There are differences and there is sameness. There is style and there is rote. I like to think that what we offer is a little bit different, and while part of that difference is style, the rest has good solid reasoning based on experience and observation (there are two good terms to revisit in the future).
With massage, a lot is based on style. But that style is combined with experience, intuition, and what draws a therapist. For instance, many therapists feel they need to go through the regular classes that most therapists do. They think that will give them the marketability in the mainstream of services. These classes usually include Medical Massage and Neuromuscular Therapy. They go to classes based on these core programs as they feel it will make them appeal to the most people.
I, on the other hand, stay away from these like the plague. And this is not because there is anything wrong with them as they do work and work well. I am simply not drawn to them. I think I feel that it would pigeon-hole me into a specific category. I find myself drawn to the weirdly unique things, the things you can't find everywhere, like Lomi Lomi, or MFR, or Esalen. In these, I see unique opportunities to help people. I see new methods that most people just don't understand, nor can they fathom how they would work. And because of this, I have helped many people that other therapists could not. And each time, I hear, "no one else has ever approached it that way before, and this is working amazingly."
The same is true for our Reiki sessions and classes. We do more hand positions in our sessions than most people. This is not because we feel we need to be different. This is based on the fact that the client feels more complete, more secure with the extra positions.
I teach classes the same way, telling my students not to concentrate on what they are doing. This is what I learned through experience, not instruction. And yes, it is different from everyone else's teaching.
The basic learning teaches us the basics. Then experience teaches us so much more. But then, we throw intuition on top of that. And when you put all those together, it does make us different. And I am not just talking about me. Christine has been through similar training and has great intuition.
Each company tries to come up with some niche that makes them different, that makes them stand out. I guess that what makes us stand out are our people, our training, our care, and mostly our differences.