What Qualities Create the Best Massage and Facials

Aloha, we wished to explore this topic what is the best massage for you. This article is a response to the Best Massage for you Articles published and ranking at the top of Google. Taking a deeper dive into this topic, we see Healthline, Elements Massage, Very well Health, Health dot com, and Webmd type sites dominating the front pages of Google. We see a list and explanations of different massage styles and techniques from Deep Tissue Massage, Swedish Massage, Lomi Lomi Massage, Shiatsu, Pregnancy and Custom Massages etc. For this article we will delve more into the human aspects of this topic from actual experience rather than the scientific theories and evidence backed claims. We are only speaking from observations gained from the experiences garnered servicing many many thousands of guests since 2001 and during the 10 years of service as Honua Therapeutic Massage. Please take this in for what it is worth, nothing more and nothing less.

Untested Theory vs. Real World Application

Although many sites in the medical field, institutes, associations and regulatory sites claim evidence backed accurate information regarding massage, skin care and health, we consume this type of information always with grains of salt. There are instances of good information. We have been utilizing largely private sector companies and private people’s works, contributions and insights than public sector institutions. From education there are instances of very important and useful information gained such as learning proper medical terminology, the study of the body’s geography, biological functions such as anatomy and physiology etc. However when we observe theoretical information published by people, there is always the possibility of bias. For example, we observe bias towards English language published works and not very much contrasting information available from the medical discoveries in practice published from other non English languages and vice versa. Why is it difficult to have confidence in so called professionals with vast accolades? It is because we question if their theories and hypotheses work in real world situations. We question whether these theories and hypotheses are skewed, biased to support specific agendas, narratives or claims.

Case in point is money management and technology. Every small business no matter what sector, works with some sort of tech and manages money for the short, medium and long term. Similar to professors of any given subject matter such as in finance, economics, our Economics teachers never taught us about public and private sector busts alternating and occurring in cycles similar to the momentum of a pendulum. For traders, investors and small business owners managing their own funds, the information from people with actual extensive experience and qualifications have been indispensable. People with experience such as DefangoTv in the areas of computer science technology, cryptography, hardware / software. In the field of economics, Martin Armstrong Economic Confidence Model AI. In the field of markets and money management, Tyler Jenks, Leah Wald Hyperwave Lucid Investments and Tone Vays sequential technical analysis models are favored over any untested academic theory. The reasoning is because we can see in real time their work in action at their respective YouTube and DLive streams. They have provided critical concepts, trends and know how that have assisted and extended into our small business decision making processes. Hence we always check accolades, credentials with actual experience, real world applications, love and passion for what they do whether it be in the field of massage, skin care, trading markets, technology etc. The same thought process applies when the medical field purports on massage and facial skin care.

Field Experience and Qualifications

The caveat is actual work experience and qualifications. The providers of information in the field of massage and facial skin care esthetics are no different and must have actual work experience and qualifications servicing and working with guests. The next question comes to mind is the substance of the information provided and the source of the information. Is the source material coming from 2nd and 3rd hand sources from contributors that work in the field if not the author? is the source material coming from a public or private sector publisher, organization, company? Much of what was learned personally at accredited academia institutions, massage, esthetics facial trade schools is useful to the extent that it provided a piece of paper and the bare minimum framework to work in a regulated vocation. In retrospect even back in 2000 what was taught in massage academies did not teach us about how to provide customer service with varying customs and edicates, how to listen to guests, or how to deal with adverse reviews, leaving questions about the practical applications of growing. The rest of the 95% of what is known now was learned on the job servicing guests and through personal research and experimentation in practice. It was a humbling and inspiring experience coming to the realization of knowing next to nothing and having universes of knowledge to learn, evaluate and apply. What was sorely needed was feedback from experienced people on the field at the forefront providing real time practical information, technical insights, forecasts for concepts on the horizon from many different perspectives and sources. This realization made us question the validity and methodology of education across all sectors and trades. At this stage more credence is given to information provided by independent people who actually work in the field with real world experience publishing articles and subscribed emails from niche publishers or from an independent audio podcasts, DLive, Twitch, Mixer or YouTube live streamer’s channel etc. The moral here is question everything, and seek your own experiments and draw your own conclusions, answers and then collaborate for constructive feedback.

Love and Passion Massage and Skin Care as Means to Help Each Other

Some of us are fortunate to find something we love and have passion doing. Otherwise we would not have generated the inspiration and motivation to proactively seek greater insight from self study, experimentation, investing time and resources to visit distant places to try and learn from people and from the source of the various trade crafts. More importantly the inspiration and satisfaction gained whether selfish or selfless, seeing a positive difference in our guests, after each massage therapy and facial treatment session bring joy to our hearts. Moreover a priceless experience and special bonds between guests and therapists have formed.

How Do Guests Find Effective Massage and Facials

How to find an effective massage therapist and facialist that will work with you to help each other? and How to Find effective massage and facials are perceived as synonymous and correlated. Trying various establishments, treatments, massage therapists, facialists by word of mouth, referrals, personal search are common answers to this question. How though? How do we find an effective therapist or facialist? We believe the burden is not only on the guest to find out through trial and error, but for the massage, facial provider to be accessible and be able to be found by meeting the guest half way by writing and posting content to inform the reader and guest more about who we are, our personal and guest experiences before ever considering having a treatment with us. Secondly to get ourselves out there on the pavement and continue creating, nurturing relationships with guests, surrounding correlated businesses, and networks.

Predispositions and Sensibilities of Massage Therapists and Facialists

The sensibilities of the massage therapist and facialist’s psyche, psychology, personality, life experiences, culturally embedded values and beliefs from their upbringing will all coalesce and play a significant role in how we affect guests while conferring and constructing dialogue prior to treatments. The tone of voice, language, mannerisms, attitudes, attention, perception to minute details among many other factors, all contribute to constructive or destructive initial meeting with the guest. The client intake portion of the massage and facial service are a very personal and customized undertaking. Every guest’s problems and conditions are unique to them, their lifestyle, body, mental condition, their surrounding environment factors and influences. Hence every guest treatment is one of a kind and a new challenge. One example is working with a guest from Saudi Arabia. She was very concerned and apprehensive about exposing her skin and even more concerned about being in proximity to men. The guest made it a requirement that no men be present and required only a woman therapist to be in tactile proximity to her during her servicing. In order to respect and honor her customs, we accommodated all of her requests. We tried to anticipate her need for privacy and gave as much space and time as possible. To assist in comforting her worries, we checked in with her periodically for feedback and dialogue. The guest appeared relaxed and able to enjoy her massage therapy session throughout the entire duration of her treatment. Although her expressions were stoic, we saw a subtle positive visible difference in her facial demeanor, expressions and mood. This particular guest experience was novel and very educational.

Guests have feelings and are not mindless automatons. Being customers ourselves, we try to put ourselves in their shoes. The types of adverse attitudes that really hinder and wane the guest’s sense of trust, faith and confidence in the therapist to be able to disclose personal intimate details of their conditions and problems are many. Many common instances come from aspects such as giving any indication or showing an attitude of indifference, callousness or lack of care. Lack of care stems from a slew of reasons some of which are caused by inexperience in customer service, fatigue, personal distractions, innate obliviousness, lack of motivation, consideration, thoughtfulness, compassion for other people’s feelings “思いやり”, lack of interest in their trade craft or profession etc.

We remember when the service is trending more towards a mechanical turn mill type of operation where our massage and facial treatments feel like canned cookie cutter templates. We feel compassion for guests going to a place to receive a treatment resulting in little to no relief. We have experienced this situation of wasting our funds on mediocre to ineffective treatments many times over. An activity that was supposed to be relaxing and therapeutic turns out to be one of the most frustrating experiences. We cannot afford to receive massages and facials on a trial and error basis and many people probably cannot afford it either. Massage therapy and facial services can be expensive and not always within financial reach or accessible for the many people who need it the most. Helping your guest find the most suitable and effective massage and facial treatment starts with a provider who is willing to share their experiences to prospect guests who may have a compelling interest in knowing as much detail of a provider prior to deciding on a final choice. Our experience has given us the core elements below as precursors necessary to find the best massage and facial treatment for you ;

1. Massage therapist and facialist work environment that nurtures and encourages creativity, freedom, liberty and customer feedback to give an environment conducive for learning, growing and applying their experience without distractions, hindrances of fear, anxiety and stress. Please see previous article for details.
2. A predisposition for Patience and an ear to listen carefully to the guests explanations and sentiments conferred.
3. Compassion, or relating the guest’s problems to the massage therapist’s personal experience with the same issues.
4. Whatever the feedback, managing hubris from great reviews or resilience from poor reviews and taking feedback as always a way to learn.
5. Curiosity, open minded interest in people of different cultures, customs and the perspective insights gained has been invaluable for growing the therapist’s capacity to express, articulate modulate their ability to listen and reach guests as you would when trying to genuinely help draw necessary information regarding the guest’s reasons compelling treatments.
6. Embracing mistakes and errors as a necessary experience to take command of accurate targeting and anticipating what muscle groups to target to relax a guest’s protective nervous system response prior to deeper connective tissue strands, pressure points, meridian pathway work. Acquisition of the guest’s verbal and non verbal cues, signals and specific requests for help will start to be acquired through constant repetitive servicing of guests.
7. Whether a spa environment is a multi-million dollar architecture reform investment or a small family do it yourself “DIY” constructed studio, a comfortable organic environment to assist and encourage the guest’s feeling of relaxation, calm, privacy, confidentiality, sense of trust and to assist the guest in acquiring an idea of who and how we are, how we feel, learning about our personalities, culture and values. This sort of human personal touch and contact gives a unique ambiance and vibe that cannot be replicated so readily or bought with expensive budgets.
8. Encouraging proper rest and balance of work and personal life. The owner of the establishment must check in with their therapist for feedback periodically, to manage and mitigate over work fatigue, injury and stress continuously.
9. Simply just being there for the therapist whenever personal or other adversities arise and in need of a shoulder or someone to confer with.
10. Conveying the limits of massage and facial skin care to the guest and clarifying how other possible factors maybe attributable to the guest’s problems, and conditions beyond the scope of Massage Therapy and Esthetics.
11. Is the massage and facial provider showing any indication of perpetual growth through proactive learning? An insatiable love and curiosity for learning and improving whether it be personal research, practice, experimentation, overseas pilgrimage to the source principles and philosophies, visiting establishments and experiencing their therapist’s crafts first hand, and conferring with other people within the same or correlated sectors for insights.
12. Expressing Genuine concern is difficult to articulate and better explained through actual servicing. When your therapist expresses candidly and guests are able to feel genuine concern, there was a slow and incremental building of trust, faith and confidence. This sort of pivot started to help lower the guest’s guard to be able to open up about intricate personal details of goals in mind. No matter how detailed the client intake is structured, without trust, faith and confidence the quality of dialogue will be ineffective adversely affecting the customization and effectiveness of the massage and facial treatments.
13. The Massage Therapist and Facialist will draw from their previous experiences and pool of knowledge as many tools they have available in their tool box able to be summoned at their will, tailoring their various trade crafts and stylistics to formulate a plan of action and strategies laying out the blue print for their guest’s massage or facial treatment. These activities are the internalized processes going on in our minds and hearts while the guest get comfortable and prepare themselves for their massage and facial treatment. We have a time window of mere seconds to a few minutes to complete the formulation and assessment as guests expect their full time for their treatments paid. At this stage, the experience and wisdom from the guests serviced in the past plays a vital and critical role in deciding what sensibilities, technical capabilities, methods may and may not be effective.

Conclusion

In sum massage therapists and facialist’s servicing of guests was far more than just the performance of massage and facial treatments. In many respects we are a hybrid of customer service representative, reception, counselor, consultant, artist, technician and most importantly a confidant. The best massage for you is not necessarily the type of massages or facials but the elements provided above that are precursors and predispositions for the massage therapist, facialist to consider and work towards acquiring over time with experience. Owner’s with practical experience and qualifications working with guests and with their fellow therapists will be better suited to realize the nuances in this article. They may wield more responsibly, the care and considerations involved in providing a massage and facial treatment from the heart across many unique physical, mental spiritual conditions and situations. Mahalo