Why You Should Use A Private Therapist

By Debra Redman, LMT, NCTMB
Life/Spiritual Coach, Medical Massage Therapist

People who use spa services regularly are spending up to 20% more than necessary because they have not been educated on the benefits and cost savings of using a private therapist. Despite the economy, people are spending money on massage in spas. What they don’t know is that they could be getting added value for that same dollar if they worked with a private therapist. I would like to discuss why you should choose a private massage therapist over a spa or a massage chain for your relaxation and healthcare needs.

Massage franchises such as Massage Heights, Massage Envy or Zen Massage have turned massages into a cheap, convenient commodity. The key word here is cheap. Franchises can only afford to hire new massage school graduates who have no experience. For people who have never had a massage, the price point encourages them to try it. The benefits of getting a massage at a massage franchise stop there.

Spas are an excellent choice when you just want to treat yourself. Spas can offer a variety of massage services such as Thai massage, couple massage, and stone massage sessions. Depending upon the length and type of massage you book, you will spend between $75 - $200 plus the tip you pay the therapist.

As a specialized massage therapist in private practice for over 17 years, I have the privilege of being able to work one-on-one with clients as part of their health and wellness process. I provide a combination of therapeutic, spa, and medical massage therapies coupled with life and spiritual coaching. Typically, you will not find a therapist with this level of expertise and professionalism working in a spa or a chiropractor’s office.

By the time a therapist chooses private practice, they have most likely had experience working in a spa or chiropractor’s office. After gaining experience, a therapist realizes they could make more money, better serve their clientele, and have the benefits of working for themselves. They developed their skill level and knowledge, invested in years of continuing education, and made a commitment to make massage therapy a full-time profession. Generally, a therapist who chooses private practice will have the emotional maturity and professionalism required to maintain a loyal clientele. Because they are in private practice, they can offer a level of care that simply is not possible in a spa or franchise environment.

The massage services offered in a spa or franchise will most likely be offered by a private practitioner for prices that are comparable to and usually less than a spa. For example, spas charge an average of $115 - $150 (plus tip) for a 90 minute session. A private therapist such as myself charges $120 where you receive therapeutic bodywork that is tailored specifically to your needs. The knowledge gained by the private therapist about your needs builds trust between the two of you as the relationship deepens and grows. This is key to how well your body receives the work.

Next, the private practitioner usually has control over the environment in which the two of you are working. In a spa or franchise setting, there will often be outside noise in the hallways that creates a disturbance in the massage room just as you are beginning to completely relax. In private practice, noise levels, the choice of music, the types of oils or lotions used, the design of the room, and the overall feel of the room is controlled by the therapist. This adds to the experience that you have when you get a massage.

Finally, when you choose to work with a private therapist, you choose to support a local business person instead of a large corporation. As a personal client, the private therapist is vested in your best interests. They have the time and ability to learn what your healthcare priorities are and will work to help you reach your goals. In a spa or franchise, the therapist does not have the time to develop a relationship of any depth beyond encouraging the client to ask for them again if they ever come back.

In summary, the benefits of spending your massage dollars with a private therapist are 1) a guaranteed high level of experience, expertise and skill, 2) tailored and specialized care, 3) quality of environment, 4) support of a local business, and 5) a quality relationship that benefits your health.

The best way to find a private therapist is to ask for referrals from friends, co-workers, or neighbors. You can also review reliable websites such as Understanding Health at www.understandingholistichealth.com. You will find practitioners from around the Atlanta area and information about specific modalities.

Choose a franchise for convenience or a spa when you want to pamper yourself. For regular care, choose a private practitioner. You will spend less money in the long run and receive better care than any spa or franchise is capable of giving you.

The Importance of Doing Your Inner Work

When I finally decided to go to massage school in Chicago, IL, I had already been a practicing energy worker and craniosacral therapist for about eight years. Like so many people who have abuse histories, I turned to alternative healing when traditional therapies no longer worked. I was introduced and practiced healing modalities such as reiki, vibrational healing, Healing Touch, and many others for seven years before becoming a paid therapist.

During those seven years, I experienced quantum leaps in my own personal healing. I went from being in victim-mode to transcending survivor-mode. Along that road, I learned many things about what it means to be a healer. I witnessed what happens when a person who is not working on healing their own emotional and spiritual life calls themselves a "healer" and then attempts to use the techniques of energy healing to manipulate others. When I became a professional therapist, I used these examples to remind me of the potential power a therapist has on a client's healing. Over time, I found myself teaching the importance of doing inner work to other therapists, some of whom had been practicing therapists for years. I also attempted to teach these concepts to new students in a massage therapy school. Unfortunately, the standard massage therapy program does not allow for that kind of information to be taught.

Many people gravitate to the healing professions (psychotherapy, counseling, massage therapy, vibrational healing, etc.) because they are using those modalities to heal the emotional and spiritual issues they are experiencing. Almost everyone, as they achieve milestones in healing, wants to share what they've learned with everyone they know. They naturally want others who are also experiencing similar traumas to benefit from what they've recently learned. The best way to know that you have learned something is to teach it to others. This is the beginning of being a channel of healing energy. Whether the "teacher" is a clear channel of healing energy is another issue.

As Gregg Braden writes in his new book, The Divine Matrix, quantum physics is now proving that there is no separation between anything. When you come into contact with another being, you leave behind a part of you that stays with that person. The emotions that you feel react instantly, beyond distance and time. When you touch someone, you leave behind epithelial cells. Those cells are not separate from you just because they are now on someone else's body. They continue to react to your emotions. If you feel anger, fear, sadness, depression, happiness, joy, or peacefulness, those cells feel it at exactly the same time. The person to whom those cells were transferred also feels your emotions. When you consistently feel low-vibrational feelings, the other person reacts to those feelings and the cycle of emotional and spiritual chaos continues until someone changes their feelings to a higher vibration.

The impact of this scientific fact on the healing professions has, I believe, not been fully appreciated. For example, there are hundreds of institutions teaching massage therapy. With some exceptions, the required curriculum in most of these schools does not include any training on vibrational healing nor is there any formal discussion about the importance of emotional and spiritual health of the massage therapist. Potential students are not educated about this important requirement before they are enrolled in a program and, unfortunately, many people teaching massage therapy do not understand it.

Ok, to be fair, there is a five-minute discussion about the concept of psychological transference and counter-transference in the required ethics class. That is the only discussion about the role the therapist's emotions play in the healing process or the impact of the client's energy on the therapist. Students are required to memorize the formal definitions of each term and regurgitate it on a test. This is certainly not the way to impress upon a potential channel of healing energy the importance of doing their inner work! More time must be devoted to developing a complimentary program in the standard massage curriculum that supports the emotional healing and spiritual growth of people who want to be massage therapists.

Why is this important? As the public becomes more and more aware of the power of therapeutic massage modalities, the massage industry has exploded. Potential clients are searching for a therapist who can address them holistically and help them heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Therapists who are consistently working to maintain their own emotional and spiritual health will be highly sought after because they will be capable of facilitating that process. The therapist who has technical skill and who does not do their inner work will continue to serve those in the population who don't want to experience holistic healing. Both people will be successful monetarily. Both people will facilitate a particular level of healing. Only one will consistently demonstrate an understanding of the work and participate in the joy of watching clients make miraculous breakthroughs in healing. And isn't that the reason why you wanted to be a healer in the first place?