Friends, touch deprivation is a real thing. Babies die without touch. And in our current isolations during this pandemic, people are becoming painfully aware of just how paralyzing life can be without direct connection. We are seeing evidence of this as many people take unknown risks to just get out of the house and be around others.
We are on the brink of what we’ve all been waiting for—the world waking up to the truth that massage therapists have known all along… touch is essential. Now there’s no need to debate about “essential workers,” because I’m using the word in its original Webster’s definition here, “something basic; something necessary, indispensable, or unavoidable.”
Just as many in the massage profession are pointing out daily, we will play a necessary and indispensable role in the recovery and healing of our communities. The decades (maybe lifetimes) of fear and anxiety in each unique and beautiful life around us is reaching a tipping point. In the social sciences, a tipping point is when a group of people dramatically changes and adopts behavior that was rarely practiced previously. This tipping point will be the widespread use of touch therapies to manage fear and anxiety, as well as all the associated physical and emotional pain.
In the words of Su Bubik at the Institute for Massage Education, “We train and we wait until it’s safe and we can use our talents and abilities to heal the residual traumas, once the crisis is abating. We’re the time release capsule sort of profession, that continues on with the healing long after the trauma is no longer on the news.”
Massage is the most basic, most fundamentally human thing to do. It’s something we all can do. And it’s something those of us who are therapeutically trained must accept as our duty to advance. We accept that duty here at Bodymechanics School of Myotherapy and Massage.
Today and tomorrow you are needed and more than you have ever been needed. The world has now received the big wake-up call on the power of touch by being starved of it.
Massage educators all over the country are taking this opportunity to learn, adapt, and grow, as nature around us demonstrates every day. Our practices and our teachings change with the times, but our mission remains the same—to better the lives of everyone we touch.
If you have ever considered becoming a massage therapist, now is your time. Visit one of our Bodymechanics campuses and see how we are handling the new challenges and new opportunities.
We are preparing for the wave (the flood) that is coming by creating exceptional massage therapists. Join us! A call to action has been raised – are you ready to answer the call?
Now enrolling for morning, evening and weekend classes. Call 360-350-0015 for information, or click here to start the admission process.