What is deep tissue massage therapy? We could sit around smoking cigars and brandy and talk on that  subject for a long time if you like cigars and brandy.  Doesn’t sound like a very healthy discipline, but it’s one that I enjoy on a rare occasion.  The notion of what you think deep tissue therapy  ais depends on your viewpoint. Some think it is a painful application of tools to alleviate painful conditions in your patient. When asked how that is applied by a licensed massage therapist, will often  conjure up a remark such as “deep” and “painful”. Massage education has indoctrinated masses to believe. I think the failure in massage education which is taught at many of the schools throughout the United States  has passed on this false belief. I taught a course at the Utah College of massage in deep tissue in the early 90s. It was a huge class of 48 people. I asked them to raise their hand answer the question, “ who wants to be here in this class?” 33% wanted to study deep tissue. “Who is ambivalent about being in this class?” Around 33% raised their hands. And then I asked, “who doesn’t want to be in this deep tissue class?” Again, about 33% raised their hands. I asked the 33% who didn’t want to be in the deep tissue class, why they were not interested in studying the work of Dr. Ida Rolf. They answered unanimously that they weren’t interested because it wasn’t energy healing. I actually laughed out loud. I asked them why they thought that deep tissue work and specifically the work of Dr. Ida Rolf or Rolfing as it is called, was not energy healing? Of course their answer was that it was deep tissue and deep tissue could not be energy healing! I smiled as I told them that they were very wrong. I told them that energy healing was the state of mind of the practitioner and nothing else. The students were dumbfounded. Since they were new in their massage education journey, I wasn’t too hard on them and I explained to them thoroughly what the work was about. Deep tissue work and energy healing totally interwoven. I wish I had a camera that day.

How is it possible to apply the exact same technique to the exact same anatomical regions when you are dealing with a painful condition in your patient, and have completely different results? In my opinion it’s all about the energy healing capacity of the practitioner and not purely technique. The “field” that is held by the massage therapist makes the difference between a successful session and one that is mediocre. If the student is focused and holds the field while applying application, the reflective quality of will then inform the “field’ that is projected by the patient and hopefully the patients homeostatic response will create a healing response. It simplifies the approach to the concept of both energy healing and most healing disciplines including deep tissue therapy, trigger point therapy, polarity therapy, craniosacral therapy, and every work that is practiced throughout the world.

Talk about a paradigm shift in massage education! If a teacher of deep tissue work does not  to teach the concept of energy healing, there is a tendency for the students to wail away mercilessly, often brutalizing and bruising their patients. I can’t tell you how many times I have been told by my patients who had formerly visited a massage therapist that was supposedly trained in deep tissue  therapy at a therapist who had been visited previously had heard them. Your patients will often tell you, that if the pain creates a healing response and they are no longer in pain, then it is worth all the grimacing. But, I have seen many, many sessions where light touch work beautifully. Disciplines like craniosacral therapy, polarity therapy, or Reiki have been responsible for alleviating many painful conditions. So in my opinion, there is no reason to create an enormous amounts of pain during a session. I know that this is somewhat controversial, but I know that in my own practice of over two decades, that light touch work is as successful as deep tissue work. A massage therapist should be constantly having a two-way conversation with their patients in order to be successful in alleviating the painful conditions that they have brought to your office. The mindset of the practitioner is the most important aspect of their training. When a massage therapist decides to continue their education they should look for a teacher that emphasizes the quality of the mindset as the primary focus before pursuing deeper concepts of the application of technique.