Massage In The Age Of Aquarius: The Pivotal Decade Of The 1970s

In this decade, the field of massage therapy was forever changed, and the momentum begun then is still propelling us into the future.

by Patricia J. Benjamin

When the moon is in the 7th house, and Mercury aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
--Hair (1968)

It was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius--of peace, love, harmony and "Beatlemania." It was also an explosive time in American history with the civil rights and antiwar movements, feminism, gay liberation, ecology, and more important to the field of massage therapy, counterculture hippies and the human potential movement.

Young people threw off the constraints of the conservative 1950s to "turn on, tune in, drop out." They opened their minds to Eastern religions and philosophies, became yogi devotees, embraced vegetarianism, experimented with free love and mind-altering drugs, joined encounter groups and tried meditation. They challenged mainstream medicine, and revived the practice of massage. The social upheaval of the 1960s set the stage for a pivotal decade in the history of massage in America.

Massage In The 1970s
Much of what we see in the world of mainstream massage and bodywork in America today can be traced to the 1970s. In the preceding decades, the practice of massage was in decline, and if it could be found at all was a remnant of the heyday of Swedish massage from the 1930s to 1940s. Suddenly, everything changed.

Toshiko Phipps at her school in Putney, Vermont, applying shiatsu along the bladder meridian (c.1978)

Ideas about health and healing from China, Japan and India were introduced to a larger American audience in the 1970s, and were embraced by some as an alternative to Western thinking. Traditional Chinese medicine, including herbs and acupuncture, and forms of Asian bodywork, such as shiatsu, acupressure and tuina, were explored for their healing benefits. Americans warmed to health practices, such as tai chi and chi kung.

Yogis from India were attracting followers and founding ashrams (i.e., religious communities) in the United States. Devotees followed a lifestyle that typically included vegetarianism, meditation, breathing exercises, hatha yoga, Ayurvedic medicine and massage. More secular yoga classes turned up for the first time in recreation centers and on college campuses. Swami Satchidananda founded an early alternative health center in the 1970s called Integral Health Services in Pomfret, Connecticut. Among the staff shown in the photo below are the cofounders of the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy: Beverly Shoenberger and Steve Kitts.

Natural healing practices popular in the 19th century were revived as alternatives to mainstream medicine, and health food stores, formerly considered the territory of "health nuts," opened on Main Street. Many forms of bodywork that were developed in the early 20th century, and that had been quietly preserved and practiced out of sight of the mainstream in the 1950s, were rediscovered. These included reflexology, as taught by Eunice Ingham, and polarity therapy by Randolph Stone.

John Travis, M.D., first wrote about the wellness model in the 1970s. Although the wellness model was introduced within the field of health and fitness, the developing field of massage therapy quickly adopted it as a good philosophical fit. Its holistic perspective, goal of high-level wellness as opposed to the mere absence of disease, and emphasis on self-responsibility resonated with the prevailing beliefs of massage practitioners of the day.

The jogging and aerobics fads of the 1970s helped revive the practice of massage for athletes on a large scale. Sports massage, which in 1972 caught the eye of runners looking for a competitive edge, was adopted by hoards of weekend warriors looking to enhance their performances. Many who had formerly avoided massage, with the perception that it was a luxury for the rich or adult entertainment, tried massage, which had gained a new respectability by its association with sports.

Esalen massage stands out as one of the most important developments of the 1970s. More than any other influence of that decade, it turned the mainstream onto massage. Esalen massage created a pool of people wanting to be massage practitioners, and others wanting to receive massage as clients. It thus revived an economy related to massage that included founding massage schools, supply and equipment manufacturers, magazines, home-based practices and alternative centers for health and healing. Its importance warrants a closer look.

Esalen Massage
Distinguished teachers, researchers and thinkers from around the world came to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, in the 1960s to 1970s to explore the outer limits of human potential. Esalen, which is still in operation today [www.esalen.org], became a focal point for the Human Potential Movement of that era. Ida Rolf (Rolfing®, Structural Integration), Moshe Feldenkrais (Feldenkrais Method®, Functional Integration and Awareness through Movement) and Milton Trager (Trager®, Psychophysical Integration) were among the luminaries who introduced their approaches to bodywork to a wider audience at Esalen.

Swami Satchidananda, and the staff of Integral Health Services in 1978.

Swedish massage was given a makeover at the Esalen Institute, and reincarnated as a form of bodywork that embraced the sensuality of touch and its potential for communication on an emotional and spiritual level. George Downing, a teacher at the institute, wrote The Massage Book (1972), which quickly became the "bible" of Esalen massage. It, and similar books published in the 1970s, described a simplified version of Swedish massage, but with a new emphasis on sensuality. The brochure for the 1977 AMTA Mid-West Conference featured an advertisement (shown at right) for a "non-verbal Esalen-style body awareness massage."

The stereotypical Esalen massage took place by candlelight or out-of-doors. There was a hint of incense in the air. Patchouli was a favorite. Oils scented with fragrances such as lavender were used liberally. Music for massage played gently in the background. Draping was often unnecessary, and for the giver of massage, clothes were optional. Long flowing effleurage was performed lightly, and the receiver drifted off into a nirvana of cosmic space.

Advertisement for a "non-verbal Esalen-style body awareness massage" in the 1977 AMTA Mid-West Conference brochure.

Inspired by Ashley Montague's book published in 1972, Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin, massage was reborn as a "touch therapy" believed to be a remedy for many of the ills of modern society. Massage and related forms of bodywork were seen as a panacea for everything, from estranged lovers and friends, to troubled children, to violence in the streets. Proponents of massage, influenced by the antiwar movements of the time, viewed massage as a vehicle for world peace.

It should be noted that although Esalen massage has had a lasting influence on the field of massage therapy, it was not intended to be professional massage. It was counterculture, a rebellion against the 1950s mainstream "establishment" and its conservative values.

Years later, when many counterculture hippies and kindred spirits were seeking more stability in their lives, they looked for ways to contribute to society in a way consistent with the values formed in their youth. For many this would mean a career in massage and bodywork.

The Aquarian Legacy And The Shift To Professionalism
Many schools and training programs were founded in the early 1980s in response to the desire for more organized massage therapy education and a growing client pool. Most of these schools and programs retained some of the flavor of the 1970s.

Students often sat on cushions as in meditation centers of the prior decade, dress was casual and barefoot massage common. Curricula often included some introduction to meditation, Asian bodywork or energy work. A holistic perspective was honored in discussions of emotions, spirituality and body/mind interplay. In most cases, Esalen or Swedish massage remained the basis of technique, but other approaches were integrated into the program depending on the inclination of the instructors. A few programs focused solely on shiatsu or another Asian approach.

A more mature perspective slowly developed as schools, and the field as a whole, came to grips with issues such as the need for draping, good interpersonal boundaries and knowledge of Western anatomy. As the larger culture changed in the 1980s to 1990s, and practitioners matured, ideas of acceptable professional dress and behavior also changed.

Antiestablishment sentiments hung on, though, as issues of professionalism were hotly debated. Should massage therapists be licensed? Nationally certified? Can any organization speak for the field as a whole? How can we interact with the medical establishment without losing our souls? These concerns have their roots in the counterculture.

Differences of opinion surfaced related to the name for the field. Is it bodywork, massage therapy, somatic education or touch therapy? Can we even talk about one field? The diversity of approaches and ideas introduced in the 1970s stimulated a search for identity that has yet to sort itself out.

In some ways, the 1970s legacy has perpetuated image problems for the massage therapy profession. There's the lingering association with the New Age movement, and therefore, "woo-woo" massage and the California cosmic connection. The "mystic crystal revelation and the mind's true liberation" went a little too far, according to some. For them, massage is relegated to quackery and pseudoscience, or just not taken seriously. Efforts to dis-associate massage with adult entertainment have been hampered to the extent that the field is associated with Esalen massage, with its sensuality and nudity.

A largely unrecognized casualty of the era was Swedish massage itself. In its simplified and sensualized Esalen version, the identity of "Swedish" was narrowed to fluff and glow, light, relaxation massage. This distorted image does an injustice to the Swedish massage of an earlier era, with its versatility, range of techniques and therapeutic applications.

However, the positive effects of the 1970s outweigh the negatives. A holistic philosophy and wellness perspective are now deeply ingrained in the field. Creativity, diversity, independence and open minds continue to be valued. The alternative has now become complementary and integrated with the "establishment." And the public, also a product of the times, continues to support freedom of choice in health care, and values the therapeutic benefits of massage.

Look around today and you will see the legacy of the 1970s. In that decade, the field of massage therapy was forever changed, and the momentum begun then is still propelling us into the future.

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Patricia J. Benjamin, Ph.D., is coauthor of Tappan's Handbook of Healing Massage Techniques and Understanding Sports Massage. She has been writing and teaching about the history of massage therapy since the early 1980s. She is currently executive director of the Chicago School of Massage Therapy, and can be reached by telephone at: 773-477-9444, or via E-mail at: pjb@csmt.com.

Bibliography
Downing, George. The Massage Book. New York: Random House, 1972.

Jackson, Richard. Holistic Massage. New York: Drake Publishers, 1977.

Knaster, Mirka. Discovering the Body's Wisdom. New York: Bantam Books, 1996.

Leonard, George. Walking on the Edge of the World: A Memoir of the Sixties and Beyond. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.

Montague, Ashley. Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.