When to Take it All Off

One of the most interesting topics I had in #massageschool was learning about the absolute basics of the profession for example what do we call the piece of equipment that a person is laying on top of during the #massage session? We were told in no uncertain terms it was a table not a bed. We were told the reasoning that the terminologies is a table and not a bad was the connotation that the bed was somehow a very intimate and sensual space. Now to a certain degree I can understand their point of you but yet it was pretty interesting at the time when me and my fellow students really try to debate whether this was really that big of a deal or not. To coincide with that we also had to have conversations around the amount of Undress a person needs in order to receive an actual massage. So to better understand it we always tried to come up with a simple formula and even some of the teachers that taught subject matter would disagree about what that formula would be. For some instructors the idea of starting out with what technique you planned on using on the corner determined how much clothing they needed to remove. So for example Japanese #shiatsu can be done for the most clothed as long as you're not trying to work through many layers of loose clothing because you can't get a good grip. If you were for example going to do standard American #Swedishmassage leaving undergarment on would be considered the standard. Now undergarments in this case only talks about the #underwear not at the Bra. And many other countries in the world for example and unity is very excepted in certain circumstances and so even covering a persons body up is considered taboo and some countries so we would have been trained differently if we were working in a touristy area in a different country. So as an American living in #America with our current rules and regulations as well as what we would consider a non-aggressive and safe environment what is the standard practice when it comes to clothing? After years of working in the profession I think that it does depend on the techniques you wish to use and the comfort level of the client and the therapist. I have worked in both my own private practice as well as working for other people and I've also worked in a number of different places with different laws and regulations. The simple truth is that Americans are prudish and I can't exactly explain all of why that is but I truly believe that we have laws and customs based on very strong belief in self-determination and when that doesn't play apart it's typically religion. I can tell you just like a nurse or doctor we see all different shapes and sizes of bodies and frankly a human body becomes more of a thing to be worked on and then a person. So for example if you gave me a client who is extremely tall and they want a one hour session I know I'm gonna have to spend less time on each area of the body and more time moving around the body because there's more surface area to #massage and will be very hard to get the entire body massage in one hour if they're excessively tall. If someone is very short there's a lot less surface area to work on and therefore remove her on the body very very slowly. These are the mechanical aspects of the job they're not about the client as a person in other words there's no judgment about them being tall or short it's simply that exist in this form. One of the things that however can influence the speed of a massage how much clothing a person keeps on if you're using one technique versus another. If a client is OK with having their #glutes massage directly which means not through a sheet we can create a longer stroke that goes from the heel of the foot all the way up to the shoulder this continuous motion up the body does give us more time to work on that area in more detail and therefore we have to account for that. It can also be something as simple as one technique that requires less clothing might be more effective for a particular pain or discomfort there having been a closed method which again changes the time in a technique that we use. There's also one other major component as to how much clothing to take off that we haven't really talked about and that's peoples comfort levels. Some people feel very safe being under raped and completely nude and other people feel much safer wearing a single layer of clothing that is relatively loose and easy for a massage therapist to work with and that could be for a number of reasons. Most often the therapist doesn't need to know why they choose one over the other it's more about what's going to work at once not going to work rather than the acceptance or resistance behind it. I for example find that when I get a massage I would rather have a sheet over the top and nude underneath and that has to do with my own self image and when I think of my body. So once you buy it I can give to people who have no massage experience were of had bad experiences when it comes to more or less clothing or draping? The answer is pretty simple and that is I would tell people to tell the therapist what their concerns are and listen for their suggestions as to what to do next. If they are reputable provider with years of experience they will be able to offer you reasonable suggestions and it's simply a matter of trial and error.