I got an email from a subscriber who was going to unsubscribe. She wasn’t using the prerecorded video in our vault and we were currently doing a multicamera livestream, a new offering in my teaching. I’m working with her to give her the value she needs to stay and continue learning but many Lmt have been told the following lie, “you can’t learn massage online.”
I think about this often as I used to believe the same thing.
I’m a bodyworker and yogi first. I work with flesh.
Making workbooks dvds then social media videos for youtube began to shift my mentality as I noticed that I kept getting messages about how much xyz helped someone online. This person had never been in my physical presence but found benefit from what I was doing. If they can how far can this go?
I decided that even With online disadvantages (we all agree that in person 5 year long apprenticeships will be better 🙂 ) online was something I needed to improve. I’ve done that.
When we released a subscription our #1 question was, “what’s a subscription?” Students didn’t understand how we were putting together information for people and they mostly still don’t. I had to tell people, “it’s a video subscription. We’re the netflix of massage education.”
Multicamera livestreams are more groundbreaking more innovative and it will take years for our industry to understand what’s happening right now. It will be dismissed for now. Long term our world will have to contend with what I’m sharing and with nearly inifinite capacity to reduce class costs and scale information worldwide I will find those students willing to go the distance.
I can offer real solid education for pennies on the dollar and at nearly 20 years in my industry I’m excited to see what the next 20 holds. In 2040 I will be 63. 🙂 I look forward to what technology will allow me to do then.
For now, subscribe if you have not and see what the future of online bodywork education looks like.
My sincerest hope is that someone will read this to Thich Nhat Hanh. I hope that my teacher will have a chance to know how he changed my life. This was originally written just after Thay’s stroke.
Years ago as part of my own search for health I started practicing yoga. Along with my Thai massage practice I grew more interested in meditation and Buddhism. Combing through the shelves at the local library I ran across many of your books and thumbed through them as a novice.
Being a westerner Buddhism was new to me. I was more familiar with the stories of Jesus from the New Testament but I was drawn into your way of writing and sharing your spiritual life for the benefit of others. I read more slowly, focused more on your words and slowly things became more clear. You my brother, could see. Your words were not prose, they were poetry in the form of prose. You prodded me to look deeper at life, to live fully and learn to love everyone starting with myself.
I was in a place of great anger. I’d been hit by a drunk driver and had very bad pain. The legal and medical establishment did little to help me and that’s how I stumbled into yoga then meditation to begin with. I was angry at the world, angry at society, angry about war, angry that so much wealth accumulated at the top while people starved at the bottom.
As my practice continued and deepened I grew calm. My clarity increased and my mental focus sharpened. The anger though was still present. I’d not overcome it. If anything it grew. I was confused without teachers to show me the way. The more clear I became internally the more askew the world seemed. My days were spent breathing, doing Thai massage, yoga, fasting and cleanses, open mic standup comedy (to deal with anger) and volunteering with hospice. I did my best just to experience what was going on without judgement. As long as I did not harm others or encourage bad karma I had to process my own stuff. The only way out was through.
I knew from your books and talks that you could see. You hadn’t turned away from the darkness. You stared at it and smiled. You honored the darkness within yourself and integrated it. I’d always been interested in the Vietnam war. Once while giving a report on it in school I was asked by a fellow student if it was actually a war. Puzzled, I answered yes that it was a war and my teacher corrected me and announced that Congress must declare war for it to be a war in the United States. I felt very sad for all those who perished and were injured on either side for what was not considered a war.
I’d seen footage from My Lai. I’d seen the photo of a small girl running naked through the street because she’d been burned by napalm that my government used tax dollars to produce. I’d seen the footage of the monk, lighting himself on fire in protest. All of that, I knew you’d seen it. I knew that you had not closed your eyes, had not hardened your heart and chose the side of humanity rather than the division of north or south Vietnam. You saw all of it deeply and allowed the sadness to push you further into your practice, into meditation and to love all deeply.
Knowing all of that I remember reading one of you books and encountering this idea, “The world is perfect just as it is.” I read this. I backed up and read it again. I knew you’d seen all I’ve previously mentioned. Could it be? I grew angry. I became furious at you for writing such a thing in your book. I do not recall what book it was since I read so many but I was so angry with you.
Thay, I wanted to fight you. I wanted to roll up my fists and punch you to make you take it all back. “The world is perfect just as it is.” How could you say such a thing? That’s horrible! How could you see all that darkness and declare that things were perfect just as they are? I was so angry. It took me weeks of thinking, pondering, yoga and meditation to relax and not be so upset with you.
I tell people that you are a miltant pacifist. I tell them that you were fiercely neutral during the war and aided any you could by rebuilding homes and easing their suffering. This man who’d dedicated his life to peace and compassion became someone I was so angry with I wanted to be violent. In the midst of all of that I saw you smile. No matter how angry I became, how much I protested you smiled. You put that in your book for a reason. You are a good teacher and you see, you broke me. You broke me of my error. You shined a mirror up to me and my own predicament.
All I could see was that smile. At first in my mind it was mocking, teasing due to my error in judgment. Over time I realized it was clear, calm and full of compassion for my situation. You see, a monk doesn’t write an entire book about anger without experiencing his own first. You hadn’t just been writing words. You shared your experience. Your experience led you through the same darkness time and again and you found a way out. A way that led to more calm, more mindfulness and more love.
In a sense when you said, “The world is perfect just as it is” you didn’t mean that what happens is good. You didn’t say anyone deserved it. You just said that it’s perfect as it is. I’d spent so much time with my energy focused outward. I was angry at them out there! I was angry at those people. I’d spent all of my time being angry about the outside to the exclusion of spending more time looking within.
If the world is perfect as it is who do I complain to? Who do I attack? Where do I put my energy to then make the world a better place? How do I correct it? All of these things sat on me heavily for weeks. What was I to do? You’d left me in an uncomfortable teaching that shook me deeply albeit from the kind wise words of a smiling monk. I’d grow angry then see you smile. I’d want to continue being angry but all I could see what your smile and vision that would not waver.
What I realized is that you were forcing me to look at myself then asking me if I was going continue the endless cycle of pain and suffering or choose to end it in myself. Attacking those others over there just covers up the anger and creates ceaseless duality that leads to dukkha itself.
When you said the world is perfect just as it is it was a strong mirror. You see. I believed you. I trusted you as a teacher to shed light. The light you shed was almost too much for me to bear. It took time but I understood that you were pushing me back inside myself. You pushed me back into meditation. You pushed me to uncover the darkness within myself, then I could go help others adequately. I’d spent my time being angry at the outside instead of balancing the inner and outer. You’ve no issue with my inner anger at injustice but what will I choose to do with it? There lies the teaching. The world is experiencing dukkha. What will you not do about it? That was the teaching. You presented a choice. I chose.
Over time I grew in my practice, integrated your teachings and wasn’t as angry. I understood your teaching and cherished the fact that a militant pacifist, a man so dedicated to peace and harmony that I was sure flowers must sprout out of your footsteps made me want to fight. I feel so honored to have shared our world with you and hope that this letter finds you well. My hope is that someone will read this to you and share what you’ve done for me. I hope that it makes you smile.
You’ve encouraged me to heal and confront my own inconsistencies, my own imbalance and strive to help others live good lives. I honor you brother for all that you’ve shared and wanted to wish you well.
When I found out about your recent sickness I went to my wife and with sadness and with a crestfallen demeanor told her you’d had a brain hemorrhage. Near tears she consoled me and let me talk about you. I wanted to write you to make sure you had a chance to know what you and your life have meant to me. I honor your teaching and thank you for sharing with me to crack me open. That crack let all the light in.
Thank you so much teacher. I shall honor you always. I’m very happy that a monk of small physical stature taught me most of what I know about love. Thank you brother.
Metta
Robert 🙂
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/4.jpg788940Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2020-10-06 03:15:402023-07-13 13:25:26Letter to Thay
I see you keep saying that if we have any questions to contact you so here I am. I don’t know how anyone can be bored. My time off has been filled with educating myself, but that’s just me. I don’t know if I have questions exactly. I guess I just want to know what your response is to these two things or what you think about them, I guess. My first thing is that I tested out some moves that I saw in the membership videos and I did it on the clinic director where I work. She said that she didn’t want to get undressed and I said that was fine. I put my leg up on the table and she asked me if I was going to spoon with her! I was like fuck you! Then a few weeks ago, before my professions were all put on the cease-operations list, I found out she told the owner because they started teasing me about it. I was like, “You told her?!” I was actually pretty pissed about that. Number one, because I’m a professional and I was trying something new that I felt got thrown in my face. Number two, because she went and told the owner and then it got thrown at me again. Thankfully, it was the clinic director, but I don’t want that to happen with a patient or a client. I DEFINITELY don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. That’s my first thing.
My other thing that I wanted to reach out to you about is that I notice that you talk a lot about the clients groaning. I was in the middle of watching one of the videos on the membership while you were working on someone. I don’t know if it was just this person’s voice or what, but the way she was talking and the sounds that she made sounded very…. inappropriate. I’ve had that before where I had a client that was, full on, the entire time moaning. It was one of the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve had as a massage therapist. I asked another therapist that worked with me at that spa if the woman had done that to her and she laughed and said, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” How do you forget about that?! One of my worst fears is having someone hear that going on in my room and thinking something else is going on in the room and then having everything that follows. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s experience, but I also don’t want to be uncomfortable during a session because they can’t contain themselves and I don’t know how to stop it. Or stop that politely. Everything that comes out of my mouth sounds way bitchier than I mean it to sound. On the other hand, being a female therapist I don’t want to have a male client making those sound effects and I think it’s fine and it turns into something else.
I lied, I do have one more thing. I am tiny. I just watched a live class this morning and the instructor told us how much his bulldog weighed and I was like holy shit that dog weighs almost as much as I do. I’m small, but I’m mighty and I know that I can put in a good amount of pressure using my arms. When I’ve tried using my body on a guinea pig, they said exactly what you always say that they will say about how it’s less pointy and they prefer it. My challenge is that I can’t “feel” how much pressure I’m giving. Knowing how small I am, I feel like it’s not enough and I can’t “feel” the response of the person’s body.
I look forward to hearing what you have to say about all of this.
Thank you!–Student
I’ve many thoughts on what you’re saying and have noticed that students experiences parallel the things I’ve dealt with as a therapist. At least in your case you have someone to email and ask questions of.
Years ago I worked at a spa called Salon Londyn. It was at that time the nicest and ritziest spa in Baton Rouge and I’d studied Thai massage with my original teacher. I loved mat based work and was forced to improvise what I could on a table.
The staff did not like me. I was never certain but I suspect the other therapists were very intimidated by me and I’d no notion or kowtowing to public demands for massage mediocrity. I received review cards that rated my sessions as the best the clients had ever received. I’d done stellar work and was only out of school by a year or so at this point.
The spas lead therapist came in to check out what this Thai massage was and got on the table clothed since we’d no mat space in the facility. I worked on her and eventually performed a move where you slide in between the clients legs to access the gluteals. She immediately commented, “oh my god, the clients junk would be hanging on my leg if I did this.”
Part of the issue is that mixing table work and mat work confuses and perpetuates the worst of both cultures.
People who are used to a nice box for western massage are put at odds when you leave clothes on. They’re put at odds with passive body contact like your leg and they don’t really have a cultural context for what’s going on. Part of the reason I’m moving away from Thai massage and moving away from the dominant culture is that it is deeply deeply sick and toxic.
To survive I had to adapt.
My body mechanics are different on a table and I was young and trying things that I’d not full experience performing on a table. I had to make this mat based box I loved fit a western cultural context.
I was fired from that job shortly after. My comment cards with 5 stars were in the break room. I was called into the office and told, “here at Salon Londyn we’re trying to build a team. Sometimes the team works and sometimes it doesn’t so we’re going to have to let you go.” I was asked if I had anything to say. I was prepared to trash the entire infrastructure but what good does that do? It doesn’t allow me to build anything professionally and in the end this business will be gone soon enough. I said, “Business is business and shook the owners hand.”
Later they went out of business. Mine is still growing 18 years later.
Trying to make my work fit into spa culture is like trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole.
If you really want to do what I teach. If you really want to help people that’s not available in massage facilities. Quit and work for yourself.
It’s ok if you can make it fit somewhere but no one will believe me until licensed massage therapists do my work at a scale that essentially renders the spas and clinics obsolete by not creating a superior service. I don’t offer relaxation as a standalone. I offer pain relief that’s also deeply relaxing.
Groaning in session is to me a good sign. Usually it just means we’ve hit a sweet spot in the client’s nervous system and people express that vocally. If you remove that vocal track it could likely be mistaken for pornhub. 🙂
Part of the issue is working on naked people who are moaning is different than working on clothed people with my feet digging into their shoulder blade who are groaning as something releases. Context including cultural context is everything.
When you put your leg up and the person asked if you were going to spoon them is a normal response for someone with very limited touch contact from other people. Who do we touch in America? At most we give handshakes and at it’s max someone gives someone a hug and it’s considered an edge. Imagine hugging someone who doesn’t want a hug?
See the response and pullback? My work and what I’m teaching you is more intimate and more connected than other forms of bodywork but it’s far less sexual. That’s hard for America coming from a puritanical culture and you can check pornhub statistics to see what Americans do in their free time. They’re obsessed with sex! We use it to sell everything and advertise but we don’t want to openly discuss it because it’s a taboo.
When I interact with clients having done what I do for 18 years I operate from a very odd vantage point. I’m Deeply intimate with clients and often touch them in ways that no one has ever experienced.
Think about that for a second. I’m a married white male touching people in my home in ways that they’ve never had before. If you think the public doesn’t get it, don’t stop there. Massage therapists don’t get it either. I was banned from two different WA state massage groups for posting the following:
Helping clients? Great. Connecting deeply to help people in pain? Awesome. Pissing off massage therapist by working in ways they don’t understand by massage people with your butt? Priceless.
My own community banned me. 🙂 It’s ok. I know it’s hard to accept when you when through schools and businesses that accepted mediocrity. I know that the oxycontin epidemic and the Sackler family are ok by how you behave and how you vote.
I chose a different path. It’s not for everyone. It’s for the rebels. We don’t break the law but we break all the rules.
You can’t film here! Why? Why can’t I record my sessions and teach people in sub Saharan Africa from their cell phone so they can work on people in their village?
Most people are average. That’s the definition of average. My students are not. My students question authority. They think for themselves. They speak and communicate with clients to help ease their pain and we do a really solid good job of it to the point where we’re being questioned as to what we do Is In Fact Massage.
If it’s not I’m going to teach it globally online and no one can stop me. That’s what happens when you resist and push back against an anarchist until he discovers the internet and global distribution.
Here’s a conversation I had with a student the other night:
Nathalie Gregory is dealing with the same pre pandemic struggles other students are. She’s trying to save her body and help clients. Does the facility care?
Usually no. People resist fight and rebuke change on every front. The clients want what we do and the facilities that refuse to allow it will not exist 10 years from now. We get to choose what we do. I will always always recommend that therapists study with me, quit their jobs and start private practice where we only answer to happy pain free customers.
Lastly each client will want a different amount of pressure. Talk with them. Ask them for feedback. Do they want more? Do they want less? Do they want you to shear? It’s their body and their session. Honor that and don’t compromise your body as you work.
Everyone’s tools are shaped differently. Your elbow main be pointier. My client might allow more pressure cause my elbow is broad so there’s no definitive way to determine pressure except to break a long standing rule and stop being silent for the whole session. Stop giving massage and start helping people with pain by Talking to them. 🙂
It will be even more complex once you start using your knees and feet to feel with. You’ll develop touch sensitivity but it takes time and much practice. Practice I might add that is not allowed in any major massage facility in America. #renegade
I hope this helped and shed some light. I’ve zero faith than any massage facility in America will listen but that’s ok. In the middle of global pandemic we have a yoga community and stretch facilities to teach online.
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/5.jpg788940Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2020-04-01 19:32:422023-07-13 13:28:23Questions from Students #1
Massage school and how things run in the massage industry are interesting. You have to have a license and to get that license you have to go to an official accredited school, if in the U.S., mostly regulated state to state. Going across state lines or online are nearly non-existent and if you try to cross state lines you’re going to wind up in an odd bit of mess as each state has their own rules and credentialing process that may not agree with the neighboring state.
Texas has a 500 hour curriculum and let me be clear that I don’t fault schools for what they’re teaching. They have to torque and load anatomy physiology health and hygiene into students who often just got out of high school. I’m no huge fan of public education to begin with but they aren’t given much of a starting point. With only 500 hours what can they cover?
Just the bare basics.
What I teach is considered “advanced.” I mash on people for a living and move them around. There’s more art to it than that but at its basics I can teach anyone worldwide for Free for their first month and for $7/month after that.
My work is completely mat based clothes on and can done publicly. To be completely honest I’m told regularly that it’s, “not massage.” When I ask if then I can teach and share with anyone since it’s not massage I hear a deafening echo.
Live in Kenya? Great. Want to help your village friends? Awesome. Do you have internet access and $7/month? I fill in the gaps you won’t get in massage school. I tell it like it is because no one owns me. I speak my truth and tell it like it is. You can see 424+ hours of it on my subscription. That’s raw curse laden truth flowing out in unedited raw footage that anyone can learn from.
Will I stop? No. Will I continue growing and developing? Yes. Will it change and evolve? Absolutely. I refine it as I keep sharing.
The reason what I teach is different is because I’m not teaching therapists how to survive. I’m teaching them how to thrive. I’m teaching them what the massage schools don’t have the time energy or incentive to teach and I do it for $7/month.
The massage industry won’t look the same when I’m done with it.
As our industry has grown it’s being strangled by regulation and intruded upon on a million fronts because massage therapists won’t evolve and change our industry from inside. People do after all what they’re trained to do. My job is to retrain you. I have to clean out the cobwebs in therapists brains and ask why we started wanting to do “massage” to begin with.
Why did you go to school?
Why did you pay 10k or more in student loans to learn to massage people?
My goal isn’t to have clients come back. My goal is to have clients better so they don’t need me anymore.
Most schools out of necessity teach the basics and then send you onto large corporate massage change facility. What did Pink Floyd say, “we don’t need no education we don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom hey! Teacher…leave those kids alone.”
Do I think massage education is bad? No absolutely not. Do I think core curriculum could be improved? Sure but even massage school owners believe and are working on that.
I decided to do it myself. Out of my garage. Less authoritarian. More autonomy. More freedom and certainly more capacity to help people in ways our industry currently thinks unimaginable.
Are you an excellent student? Are you the iconoclast? Do you want to push beyond massage? Do you want to help me tear down the wall?
Otherwise you’re getting prepped for the sausage grinder.
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/6.jpg788940Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-12-07 01:43:182023-07-13 13:30:05Massage School Promises
I get emails from time to time or messages from students who are wondering what they can deal with or warnings about various conditions. Here’s an example from last night:
Hey Robert,
I have a new client that wants a Thai massage today (just noticed it’s midnight). She completed her intake form yesterday and stated she had suffered cerebral hemorrhage 38 yrs ago, left side got paralyzed and stiff. She exercises but limitations due to the stiffness.
One part of the intake form and how she responded:Please describe your pain and if it is always present or just when you do a certain activity. Please describe the activity. (is it stabbing? aching? burning?) my left arm joint (shoulder) when I stretch. My left leg around hip joint when I bend.
I obviously need to discuss with her about her limitations and keeping an open dialogue throughout the session. Should I keep away from some stretches or ultimately leave up to the client and what she can handle?
Thank you, Dedicated Student
I think that stretching has very limited therapeutic benefit in most situations. Stretching in my experience is more about end range and that’s fine for healthy people. Mobilization is what I most often use and in cases of caution I’d say communicate verbally More with the client as you go.
Explore with them and understand that many contraindications are just cautions. Thai massage is no more harmful than any other form of massage when done within a range of pressure and mobility that a receiver can easily receive.
Go slow. Communicate. 🙂
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/7.jpg788940Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-12-03 23:37:132023-07-13 13:31:34Contraindication or Caution?
I had a conversation with a colleague and student and while discussing our businesses and doing massage sessions he asked how many clients I see a week. I casually mentioned, “around 4” and he was in complete shock.
“That’s it? Just 4?” I said in reply, “well consider that now I have other streams of income. I have workbooks, dvds, subscription service and I teach in person classes. In addition those 4 clients represent 2 full days a week and 12 hours worth of sessions a week. $240 X 4 is $960 a week.”
He relaxed and just kind of took it all in. I realized long ago that I simply couldn’t serve all clients and had no desire to do “massage” as most labelled it. I’m the therapist that would work on my own chronic pain. Soft tissue and pain relief is what I do. In our culture that doesn’t have a name.
I love working on clients but as my practice grows my joy is building and helping more therapists thus expanding what I do on an exponential scale. I have a subscription service and teach..worldwide.
Thinking about it recently I started to wonder what I would do about clients. I need to see some. I need to continue honing my craft. It’s not really a good idea to not see clients at all. That’s like a chef that doesn’t cook or a hunter that never goes out into the woods. So, what do I do about clients?
First I think I take down my online scheduler and start a waiting list. My scheduling page will include some info about why I’m not currently taking more clients and there’ll be a spot to give me your email address fill out some pertinent information about why you want to see me then **choose** who I can work with based on need desire compatibility and a host of other criteria.
In addition I plan on having info about some of my colleagues/students who I can refer people out to. They’ll be happy to get the additional clients and I’ll be glad to have some pressure removed as my business continues to grow. It’s a new chapter in my work and I’m looking forward to helping more people on a massive scale.
Many in my industry refuse to advertise. They won’t Really build a business. They’re just limping along and playing instead of taking the bull by the horns. I can feel their, “what if I fail?” in discussions and all I can think is that I don’t really remember ever failing. Something just didn’t work. So I tried again with a slightly different twist. That’s just life. Try again. Failure is working a job you hate for a boss you don’t like and spending time complaining about a life you don’t want to live.
I choose my poison.
My poison is entrepreneurship. 🙂
I’m helping students advertise and build funnels. They’ve no idea what’s going to happen when these are done. If they ask me about it I say, “listen. If I shut down All of my revenue streams to focus on clients I’d run ads on facebook and instagram and I’d be booked out for 3 months.”
I’ve never done it. I’ve never once run ads for clients. I had enough. I was building multiple income sources and seeing clients as I could and when I could to keep building. Time? Money? The frustrating part is when you’re running out of time but not..quite..making..enough to scale to the next thing. Patience? Oh that is by far The most frustrating part.
Sure you can credit/debt your way out. You can risk it. You can run 30k in ads and take a risk but one of the things I find most funny is a business that has a 100k ad budget? Boring! Someone with a dream and no $ to speak of? That’s exciting!
The grind. The hustle. The American dream.
That’s what I love. Someone with religious fervor that their product or service can make lives better? That’s the stuff. I’m going to keep building that and that takes time. Which is to say again, be patient.
Invest your time first. You have more of that. When it starts to run out invest some $. When you’re doing a bit of both and having a balanced happy life? Keep doing that and pace yourself. Good things take time. Dreams particularly in the business space take people. It takes their dreams as much as yours. So long as you profit. So long as you can build just keep working and hopefully soon you can be a therapist with a waiting list.
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Tim-McCoy-and-Robert-Gardner-Talk-Thai-Massage.jpg960960Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-09-16 06:46:092019-09-16 06:46:09Massage Waiting List
They fight resist and block it with every attempt including legislation because frankly impermanence is scary and it’s easier if things would just stop changing so fast.
Years ago I adopted a different stance. That stance was that since all things are impermanent why not just float around? Build dreams follow your bliss but why resist? Resistance is in fact futile and in business resistance is garbage. I’ve no desire to play defense. Offense is where it’s at.
I posted this and expected I’d get some flack. I’ve an uncanny knack at bumping into people’s sore spots physically and psychically. When I posted it I expected the response I got which was, “hey, why are you hating on swedish?”
I’m not. Swedish and deep tissue as massage styles aren’t going away. They exist on nearly every street corner of America. Why would I want to offer what everyone else is offering? It doesn’t make sense in business to offer what in essence is the same service everyone else offers.
In addition as someone with chronic pain if you apply lubricant on my skin I’m going to start getting angry. I know what’s coming. I know what you were taught in school. I completely and vehemently disagree.
I don’t want a massage. I want you to help my pain.
If I ask a therapist to work on me as I work on others I’ll get nowhere. Sliding over my skin is akin to having an itch asking you to scratch my back and then you scratch near where I want you to. I’m writhing and squirming hoping you’ll get to where I need attention. I feel that but worse when you give me swedish. It feels as if you’re gliding over my painful areas refusing to slow down hang out and traction skin where the real relief seems to come from.
I’ve had it from extremely deep compressions like the ones I deliver using suspension.
I’ve also felt it from extremely gentle skin traction like cranialsacral therapy. I can only go with what I have personally felt.
Repeatedly clients ask me, “why isn’t what you do available everywhere? This is amazing work for pain. I’ve never seen or felt anything like it.” I then have to hang my head low and announce that the community of people I’ve been trying to give it to don’t believe it to be “massage.”
Regulation is a huge thorn in my side. Stretch facilities are opening up and with each new clinic and every yoga teacher I see doing it I wonder why the yoga community hasn’t listened either. I’ve seen spa owners and directors clench their teeth as I teach students work that’s easier on their bodies helps them rebook clients effortlessly and reduces chronic pain to rubble. Do they see innovation and see $$$? Nah, they see problems since it’s not “massage.”
Does the yoga community see what I’m doing and say, “hey Robert can you train our staff and get us doing this?” Usually no because if the word massage is used they realize a law and legal issues are looming. It doesn’t matter that I can give their studio another revenue stream and innovate their industry since they don’t want the burden of facility licenses and hiring massage therapists.
At this stage in my career when I teach massage therapists I’m fully aware that I have to deprogram them. Leaders in our industry have been far too concerned with maintaining status quo and not rocking the boat. I will say that the more you block me the more you resist the more barriers you put in my way, I become more crafty.
We’re still looking for those early adopters. We’re still putting out information seeing who will actually respond to wanting to help people quickly effectively without surgeries or medications. We don’t diagnose or treat any condition but as I tell my clients all the time, “what if your symptoms go away?”
The massage industries future is unknown to me. I see differentiation but with massage regulation that means virtually nothing I’m unsure who I can teach who will legally use the work or how I will continue to help people without your assistance.
Many therapists are content to have full practices. I started teaching because I saw so much suffering in my own industry and the untold horrors of the public’s pain forced me to continue going forward as rapidly as possible.
I will not stop. When I finally collapse and perish it will likely be in the middle of working on my next project trying to help people.
With each new stretch facility that opens I see massage regulation and more and more meaningless. If you can change the name it’s now legal? Time to rebrand and move on with life. We lost the Reboot™ trademark and I’m in the midst of what may be a legal debacle. I’ll have to go to a lawyer and go, “hey you know all that massage regulation we were concerned about? Stretch facilities have apparently figured out the loophole for us.”
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/thai-massage.jpg500750Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-08-06 06:18:562019-08-06 06:19:01Innovation and Early Adopters
I spend lots of time doing what increasingly looks like consulting. My presumption is that you become a consultant just by doing things becoming successful and then realizing that an increasing amount of your time is spent assisting others in the pitfalls of their doing the same.
Spending time talking to colleagues and clients I pondered to some who are more successful, “have your friends changed as your business grew?” Across the board all of them say yes. My friends and colleagues who get these conversations are much like me. Most are engaged in some small business or entrepreneurial venture and rarely are they doing 9 to 5 jobs.
A local yoga studio is having major financial issues. I heard about it via email and can’t say I was completely surprised as having spoken to the owner previously I’m not sure why anyone would want to do business with him. He contacted me because someone had come to Thai massage jam® and raved about the event insisting he had to host us.
He asked me what we should do and I layed our a clear succinct plan and before I could finish he said, “I want 50%.” I asked him, “50% of what? What haven’t even discussed what you’re willing to do.” He was rude. He criticized my attempt at a trademark for Reboot (which we did later lose by the way) and overall I was very unimpressed with his demeanor. After all, you called me. I didn’t approach your uppity studio.
Over time many and when I say many I mean most of the businesses around me have gone under. It’s been an amazing process to see the inside of businesses and wonder, “why don’t they make this better?” only to be criticized at every turn by management. I do look like the dude from the Big Lebowski but over time I’ve developed a keen sense of vision.
A friend was asking me how my business developed. How did I do what I’d done and what was the vision. I told him that I’d moved from La to Tx and was excited to get a job at a chiropractor’s office. That meant medical right? Well..sorta. I discovered very quickly that instead of treating me like a colleague and training me to do better work they just looked at me as an underling. I was some lowly massage therapist who didn’t know anything and my dreams of working in the medical setting were dashed. I’d already tried all the spas in Baton Rouge and been fired from most of them after having reviews from clients saying it was the best massage they’d ever had.
I worked at a nonprofit in Austin who will for this blog post remain nameless. I fell into it and the executive director saw something in me and asked me to be a volunteer coordinator at their facility. The pay was low and I had to ask what it even was but when I realized I could work in a non corporate entity and do some good in the world he just explained that I had to find resources find people and get them to help clean up improve and move the non profit forward.
Most of my time in the next two years was spent doing things I’d no clue about. I had absolutely no background in this at all. My job? Get it done.
I scoured craigslist for free items we needed. I made phone calls to contacts to see if we could find xyz accountant or volunteer to help with interior design. We began installing a garden I got free mulch from the city (it was easier for them and less $$$ to drop it at our facility instead of driving outside of town to dump it.) Slowly the place changed.
We found out at some point that the guys who clean garbage off of the highway could do their volunteer work at our facility. Next thing I knew 13 guys with wheelbarrows, shovels and tools came in and mowed grass cleaned the grounds disposed of trash organized our shed and moved mulch.
At one point we had 10 or more dumptrucks of free mulch and the contact for the roadside trash guys had scheduled them once a month for 4 months in a row. We altered the facility to the point where trouble brewed.
I’d done so much with so little for so long that it was having an effect on the facility. The executive director and others didn’t like the influence and sway I was having with the place. It was “their” vision not mine. I, in time, got fired.
It was a weird loss but I’d learned so much and one of the things I’d learned was to be completely creative learn for myself, research and get stuff done. Not only could I see the big picture. I could execute and make a series of steps to get us where we needed to be.
When I poured myself back into massage work I got a job at a small chiropractors office but this time they left me alone. So long as the clients liked the work I was gold. I started blending table Thai into my sessions and clients raved about all the “stretching stuff” I was doing. Eventually I put in a mat but more importantly I had a stable solid constant 12 hours a week. The rest of the time? That was mine.
I’ve been in my industry for 17 years. I look over at my coffee table and there are 700 pages of sequence manuals in Thai massage 9 dvds to go with it and when those were finished I realized I wasn’t close to done. Where’s the yoga? Where’s the trigger point work? Where’s the pain science? Where’s the breathing and pranayama?
I was teaching successfully and had created infrastructure for distribution but we had more to teach. Seeing how we were delivering content I spent the last 2 years recording every class uploading it and allowing students access for $7/month. Seems simple right? 🙂
17 years in and we’re not even close. The subscription vault is going to wind up being well over 1k hours of video instruction and I keep responding to students needs in our private facebook group. The outsiders keep saying, “but you can’t teach online.” Every time I hear that I can hear the sounds of cash registers going off like in the song Money by Pink Floyd.
No one gets it..yet. At least none of those except those who are subscribed. They keep beaming at how much money they’re making how their clients are improving and how much easier the work is on their bodies. After they tell me the hundreds of extra dollars their making in a day I ask, “how do you now feel about your $7/month investment?”
A local school asked me to give a talk on social media marketing to potential massage therapists. I was told that I could not film my own talk. I was giving it for free. I can’t film? My own social media discussion?
All of these businesses and their models are doomed.
This is not the marketing of 2019. It’s barely the marketing of 1985. I decided long ago that the most fun was doing as much as possible with absolutely nothing. I created what I’ve done nearly out of thin air and still run my business out of my garage.
What I’d learned at that non profit was that I could organize people. I could encourage people. I could create resources that others couldn’t figure out they had and do things enough with them to interrupt status quo and in fact make people angry because I could do so much with so little.
When I applied that to business? My own business? I’d adopted impermanence. Spiritually and in commerce. It changes and I became a cork. What’s this? It’s twitch. Let’s stream there for free.
My willingness to grow adapt develop and respond to my clients and students needs has propelled me to the upper tiers of my industry. I’m still in the trenches working but noticed recently that something had shifted. I’m working on investing now and not laboring as much. It doesn’t mean I don’t labor it just means that I’m regularly buying other people’s time to build things that expand since I simply cannot do it all.
I felt for a second like I was getting soft but I realize it’s not the same game anymore. I’ve already created the foundation now we’re pouring gas on the fire I built and I’m standing by smiling with a match.
Where will things go? I’m not really certain. My guess is until I’m dead many many people will completely shift their idea of what massage and bodywork is and far more will be helped than people consider possible.
I had a class in Dallas recently and of the 11 students maybe 3 had seen me before in video maybe on facebook groups. Take that 1/4 of people. Amplify that by every major city in the US and you see the larger picture.
Business itself is of huge interest to me. It’s a toy. It’s a way of helping people and providing them value and far too often I see businesses getting away from their core offers spending too much time talking about money. Money is how we keep score and we can’t invest more than we can earn and refill out tanks but long term business is about intimacy and connection.
If I sell burritos I want the customers to know that every grain of rice was tended to knowing it was intended for my fans. That care comes through and it’s much larger than money but leads to lots and lots of money. I regularly tell people much of my business sense comes from Phish and the Grateful Dead to quizzical looks.
The bottom line is I provide live public interaction and I don’t care if someone records the show. The next one will be different. What about trade secrets? Trade..secrets? I mash on people for a living. It is its own art and I’ve no wish to disparage it but in the end when people film what I do I’m held accountable for what I do and people get a chance to see you shine. Warts and all is the philosophy.
What the fans wind up seeing is someone they resonate with and who’s willing to be authentic and actually care about the customers he’s serving. How many businesses do that?
The ones that survive and continue and thrive? All of them will do that.
After all this time we’re still a blip on the radar of an old aging industry. People an hour away from my city have no idea who I am.
No one knows what we’re doing. My industry is barely paying attention. I’m pouring gas.
I’ve been dealing with these concepts for years and I can speak on it extemporaneously for hours. I fell into two traditions. Traditions of which I mostly hold no direct lineage.
I love Iyengar and his yoga but I’ve only ever taken one specific class though many of the classes I’ve taken and teachers I’ve studied with have more knowledge of his alignment.
Thai massage has a lineage and my teacher studied with some teachers in Thailand but she never made a big deal out of it nor have I. Pichest Boonthumme is represented as is Chaiyuth Priyasith but I’ve never set foot in their country of origin.
To be able to study overseas you need lots of disposable income and the capacity to travel the bulk of which I’ve not been able to afford. I continue to study as I can with whoever comes near and ask questions the frazzle everyone’s brain.
I’ve no wish to speak for him, which is why I link him here, but he said what I’ve been saying for years to students who actually listened. Yes we honor the foundation of the practice. We do that by updating it making it safer exploring it’s depth and giving it a modern twist that is uniquely our own.
You’d be surprised how controversial that idea is.
Jason ran me through vinyasa. It was hard to keep up. I mention in this video briefly how he tried to kill me. 🙂
I’ve gotten softer having a less fiery practice but in the middle of all that breathing moving sweating and trying to keep up I heard what I admire. He’s just trying to give his students his questions. He’s helping them move along and encouraging exploration. He’s actually asking questions about anatomy safety physiology and pain science.
In other words it’s a near mirror example of my path over the years except I approach it a bit more from a massage therapist’s perspective.
It’s hard to express what it felt like to have some weight taken off as usually I’m nearly alone in a community that doesn’t understand the larger discussion I’m having. Having some focus on Jason for a few hours while I could sweat and breathe and slowly feel like I was going to expire was actually psychically relieving.
His message isn’t revolutionary to me but with two distinct asian traditions people often associate with religion people get very testy very quickly if you try to remove the cultural background and figure out how to use those tools to help people in the west. I’ve done this myself on two fronts. Both communities the yoga community and the massage communities have left me a near pariah for 17 years.
I don’t fit anywhere.
I was glad that at least for a few hours I could still my mind and listen to another teacher that I respected. Jason if you read this I’d love to do an interview or podcast with you. I’d love to talk Thai massage and yoga and the connections between the two. I suspect we’ve come to very similar ideas from different paths and angles.
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Robert_Gardner_Wellness_Thai_Massage_Table-165.jpg6681000Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-06-09 06:31:352019-06-09 06:34:49How Do We Improve Yoga or Thai Massage?
Messages come through my inbox regularly and we’ve worked hard in the last ten years providing Thai massage and education in the Austin area as well as many states in the U.S. As the practice grows what I increasingly hear is, “can I take your class then train others?”
I have students sign contracts specifically preventing them from using my materials or sequences to go and teach others using my curriculum. I cannot prevent anyone teaching Thai massage as Thai massage has no legal distinction in the U.S. Anyone with a massage license can legally watch a youtube video and put Thai massage on their menu of services.
I’ve been teaching for well on ten years and I’ve not even come close to finding an end to what I’m offering. So you understand regularly licensed massage therapists get a session and completely freak out after receiving work from me. They announce, “what you do isn’t Thai massage!”
When I ask they always tell me that I don’t follow a sequence. I then laugh and say, “sequences are for beginners. I just work on you.”
Thai massage will continue to be in odd murky legal waters. Regulation is a regular consistent thorn in my side. Remember massage therapists will receive my work and declare that it is not massage. When I ask if I can legally go teach the yoga community they say, “oh shit. They don’t have licenses.” I smile and conclude the session.
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/robertgardner.png333333Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-02-11 22:17:192019-02-11 22:24:32I Want To Take Your Class Then Teach Thai Massage
I get this email once a week and need a standardized template response. This blog post is likely to be edited and revised over time.
You want to do Thai massage without a license?
Here’s the problem. Each state in the U.S. has different laws and we’re increasingly teaching internationally. I can legally teach anyone for $7/month worldwide. You can start now. With a million sets of laws I’ve no idea what it and is not legal. You being in AZ I don’t know that states particular laws how they are written interpreted or even remotely enforced.
If you do a google search for Thai yoga therapy or stretch therapy in AZ or any other state you may see that many may or may not use the word massage in their marketing. From a brief glance it does not appear that they are licensed.
Here’s the deal. I can teach. I can share. I can perform massage in a state I am licensed in. I can also often travel to your state and teach anyone I choose. I cannot in any way shape or form encourage or promote someone working doing massage without a license in a state that requires licensure for that practice. I do this for my own legal protection and usually tell you what I tell all students.
I do not know the law in your state. Get a lawyer. #bettercallsaul
Happy to chat,
Robert
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160805_201342.jpg600338Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-02-11 22:02:462019-02-11 22:02:52Do I Need A License To Do Thai Massage?
Thai massage has a lot of background and complexity. Many will recommend going to Thailand and Chang Mai to study and I think that’s a great option for those who can afford it. As a long term 16 year practitioner massage therapist and yoga teacher I’ve my own thoughts on education and what I see in the western marketplace.
I pride myself on the best of simple easy instruction for western students who want to get started whether they are licensed therapists, yoga teachers or amateurs who want to help friends and family.
What about a 10 day drip course on back pain? I show you a single technique each day for 10 days and walk you through a simple sequence for upper back and neck pain in addition to low back pain.
First I recommend if you’re a westerner that you possibly study with a western teacher to study and learn the basics. Mat based Thai massage clothes on includes lots of use of your legs and feet and you’ll need to be able to use your body in Thailand to be able to perform sessions and add nuance that Thai teachers can give you.
Second I think that western clients and therapists have different context than Thai practitioners and receivers. Thai teachers will never teach you how to sell your work and market it in a western marketplace. Most of what I’ve done as a western teacher and practitioner is help students translate the work in a different cultural context.
The bodywork itself is amazing. Western students are still confused about how to learn it how to practice it and even more how to sell and package it. I’ve gone through those same issues so it’s easier for me to translate that to an American mindset.
I’d like to point out that it’s also good to study with different teachers so you understand what you like and almost more importantly what you do not like. How does the teacher make you feel? How does the therapist make you feel? In the end I think those things are extremely important.
https://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Robert_Gardner_Wellness_Thai_Massage_Table-47.jpg6681000Robert Gardnerhttps://www.robertgardnerwellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Robert-Gardner-Wellness-Header.pngRobert Gardner2019-01-19 22:56:582019-01-19 22:59:59How Do I Get Started Studying Thai Massage?
