What should I look for when searching for a 'good' massage therapist?

• Look for a therapist with whom you feel very comfortable and have a natural rapport. Everything that happens within a massage session is protected legally and professionally by confidentiality (unless a client is threatening to hurt themselves, or another person). Working with your massage therapist will ideally feel very natural and easy. Additionally, you will feel comfortable verbally communicating all of your relevant body concerns to your therapist. If your therapist asks you questions relating to your body experience and their quality of touch, you will feel comfortable being honest with your massage therapist about what is and is not comfortable for you. 

• Your massage therapist will have no aggressive agenda about what type of work you need. Your therapist may have some ideas about what you might like, or what would be most therapeutic for you. However, a good therapist will always ask you first if this is what you would like to do.

• Your massage therapist will clearly state the amount of hours they have trained within their field of study, where they have trained and who they have trained with, as well as any specific certifications or specialty study.

• Your massage therapist will use excellent communication skills to "check-in" with you about your comfort on the table, your temperature, your comfort with the depth of their pressure, and any other observations which may arise for you on the table, before or after the massage session. Your massage therapist will also use excellent listening skills to hear your thoughts, concerns, and desired areas of focus for the massage. Additionally, your therapist will do a thorough intake on your first visit (and periodically) to understand your complete health history for the purpose of knowing if there are any contraindications that would preclude you from doing massage work that day, or to know what types of work might benefit you most. During pregnancy, these check-ins are very important.

• Your massage therapist will feel absolutely comfortable referring you to another practitioner if your needs are outside of your therapist's scope of practice, or if your therapist feels you could be better therapeutically served by another massage therapist with more specialty or experience in different areas. At The Mindful Body, we are happy to refer to other massage therapists unaffiliated with our business, if we believe that another practitioner will best serve your health needs. Part of our training as therapists emphasizes that appropriate referring is part of having a practice with integrity. 

• Your massage therapist will have excellent personal hygiene, with no apparent odors to their person such as cigarette smoke, or bad breath. Hand washing and other sanitary practices around personal practices will always be maintained as well as a sanitary facility which includes maintaing freshly laundered sheets. If coughing, or sneezing happens during a session, your therapist will use the proper procedure of using a sanitary wipe or antibacterial lotion on any surface that has come in contact with their hands and forearms. 

• Your massage therapist will use modest and professional draping techniques during the massage to ensure that only the part of your body being worked on in the moment is exposed. If you have any questions or special requests regarding draping, your massage therapist will be pleased to discuss this with you. A good therapist will always let you know that you can undress to "your level of comfort," which could mean leaving all of your clothes on. If that is the case, there may be different techniques which need to be used to address muscle areas, such as Shiatsu.

In the state of Colorado, undraped chest work can be requested by women for the purpose of working the tissue around the breast, and on the borders of the breast. A signed waiver is usually required prior to this work which states that the work is being requested and okayed by the client. This never includes work on or near the areola or nipple part of the breast. This work is often requested or therapeutic in the case of prior, or current, breast cancer, lymph stagnation, or intercostal/sternal issues that cannot be fully addressed without undraped work. 

• An excellent massage therapist does not work 24/7 but knows how to maintain adequate self-care to support their physical, mental, and spiritual health and wellness, so they are able to nurture and support their client with their full potential. A good massage therapist must meet their own needs before entering the therapy room, prior to working. Then we are able to meet the full needs of our clients in an outstanding way.