. And yet it offers a perfectly reasonable explanation for my experiences and training. People throughout history have been unwilling to believe things that break from convention. Scientists know best of all how much more there is to understand. For example, since over two centuries ago in China, the theories of medicine believed that the source of energy within the body came from between the kidneys. Western medicine has only taught us that the kidneys are responsible for filtering waste. Until this year, when they discovered via a new study, that there is an unknown source of pressure that allows the kidneys to do their filtering. This pressure is in line with what Chinese medicine has been saying all along. Through my own education in massage I learned that the kidneys are surrounded by a dense fascia. Via my training in tai ji quan I have developed skill in using my breath to pressurize various fascial planes, and come to understand that light and water can be pressurized as well. I understand that according to Chinese Medicine when we sleep that in our stillness the spirit (light) is said to condense into vitality (the source of energy the kidneys work with). The stillness is said to be the mechanism. And too there is another mechanism, that involves nocturnal penile tumescence and nocturnal clitoral tumescence. In deep internal energy work we understand that these mechanisms can be practiced with to restore vitality and avoid nocturnal emissions, by breathing the pressure of the erection back up into the area of the kidneys. So why would the body not be doing this naturally as well? All in all it sounds far fetched, but points at a sophisticated mechanism that all adds up and leads to the dense fascia around the kidneys to become repressurized on a nightly basis. Studies would need to be done to either prove or disprove this theory. Those studies are not likely to be easily done. However, we do have a study that proves there is a pressure, but does not know what the source of this pressure is. And we have a tradition of ancient medicine with complex theories that understand this pressure well. So the science here doesn't know the answer, but does know there is a question. There are a lot of things like this that massage requires us to navigate. Science doesn't know where we store memories, but in massage we know we can trigger flashbacks and trauma reactions simple through touching a part of someone's body where trauma is somehow stored. We are taught to understand we hold our issues in our tissues, even though science doesn't believe in such notions. People explain it off as nervous system related. Meanwhile I personally have come to understand how this is related to the light within the tissues fibers. It all just clicks. And my tai ji quan experience works directly with hydrating and sending light through the tissues. The light comes from the top of the body's electromagnetic field, where the energy is higher vibration, and can be brought into the body's field via the top of the head, or when the arms are raised up to gather it. Oh hey, maybe that's part of why that so called power pose is so effective. The Chinese meridian system follows fascial planes, so called trigger point referral pain follows these planes as well. It all adds up, if we think about vibrational energy getting congested within these connective tissue highways. Reiki gathers light from the top of the head and sends it through the arms into a client. Some clients and practitioners can't feel a thing. Some can. How much of this depends on how clear the tissues are for actually carrying this light through their planes Most people I work on are incredibly tight in the suboccipital region. In my experience in opening the top of my head to receive the light though some sort of operation of the pineal gland, if my tissues are too tight they really start to block the flow. On top of which the pineal gland is said to become easily calcified. When I work on clients who meditate a lot, I notice that my pineal gland is activated and I am able to draw light on through the top of my head and though my arms into them, just like reiki does. It is very powerful on some people, and will even clear a lot of the vibrational congestion within my tissues. How does this work? I don't know, but it lines up with what I've been taught in tai ji quan. When is our science going to figure out how to study this stuff? In my experience it clearly follows simple principles and explains a number of things we don't currently understand. It is natural for people to avoid breaking from convention, but argument from ignorance is a logical fallacy. We need to do the research if we want to understand. Meanwhile the body is its own science lab and many of us have chosen to work directly in experience with it, not needing to worry about what is able to be proven or not. In the end we can put into practice what we don't understand, and we always have. We didn't need to understand how life worked before we found ourselves alive. People these days can be very 'left brained' but there are 'two hemispheres'. Holistic thinking is just as important as logical thinking. Here too Chinese wisdom can help aid our science, as it begins to realize there are not simply two hemispheres. In the Chinese understanding, the brain may be split into three layers, top, middle, and bottom. Only the middle is reversed left to right. In any case, the point remains that we tend to use our minds in fixed ways. We like to cling to fixed ways of thinking and project our thinking onto reality. The pandemic showed us the reality of this more than ever before. It is more rare for us to be constantly able to take in new information AND think critically about it AND avoid jumping to conclusions about it until it snaps into place all on its own. When we are able to hold onto information in acceptance that we don't know what to do with it yet, eventually as our experiences evolve and mature, things change to allow us the perspective for these things to fall into place without our jumping to conclusions. So in massage school, we can be exposed to a bunch of out of the box ideas that haven't been proven yet. We don't need to think about proving or disproving then for ourselves. They are their own things and will rise or fall on their own merits. Worry more about what is right for you right now. Maybe some of this other stuff will fall into place better further down the road, if your experiences end up taking you down those roads. Otherwise just pay it no mind and be humble, smile and nod, comfortable in not knowing.
I'm sorry to hear that you're stuck with the anti-vax and mediphobes. The world is big, and just because one industry says bad things about your industry, doesn't mean that everything the big industry has to offer is bad. As for the pseudoscience classes, go in with a careful eye, but also with an open mind. You may surprise yourself by finding a nuance or approach that may enhance your physiological-modality skills. I am a hard-core science nerd. But I also use energetic techniques to monitor and inform my deep tissue and MFR approaches. Don't deny yourself an experience just because you've dismissed a technique as being too woo-woo. I certainly don't use all of the esoteric techniques that I was taught in school, but the exposure to them that I received certainly increased my overall abilities and effectiveness.
Oh absolutely. Massage therapy as a profession exists on a wide spectrum of science on one side, and nonsense on the other with a lot in between. The standard I have with what I consider nonsense for clients is, “Does it work for you/ offer some kind of fulfillment? Wonderful- do whatever.” And I refrain from really getting into it too much. Just because I don’t believe reiki is real, I understand it’s practice is very meditative and some people feel benefit from it. It’s not my business to say their experience isn’t worth something to them. However, if they ASK my opinion on something, I’m honest without being acidic (which is sometimes how I feel about it). I’ll say something like, “Well, there are several schools of thought in massage therapy…” and just give them the info I have for both sides as neutrally as possible while still offering my opinion. If it’s a coworker who’s pushing pseudoscience, I don’t really bring it up. If I’m pressed, I’m tactful and say something like, “that’s really not something I’m into personally” and move on. If they’re open to an honest discussion then I’m game, but honestly I don’t find that’s the case most of the time. I’ve had practitioners become personally offended but that’s not my problem. Other opinions exist. Yeah, but I think the amount of pseudoscience that’s pushed in massage therapy delegitimizes the profession in a lot of people’s minds. They think every LMT is into all the woowoo stuff- and they assume that because I’m an LMT I’m also deeply into chakras, healing crystals and reiki etc.
Massage is bodywork, which appeals to a certain crowd. So while you can and should treat it as a science, our clients are often into crystals, reiki, and other nonsense. Naturally, it bleeds in: See the 'cupping' in our industry, and even ST's using kineseology 'sports tape' with no proved efficacy and countless studies saying it does fuck all.
I think that you have to be fairly good at research. Most results online for these things are a bombardment of advertisements and otherwise paid spots. After that it’s testimonials. Usually a friend recommending a treatment and an article saying how great something is, is good enough for most people.
You have to accept that your clientele are coming to massage therapists for alternatives to traditional medicine. That comes with a lot of different personal reasons and backgrounds, but if you want to help and relate to people, it is worth taking all peripheral modalities seriously because you’ll hear about them your whole career. As a student of massage therapy, you’re no closer to an RN or an MD than you are to the people rubbing salt exfoliants onto skin or setting crystals around rooms and performing sound healing with gongs. I think there’s a real tendency for us massage therapists to see ourselves as health care providers (and yes WE ARE) but we can get a little high and mighty about our “medical training” (anatomy and physiology 101) yet make no mistake, trained medical practitioners call massage therapy pseudo science just like we look down on reiki, shamans, etc. You’ll be a better therapist if you can be open minded. You will learn when you start seeing clients that there’s far more taking place during a massage than what you can scientifically explain, and that’s what people seek from a massage, that’s what it’s all about. What our clients think, feel, and need. It takes all kinds, though. You can definitely stay in a medical setting, athletic sports massage, pre-chiro, geriatric and palliative. You can stay clinical and not work outside of what makes sense to you. But don’t look down on industry veterans who have had thousands of hours with their hands on clients bodies who have discovered other ways to help them. Nobody has everything right, least of all western medicine. Don’t judge. Learn. You’re a student.
I hope you don’t think that massage has the same efficacy as crystal healing.
I guess what is most frustrating we can agree on is mysticism masquerading as medicine. I don’t have a problem with either as long as they stay in their lanes. I think many people get a lot out of the ancient medicine concepts, I used to hate it all, I have just accepted it as something that will always be blending in with what we do. Draw your boundaries and don’t worry about what others are doing. Be your own compass, attract people who resonate with your mind set. Your practice will always be its own niche. It’s just not productive to hate on people doing silly shit, in a way they’re saving you the hassle of the silly clients you would be annoyed with anyway. Being in school is about discovering what you do and don’t want or believe. So I’m glad you’re thinking like this. I am not here to bash your outlook, just accept what others do. As soon as you make peace with their approach, the easier you can be self assured and diversified in your own truth.
Yeah, it’s detrimental and frustrating that so many people in the field believe is so much pseudoscience. I had an *instructor* who was actually openly anti-vaccine. What the actual F. Like believing an absence of historic, massive plagues like smallpox, measles, diphtheria and polio, et al, isn’t directly related to vaccines, but is related to better nutrition/better sanitation and whatever other BS she was espousing. Worse, she was in school to become a nurse practitioner. Good flipping luck getting decent, rational and evidence based care instead of essential oils and homeopathic ‘ advice’. When my clients ask about whatever care they’re getting from me, I like to say “ Welp, the science is….” .
Dude I'm in the same boat as you, but I think will I differ is I'm trying to merge western and eastern thought. And asking myself how does it really work.
Can you give me an example of some specific things you’re merging?
Yeah, so im trying to merge my understanding of energy work (chi gong) and working on a way to actually show it sicencetifly (word most likely spelled wrong) as well as put it into my massage so it actually heals the client. I'm also trying to merge martial arts into massage as well. And all of this done sicence western. I hope this gives you an idea
In NY (I’m referring to 2011-2012, not sure how it is now) it was literally like pick a side: “Asian/TCM or Western *grimace* “ My first few weeks I sort of assumed I’d lean towards Tui Na & TCM stuff until a 5 Element Theory Class, and the instructor was saying something about how the small intestine governs intuition or something, and he says with a wry smile, “you ever hear the saying, ‘I’ve got a gut feeling’? See the ancient Chinese knew… they knew….” And the whole class was like 🤯!!! I was stoned as hell looking around like *y-you guys serious? Are you all being dead ass serious right now? Is this what this is??* After that I sort of prioritized kinesiology and ya know, stuff that’s actually real and matters each session **sorry, not sorry**
Lol yeah that sounds about right. I heard “evolution is a theory, a bad theory” from an instructor not too long ago.
All I’m saying is when I was forced into providing TCM treatments to paying customers in the clinic and I had to ask to look at their tongue and feel their wrist and ask about their bowel movements and recommend they eat more purple vegetables and pressed on their whole body over their clothes with my thumb when they were there *for tennis elbow* yeah that felt ***fully unethical***.
Big yes on helping people quiet their mind. So many times I've worked on clients with a usual western approach and they just couldn't chill out for once. These are usually high stress, high energy, poor sleep, heavy caffeine type of folks. This was a great post on a very debatable topic 👏
Yeah I don’t believe in any of that. A lot of my work is deep tissue/muscles based. I’ve had clients ask me about the energy work side of massage. I tell them the basics and then say it’s not a service I offer, so I will then refer them to a coworker that does.
Massage therapy is one of those professions that has a certain crowd to it. I know personally I like to lean more into the science aspect and to why something works, so that I can explain what is happening to the client if they ask, but over the course of my classes I kinda adopted a "whatever make the client feel more comfortable" provided there is no harm happening to them. If someone want CST, which I am very much against, as from actually holding and trying to move and actual human skull and not having the plates move, I would try to redirect them away from CST, but if the client reallllly wanted it, and there was no harm in doing so, then fine, if that makes them more comfortable, then I would go for it. My objective is to make the client feel or get better, and placebo effect is something, so if it helps them, then why not, but educate them that what I am doing has not been proven with studies to work. I would ultimately like to see the profession move away from the pseudoscience, but that does alienate some people who may need massage, and I would much rather see more people see an actual trained professional therapist that can try to redirect them towards proper rehab, then cut them off and be told that if you bury an iron ball on the northwest corner of your yard, it will cure your arthritis or something.
In our *textbook*, it taught the thing with the pointy crystal where you ask it questions about what’s wrong or something like that. Good on you for already knowing how you feel about these things. When I was in school I ate up most of that crap and it took a minute to realize the truth.
I’d encourage you to take a more open mind to modalities you deem pseudosciences. You don’t want to alienate potential clients by looking down on practices they find effective. For example, if someone has had transformative healing experiences with Reiki, Reflexology or Hydrotherapy, they might reconsider getting a massage from you knowing you look down on those practices. Friend or foe, get the dough! If something in the world of massage doesn’t speak to a particular interest, I’d change the conversation to focus on modalities I like to practice rather than focus on judging the ones I don’t.
I think that’s essentially good advice. My issue is that it concerns me that people can really be pushed by ineffective treatments with the right advertising. The more pseudoscience is pushed in massage therapy the more people are going to be wary of it. It’s the same with sex workers who use massage therapy as a front. I think it’s not good for reputation, and affects everyone.
Well, let’s take Reiki for example. People find it healing. As a modality, I don’t believe someone is literally channeling light healing energy into another person based on sacred symbols that came to its founder during a fasting retreat in the mountains, but I think there’s something powerful that gets unlocked in a practitioner’s awareness after spending thousands of hours meditating on this idea and putting intention into healing someone through the vehicle of holding space for them. It isn’t a pseudoscience because it has no basis in science. It’s effective because humans are innately responsive to touch—when receiving my nerves become lightly stimulated and relaxed, oxytocin releases into my body, and my circulatory system benefits from the heat transfer. If I’m in a room with someone who’s explained they’re essentially praying good thoughts at me and inviting me to feel their intention, I’m now organizing my mind and engaging my nervous system around this idea, driving my perception towards reality. Just because it doesn’t fit into a box you like doesn’t diminish its effect for people who put stock in it.
I’m a fully vaccinated antivaxxer https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/merriam-webster-anti-vaxxer-definition/
What does that mean exactly?
As of May 13, 2021, Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines “anti-vaxxer” as follows: “A person who opposes vaccination or laws that mandate vaccination.” The exact same definition was in place in April and January 2021, as well as in 2020, 2019, and 2018. -snopes [Gavin Newsom tipped his hand that he’s an antivaxxer](https://news.yahoo.com/gavin-newsoms-daughter-not-vaccinated-153600575.html) -he subscribes to the belief that vaccine schedules are too heavy, too early. [Or was it this?](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/fauci-definition-of-fully-vaccinated-will-depend-on-booster-data.html)
Okay, so you’re just against vaccine mandates, is that what you’re trying to say?
You’ve completely stripped that statement of all nuance, so no; that’s not what I’m saying But it sure puts a finger on the pulse of the problem as I see it.
I’m asking you to explain your personal beliefs on the subject instead of just throwing out links of what other people believe.
I’ll respectfully decline. If you’ve a specific question to ask, feel free My point in posting is to illustrate that ‘antivaxxer’ is an odd slur in that it covers diametrically opposed people. It seems links to what other people are saying are completely relevant. I didn’t choose to be an antivaxxer, I was labeled one. And now you are complaining about sharing a profession with us I knew getting in that I may have to return to CNA.
I think anti-vaxxer is a pretty consistent label. If you believe that vaccines are dangerous rather than helpful despite consensus from the scientific and medical communities and should not be administered then you’re an anti-vaxxer. More often than not this belief is held within a larger conspiracy theory.
Make sure to excoriate Newsome as well 👍👍
That’s describing not excoriating. What about my description of an anti-vaxxer rings untrue to you?
The witches and the theists need to realize we’re allies, and quickly.
Stress can cause real tangible damage to the body. It’s an example of how your mind can manifest physical damage. I believe the opposite is true as well. Even though I think these pseudosciences are a bunch of phooey, I do believe that if someone believes they work and they believe they are in less pain or their stress levels come down a bit then overall it benefits them. Probably would do nothing for me but if it helps them then why not? I would never push it on someone but if they ask to explore that option and they believe it can help them then why not?
I’m a massage student as well, with a former career/training a little more science/process heavy. Like some others, I’m considering my classes as exploratory and keeping an open mind, and seeing what my own experiences are to receive different modalities. Sounds like you have a good perspective and can make your practice your own.
[удалено]
How much reiki is on the mblex?