I had my Living Foods teacher for an evaluator and she gave me some great feedback, which was basically to trust in my skills because I have a solid, gentle touch. She also said my Polarity work was strong. Negative feedback I received and took to heart was to use a bit more oil and to make sure I follow through the entire muscle length with my strokes...both should be easy fixes. She also asked me to slow down a bit in the beginning but chalked it up to my nervousness, which was at least partially the case. I have been working at slowing down my strokes in general though. The other thing I think I need to work on is just staying out of my head, and focusing. Though, now that I have started in clinic and have my own space for giving a massage, focusing hasn't been an issue.
I started in the clinic that very same weekend and was lucky to have my mom as my first client. That really helped me not be as nervous the first day and find my way around the clinic. My second client that day wasn't as easy. She wanted a lot of pressure in her lower back/sacral area and I had trouble meeting her expectations. I have learned a few techniques even just since that appointment though, that I think will help next time I have a client who wants a lot of pressure. Unfortunately, my hands/body just isn't "there" yet and there is a fine line between giving a client what they want and burning out my own body. I was tired after that session to say the least and didn't feel like the client was quite satisfied either. I was happy to have something like this occur right away though because now I know what it's like to feel like I couldn't give a client what they wanted and it was okay. I just have to remember that I am a student and this is a learning process and I will get there eventually.
This past weekend, I just had one client and he was looking for relaxation so I think I aced that massage as, so far, that seems to be my specialty. He fell asleep for the first half of the session and I felt bad when I had to wake him to "flip over my pancake" as some of the teachers at my school like to say ;). I also recently learned hot stone massage, which I love. It feels awesome and I just found out the clinic no longer charges more for hot stone sessions so if you're reading this, keep that in mind if you book an appointment. You have to request it when you call in. I'm also going to start signing up for more hours in the weeks to come as my mandatory hours are Sunday afternoons but I need to do more treatments than just the mandatory in order to make the required 145 hours before I can graduate next April.
In other news, I dropped Dominic off at the airport for his six month trip to New York this morning. I'll see him in a few weeks when I head up to visit him Labor Day weekend though so that will be the hard goodbye. Between then and Christmas, I won't see him for almost four months unless something in my schedule/financial situation changes. I'm dreading that long break, but it's a great opportunity for him and he has to go where the work is. Hopefully things pick back up for the film industry here in New Mexico soon. Anyways, this song by Head and the Heart keeps playing in my car and getting me all emotional so I thought I'd share this cool live version I found.
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