Not so long ago I wrote an article entitled “Swedish massage and the dinosaur” in which I addressed the idea that simple swedish massage was for many people no longer good enough – that people are turning to the many new methods of massage and bodywork that are surfacing almost daily because they are seen as being better.
What I didn’t address in that article, however, is one of the reasons I believe massage practitioners are heading for training in other modalities and choosing to specialize in one or more of these newer treatment methods – that being in order to avoid or ward off those customers who are looking for massage as a way to obtain thinly-disguised sexual services. A slightly more “respectable” and easier-to-hide method of obtaining those services than hiring a prostitute.
This is the dark cloud that hangs over the massage profession and has done for a long time – the energy that serious, dedicated practitioners are constantly having to deflect, avoid or be on their guard against.
It is also this energy that prevents many practitioners from advertising in order to grow their practice. Advertising is something I tried, in my naivete, many years ago when I first started to practice. It only took a few late night calls for me to withdraw my ad from the Yellow Pages!
This is not new, but I believe it is not openly addressed enough, and is most often swept under the carpet or brushed off as a bit of a joke and relatively harmless.
It is a shame that people who simply want to give to and help others have to manage this less than pleasant energy. As a result of these individuals who cast a pall over the field of massage and the handful of practitioners who are willing to indulge their desires, cities across the nation now require that practitioners are fingerprinted at the 
local Police Station.
So now you have givers and healers eager to launch their practice having to endure the energy that they might possibly be offering illegal services, and being labeled a potential criminal!
In my practice, my focus and passion is in healing and so the majority of people I work with come to me for Intuitive Touch Healing rather than massage. However, I have still encountered a handful of clients who have attempted to cross the line and who I have had to admonish for their behaviour.
In my meditation this morning, I realized that I was still holding some residual energy from those encounters that were an assault on my sensibilities. The worst part of having to deal with such a situation is that the person crossing the line acts as if there is nothing wrong when, in fact, their energy is invasive and abusive.
It made me angry and inspired me to write about this issue. Fortunately, through meditation I am able to find and let go of this unwanted, negative, foreign energy and heal myself.
No wonder so many massage technicians and practitioners are calling what they do bodywork rather than massage, and specializing in cranio-sacral therapy, trager therapy, sports massage, deep tissue integration or the like. They are attempting to distance themselves and their profession from the “oldest profession in the world”.
If you or someone you know has experienced this type of invasive and abusive behaviour and would like some assistance in healing, please feel free to contact me.
By addressing this issue perhaps we can help break up the dark cloud!
Photos courtesy of flickr.