massage therapy journal

keeping you in touch.

  

First, Lear gently paws Gahmani’s shoulders like a cat. Then he cradles his head and weighs it until it gets heavier. He’s watching to see what kind of “stories” Gahmani’s body might have to tell. After releasing Gahmani’s head, he steps back and takes a break, to shake out his hands and relax his own body. Then Lear creates a hook with his hand, wrapping it close to Gahmani’s ear, rocking and letting his head roll naturally side to side. Both men’s bodies begin to share the same rhythm. When he takes Gahmani’s leg by the ankle and wiggles it, the wave ripples through the whole body like sending waves through a rope.

Those ripples help him to see what’s happening in Gahmani’s hips and lower back, says Lear. Senior Trager instructor Deane Juhan likens the technique to using a broom to get something out of the corner from a distance. It’s these fundamental principles of inquiry, weighing, rocking and elongating that form the basis for this language of touch.

As the session ends, the rocking slows gradually. Then Lear anchors the experience in Gahmani’s mind by saying, “Just as you can recall a stressful situation, you can recall this feeling of fluidity and softness.”

“When you said ‘this feeling is yours and you can have it any time you want,’ that is very important,” says Gahmani. “Sometimes stressful situations may not allow me to get relaxed. But by using my mind, I can go back to that beautiful place.”

Training typically includes anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and massage techniques. Most programs also include animal behavior and handling. Bregenzer and Gagnon both recommend gaining additional experience by working at a shelter. “It gives you a lot of animal handling experience,” Gagnon says.

There are differences from human practice of which to be aware. One of the biggest differences is that animals need much less applied pressure than humans. This is something that Bregenzer has seen human therapists struggle with. “If you are used to doing deep massage, it’s going to be harder to adjust,” he says. Instead, think infant massage or geriatric massage in which touch is very light.

“It’s more about listening to the animal’s body,” Bregenzer adds. “If you’re physically working too hard, you’re not doing it right.”

Whalen-Shaw sees the same problem with 90 percent of the human massage therapists who go through her program. “You cannot create pain,” she says. “You can’t say, ‘You’ll feel better in three days.’ A dog lives now. The horse lives now. The cat lives now. They don’t get, ‘I’ll feel better in three days.’ They get, ‘You’re hurting me.’ And they have mechanisms to stop you from hurting them.”

And there’s another difference - human clients aren’t likely to harm you, but an animal may bite, kick or scratch. It’s one reason why reading body language is so important.

“Watch for signs,” says Bregenzer. It may be very subtle, such as the curl of a lip or the rolling of the eyes. Or it may be tension in the animal’s body. At that point, “back away, go somewhere else, make them comfortable, then ask to go back in again,” he says. For Bregenzer the asking is in the hands, slowly working back to the area in question.

Bregenzer also believes animals are much more involved in massage sessions than people. “Humans tend to lay there and let the work be done,” he says. “With animals, you can almost feel their attention following your fingers, even with their eyes closed.”

The intuitive nature of animals is something animal massage therapists appreciate, and it can compel them to become more intuitive themselves. “You become more perceptive of how animals feel in our presence,” says Rudinger. “And you learn to read their behaviors.”

As with human clients, it’s about building trust. “If I respect them and sit quietly and wait for their acceptance, even if I wasn’t able to touch them, that can be the most powerful session we ever have because I’ve learned to accept their boundaries,” says Whalen Shaw. “The next time the animals come in, they will remember that.”

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