What is an integrative massage? How can we practice it, standing out from our competitors, and offer it to our clients? In a nutshell, giving an integrative massage or bodywork treatment, means to identify the root cause for our clients need for visiting us, and offer true solutions. Let´s see how to do it!
Integrative Massage: Effectiveness And Profitability
So what is so great about integrative massage and integrative treatments in general? How do they differ from a regular massage? Basically, regular massages are short-term treatments, while integrative massages offer lifestyle solutions. To offer an integrative massage, we need to have an open mindset, and see our clients as a combination of physical body, energy, mind/emotions, and how they interact with their environment.
To give you an example: if a client comes to us complaining about neck pain, we might give him/her a massage on the neck and shoulders, temporarily alleviating the pain. The client might come to us a few times but will probably stop coming if he/she notices that the neck pain keeps coming back (in some cases our massage might help a lot of course, depending on the cause!). If we, instead of simply applying a neck and shoulder massage – the same that we apply to all our clients who suffer from neck pain – actually try to diagnose our client thoroughly in order to find out the root cause for their pain; that might be poor ergonomics or stress for example, we are able to offer him/her a long-term solution, eliminating their neck pain for good. When we offer real solutions, instead of temporary alleviation, the advantage is that not only will our clients be cured and thankful, they will also keep coming back to us for any other needs they have, as well as recommend us to their family and friends. On the other hand, if our clients do not find sustainable solutions with us, they will not come back in a long-term perspective nor will they recommend us to others.
So to put it simple: when we make a proper diagnosis of our clients, we are able to tailor the treatment to their personal needs, and this way offer effective treatments. This will result in happier clients who will be loyal to us and recommend us to others, increasing our client base and earnings. So, how can we start offering integrative massages…?
7 Steps To Offering Integrative Massages
- If you are currently only focused on physical massage, its a good time to start thinking about expanding your horizons to learn new methods and tools you can use on your clients, to really tailor the treatments to them. For example; learn how to diagnose your clients (using a questionnaire and observation), use a bigger variety of oils to tailor your massages, learn to do some energy work on clients who are low on energy or are blocked, learn more about stress and how to avoid it and give these recommendations to your clients post-treatment, etc…You can learn new modalities and methods in many ways: on-site courses and seminars, online courses, books, etc.
- Do not follow those teachers or gurus who believe that there is only one way to do things, because they will probably only sell you their own method. Integrative means something entirely different, seeing the bigger picture.
- Every treatment should follow a structure: a) welcome and diagnosis, b) tailor-made treatment, c) lifestyle recommendations, d) farewell + product recommendation if applicable.
- Let your clients take an important role in their own change. Wellness should be pro-active and not reactive. We are not their “magical remedy”, we should guide them to discover their personal health and well-being.
- Treat and guide setting an example. Do you imagine visiting a nutritionist and discovering that he/she is obese from eating fast food all day? You would hardly trust that nutritionist? Be an example to your clients, take care of yourself at all levels and show them that change is possible.
- Health without happiness is useless, so please, include emotions in your diagnosis and lifestyle recommendations, because an unhappy person can never be healthy at all levels.
- The best way to be good at something is by loving what you do. The more motivated you are, the more you study, the better you become, your clients will be happier, and you will feel more fulfilled, and at the end, this will make you more passionate about your profession. Love and passion can also be developed, so work proactively on it.
I hope this post will encourage you to adopt a more integrative view of your clients and your work, start offering real solutions to help your clients, as well as improve as a therapist. If you have more steps that work for you, please share them with us, and let´s all together work in a more integrative way!
Wishing you a meaningful day ahead,
César Tejedor
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