One of my former students came in today for a Temple Lomi massage. She needed some stress relief and knew this massage would help.
She had seen some of what I had done when she was in school, and saw the video on Temple Lomi. She came to me because she wanted to come to someone that she could trust, and didn’t want to go to someone she did not know (as this style requires minimal draping). She didn’t want to be worrying about how she looked or what the therapist would do. She knew my attitude and intent.
Now, Temple Lomi is a very unique form of massage where strokes run the length of the body. To accomplish this, the client is draped at the mid section with a hand towel. This leaves the sides free so that movements can be made from them shoulder to the ankle.
The majority of female clients that have had this feel comfortable leaving their breasts uncovered (as it is done in Hawaii), some are comfortable without draping at all. My former student elected to go with the towel at her groin area only.
When we were done, she gave me some really good feedback. She loved the massage and it made her relax. One of the things she said was that she could feel my intent, and it was absolutely perfect. Cool. That was the idea.
Getting a massage is a personal thing. It is hard for some people to let another person touch them, even as a therapist. It is harder to be partially or completely undraped especially if the therapist’s intent is anything but correct. As I tell all my students that if they look at a client and have thoughts other than healing, then those will go into the client in the form of energy and it will make them uncomfortable. The client may not know what is being thought, but they will feel the “offness” of it.
I always say that a good therapist can work on any type of body, covered, uncovered with the same intent. This work is not about sex, or desire, or anything else. It is about healing only. When the intent is that perfect, true healing happens.
That is what I hope happens here with every session.