Bodywork

> Have you ever worked with mentally and physical handy-caped
> people in you massage career?
>What are your experiences?

Not normally. The closest I usually get are clients suffering from fibromyalgia though I did work on a family friend with a genetic disorder that chronically tightened the ligaments in the lower body. Massage results for fibromyalgia clients vary pretty widely depending upon type of therapy, the client, and whether they're currently having a flare up. As for my friend, massage was analgesic only.

> Are you integrating the energy work from Hoshin into your
> daily practise as a therapist?

I use the Secret Smile and teach it to my clients and fellow therapists. Of course all of the sensitivity training comes in handy.

Therapy is similar to martial arts in that you enter into a relationship with the other person wherein you become one entity. In fighting you are either controlling the fight or being controlled. Hence the importance of the preparative arts as opposed to the reactive ones. In hypnosis you enter rapport with the client and then go into trance yourself in order to lead them down while you maintain control to become their guide.

Massage is the same. You enter the client's space/awareness/being and relax yourself in order to promote their relaxation. You can say that you are entering their aura, matching it and then leading it where you want it to go if you prefer that terminology but the actual practice is more important than the phrasing. I can't stress enough the power a relaxed, powerful, positive attitude has in any therapy.

The stronger spirit wins as Doc Morris used to say. Which is why the basics like the Secret Smile have to be practiced until they're second nature. When you are constantly around people in chronic pain, emotional stress, etc..., in their aura so to speak, it eventually rubs off on you. This is why psychiatrists and psychologists have the highest suicide rates among doctors. It is necessary to have a personal practice of renewal to maintain and fortify your inner strength in order to help others, otherwise you get burnout. This is why most therapeutic associations require their practitioners to undergo therapy. Psychiatrists regularly see other psych professionals. Massage therapists get massages, etc...

As an EMT I was taught that the official first rule was Primum Non Nocre - First Do No Harm, however the UN-official first rule was Save Thine Own Ass First because you're the go-to guy, if you're hurt or unable to perform, there's nobody out there to help you. It's not as extreme in a therapeutic field but its a good idea to remember to take care of yourself.

To get back to your question...I like the model of the 4 stages of competency.

Level 1 - Unconscious Incompetence - I don't know that I don't know
Level 2 - Conscious Incompetence - I'm aware that that I don't know things
Level 3 - Conscious Competence - I know things, but I have to think about them
Level 4 - Unconscious Competence - I don't know things anymore, I just do them

In massage school I was taught that at the end of training I would be mostly consciously competent. I would know how to do massage and I would probably be pretty good at it but I wouldn't be a "real therapist" until I became unconsciously competent. In order to attain that I had to work on at least 100 different people. That would assure me enough experience to not "do massage" but to "BE" a massage therapist.

I got the same advice from my hypnosis teacher and from several of my martial arts coaches. Go out and work on/spar with 100 or so people. Practice the basics over and over and over until they become a part of you.

SOOOoooo....I don't actually think about doing energy work techniques very much anymore. I just kind of do my thing. Until I developed an actual curriculum, it was hard teaching people what I did, whether it was marital, hypnosis or massage. I had to go back and consciously consider all the steps I took unconsciously in order to get my positive result.

My advice is find a personal practice that gets good results for you and for your clients and then practice it relentlessly, over and over until it becomes your way of being.

That was probably a bit more than you were asking for. ;)