As Massage Therapists, Physical Therapists, or Bodyworkers we need to take good care of ourselves in order to keep going. We asked massage therapists about how they take care of themselves, and I wanted to share my own as well as some of their tips in this post. Enjoy and feel free to post your own recommendations below!
Integral And Preventive Self-Care
Before we take a look at the top tips for taking care of yourself, let´s reflect upon what self-care means for a Massage and Spa professional. Does it mean to seek the best help and cure after having suffered from a work-related injury? Does it mean to do physical exercise twice a week? Does it mean to use products that promise to maintain us healthy and filled with energy? All of these things can support us, but none of them alone will hardly give us good health on all levels. I believe that it is important that we remember to care for our body, our mind, as well as our energy level, because all of them have a great impact on our overall health and on how we perform on a daily basis in our massage practice. We need to engage in activities that foster a healthy body such as exercise and eating healthy and nutritious food, we also need to take care of our mind through practices such as meditation or anything else that calms and stills our mind, and last but not least we need to think happy thoughts and do things we love in order to restore our energy level and create positive energy. All of these activities are preventive in nature, so the idea is to maintain ourselves healthy and happy, and avoid injuring ourselves.
Top Tips For Healthy Massage Therapists
So let´s take a look at the tips from massage therapists to massage therapists:
- Trade massages with other local massage therapists (some areas have online exchange sites for professionals) or go for a regular massage session
- Know your limitations, don´t push yourself too hard!
- Stretch the joints of your fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders on a daily basis
- Take good care of your hands, keep them clean, hydrate them well, and be aware of that through your hands you are absorbing all the products that you use on your clients
- Do physical exercise that both strengthens and increases flexibility such as Yoga, Dancing, Fitness classes, martial arts, etc.
- If you prefer exercising in nature go out hiking, ride your bike, or take a swim
- Eat a healthy and balanced diet
- Keep yourself hydrated especially in the warm seasons
- Get a good nights sleep
- Remember to schedule some time for cooling down after each massage session
- Practice meditation to still and clear your mind, this will revitalize yourself
- Try to maintain a positive and peaceful attitude as this will foster a healing mindset
- Don´t feel bad if your massage treatment is not giving the desired results, this is not mathematics, try to look for an alternative solution
- And last but not least enjoy what you do and have fun with it because this will also reflect in your treatments!
I hope you found these tips useful and that you will be able to put some of them into practice alongside your massage practice! I´m sure many of you will benefit from them!
Wishing you a wonderful day ahead,
César Tejedor
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