Ethics Mindfulness & Loving Kindness- 6CE

The Buddha advocated that one should establish mindfulness in one's day-to-day life maintaining a calm awareness of one's body, movements, functions, sensations, feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and consciousness itself. In modern psychology Mindfulness has been expanded upon, and is described as a state of active, open attention on the present moment. “When you are mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judgment. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.”

-Psychology today (http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/mindfulness)

 

Lets put this into a real life perspective.  Have you ever been driving along in your car with your radio blaring, half focused on the road, and day dreaming?  You begin to think about what you have to do at work tomorrow, what you ate for dinner last night, and you suddenly remember that your husband’s birthday is coming up next month, and you’d like to plan something nice…when all of a sudden you arrive at your destination.  You have absolutely no idea how you’ve gotten there.  You were somewhere else for the entire commute, and you missed it.   Unfortunately this is very common. It is also very dangerous, yet this is how many of us go through life.

 

When it comes to our profession as massage therapists Mindfulness is the basis, the core of our ethics.  Without mindfulness, therapeutic massage is impossible.  If a massage therapist is lost in thought, “driving along” mindlessly over the client’s body, without awareness of what is happening for the client, it ceases to be a therapeutic or beneficial experience at all. 

 

The practice of mindfulness gives us the opportunity to become present with ourselves just as we are capable in any moment or situation. Developing this skill teaches us how to stop unnecessary suffering which results from trying to escape the discomforts of daily life.  When we talk here about suffering, we don’t just mean intense pain, but also, minor annoyances and discomforts.  Let’s look at a practical example relating to massage:

 

Imagine you have a client who was lost on their way to your massage practice.  It set them about 15 minutes behind for their normal hour of therapy.  Because of this you have to modify your massage from an hour session to a 45 minute session.  You are aware that you have a client scheduled immediately after them.  You may feel rushed.  This feeling of urgency could be construed as suffering.  If you allow it to persist, you will find yourself distracted, preoccupied and unable to focus on the time remaining. 

 

Buddha taught that the source of suffering is our attempt to escape from our direct experience.  First, we cause ourselves suffering by trying to get away from pain and attempting to hang on to pleasure. For example, many of us easily escape into a day dream during session, or use the quiet time to plan out the rest of the afternoon instead of focusing on our work (the client) in that present moment.

 

Unfortunately, instead of suppressing our suffering or perpetuating our happiness, this strategy has the opposite effect. Instead of making us happier, it causes us to suffer.  It makes us less effective at our work.  We become careless, sloppy, and we don’t provide the support to our clients that they needed simply because we weren’t paying attention.  Or even worse, we may unintentionally cause harm to the client.  Either way the client’s needs are not being met, therefor they eventually will cease to utilize your services.  This will negatively impact your business, reputation, your wallet and even your self-esteem.

 

Lets take a few moments to reflect upon that.  Please ask yourself a few hard questions about your mindfulness in your practice. Lets  stop there and reflect.  Think about how this applies to you in your massage practice.  Without judgment please honestly answer the following questions:

 

Am I preoccupied while I work?

Are my clients my primary focus during their session?

Has my mind wondered off during their treatment?

Am I aware of what I am feeling (Physically & Emotionally) during their session?

Am I focused on my movements?

Am I focused on my body mechanics?

Am I in tune with my clients comfort level?

Am I focused on my intent?

 

These are only a few of the many questions you could ask yourself about your ability to be mindful in your massage practice.

 

Mindfulness is paying, precise, nonjudgmental attention to the details of our experience as it begins and ends.  Pay attention to your depth of pressure, the texture of the skin, facia, muscle fibers in every area worked.  Actively looking for and feeling for trigger points and energetic inconsistencies, Instead of focusing only on the minute hand of the clock in front of you.  The longer we are therapists the more sessions we have under our belt the easier it is to turn on the “autopilot” and get away from experiences we find difficult, or simply become bored with. Using mindfulness we practice being able to be present for all experiences. Equally, we bring mindfulness to pleasant experiences as well. Many times we have a hard time staying present with things that make us happy or experiencing enjoyment. We often turn to something more familiar, like worrying that it won't last or trying to keep it from fading away.   When we are mindful, we show up.  We are present in our world, our life, our work, our relationships; we don't miss them by being distracted or by wishing for things to be different. Instead, if something needs to be changed we are present enough to understand what needs to be done. Here is another example of this:

 

Imagine your client has been coming to see you weekly for months.  In her first few appointments you really were focused on the muscular issues that were associated with her chronic low back pain.  You spent each hour session focused on the specific muscles associated with her pain, and you had a genuine desire to make her feel better. Week after week you have gotten to know the client better through conversation.  Over time you find yourself looking forward to the client’s appointment because the two of you have so much to talk about.  7 weeks go by and the client’s treatment continues.  You realize that all this time has gone by and the clients not making progress.  Her injury persists. You suddenly become aware that while technically you had been massaging her for an hour a week for the past 5 weeks you were not focused and unfortunately ineffective. Chances are she notices as well. 

 

Being mindful is not a substitute for actually participating in our lives and taking care of our own needs and the needs of others. In fact, the more mindful we are, the more skillful we can be in compassionate action.