- [Maria] Hello massage nerds.
So I had my zoom meeting this Saturday,
and I wanted to let you know and share with you some of the
questions that were brought up.
And some of the things that we brainstormed about.
It was really pretty neat to meet people from all over.
I had somebody from Jamaica,
the United States and Australia.
I had a lady from Australia that woke up at three in the
morning just to be, you know, here in our zoom meeting.
So this was for you, Lee-Ann.
I really appreciate your, your comments and your feedback.
And Lee-Ann's question was because of COVID and everything
that's been going on in Australia.
They're not able to meet in person in the school.
She's still in school.
And I know some of you already seasoned massage therapist,
and you know, this,
this is really for beginners and for people that are still
in school for students. So she was asking me,
she's having a real difficult time breaking down the times
on, you know, on how to work on a body.
So I told her I would do a video and try to explain this.
Most of us do 60 hour, 60 minutes, I'm sorry.
Not 60 hour. Yeah, we couldn't do that right.
60 minute increments.
So let's say whether you start supine or prone,
it doesn't matter. That's your preference,
whatever you're taught in school or whatever you like,
but this is the way I like to break it down.
If you start prone, then you can start, you know,
with a back, if you like, that's 15 minutes right there.
If you start supine, then you can start with a neck,
shoulders and the face. And you know,
and the scalp that's 15 minutes.
So I like to leave 15 minutes for the bigger parts,
15 minutes for the back and 15 minutes for the neck and
shoulders. So that's half an hour right there.
You only have half an hour left.
So let's do five minutes on each limb on each arm.
That's 10 minutes.
So now you've got 40 minutes that you've worked on the
client, and then you do five minutes on each leg.
So that's 10 minutes.
That's 15 minutes that you've worked on your client.
And then once you turn them prone,
five minutes on the back of the legs.
So you do the legs twice, anterior, posterior,
five minutes each that's your half an hour.
Half an hour is divided five minutes each on the limbs.
Plus the, you know, the,
the legs score twice and then 15 minutes on the back or 15
minutes on the neck and shoulders.
That's your hour right there.
I have a big clock in my, in my room.
Cause that was another question there, there was somebody,
a lady from Jamaica that says, you know,
she works for a spa and you know, she says,
how do I keep that time? Well, you know,
you can have a clock,
a big enough clock that you can look at,
especially if you're a beginner at the beginning,
you really do need the clock.
Because now I can tell you when an hour is up for me,
however, if you're new, you still want to pace yourself.
You know, you, you might want to use music.
That'll set a good rhythm because rhythm is important.
More than anything.
Another question that was brought up is that if you work for
a spa or a chain, you have to be right on time.
You can not be one minute later, one minute, you know,
you have to be finished on time because the next client is
waiting.
So one of the things that was brought up is what do you do
with a client that comes in and says, oh,
my shoulder's really hurting today.
Can you work on that a little extra?
And they still want a full body massage, which you know,
is like, what do you do?
So one of the things that I like to do is I,
I like to talk to my client and ask them,
are you okay with me skipping,
maybe the back of your legs or the front of your legs?
Cause that's 10 minutes that I can spend extra on your
shoulder. Most clients are okay with that.
You know, another thing is you got to document everything.
Especially if you work for a spa or a chain, you know,
we all have forms.
I know all of us have forms that they have to fill out
before we work on them. And if you can just note on there,
you know, client asks for 10 minutes,
extra on the shoulder and I'm going to
omit the 10 minutes on
the anterior or posterior of the legs,
which are when the client chooses or whichever one you think
they need more.
So that's your hour right there, because it is,
it is very different when you're self-employed and you get
to know your clients and you get to know what they're coming
in for. And it's different if you work for a spa,
because sometimes if you're in a hotel,
they only come in one time when they're staying they're on
vacation and that's it. You never get to see them again.
So it depends where you work and your approach and your
style. However, I always do say this.
If you work for a chain or you work at a spa,
make sure you cover yourself so nobody can come back later
and say, well, she didn't do this or she didn't do that.
Okay. And I know another question was, what do you do with,
you know, with a 90 minute massage?
Well, you have more time.
So instead of spending 15 minutes on the back,
you spend 20 minutes or unless they need, you know,
a little bit more,
you can spend that extra half hour on the back and extra on
the shoulders.
So all you gotta do is find out where their problem areas
are and just increase the time to that area.
And again, it just depends where you work.
And I know most of us, like for me,
that I've been self-employed for 33 years.
I don't want to know that at the beginning, you know,
you really want to help your clients. You really want to,
if they need that extra 10 minutes,
then you've got to schedule your clients an hour and a half
apart. That's what I did for many, many years.
I would schedule all my clients an hour and a half apart.
Now, once they were trained not to be late.
And you know that they had only five minutes to change.
You know,
then you can schedule an hour and 15 minutes apart.
So you can just give yourself five minutes to wash your
hands, you know, to prep.
And I know that I was known for really changing my table
quickly and getting ready for the next client. But that was,
you know, that was a few years back,
even now with COVID we have to take time in between clients
to, you know,
really sanitize everything a little bit more than we used
to. Because as a massage therapist, we've always cleaned.
We will always, you know, wipe things down.
But now we have to go that little extra step.
That might take a couple more minutes. So anyway,
I hope that helps you guys for those of you that are
beginning. Let me just recap again,
when you give an hour massage,
15 minutes on the back and 15 minutes on the neck and
shoulders as half an hour,
and then you have 10 minutes for the arms,
10 minutes for the anterior part of the legs and 10 minutes
for the posterior part of the legs. That adds to
another 30 minutes. So there's your full hour.
And I hope this helps them.
We have another video coming up from that came out of that
zoom meeting another suggestion. So that was it.
And until the next time create a great day.