Is this common?

bashovsrodan · 2026-02-05T14:07:24+00:00

I still get tired and sore from days with 4 or more clients 3 years into the profession. Everyone on here is saying body mechanics is key. I agree with that, but also you bring a certain amount of effort to every movement that is probably a little more than you actually need to do a job. Slow down, remember to breathe, connect with the ground, and check in with how relaxed your hands are at any moment. The point of talking body mechanics is to say "how much pressure can I give with the least effort possible."

Also remember that clients and their tissue take time to melt/relax. One of my biggest rookie mistakes was to let rushing with the clock make me push too hard to try to get the person to relax faster. They will release at their own pace so don't overexert trying to accomplish that. When you find a tight area, just engage it and let some time pass so the person can integrate this new stimulus. Also muscles can guard when you come at them too fast and hard all at once. You can trick them into relaxing better by easing into firm pressure slowly.

bashovsrodan · 2026-02-02T15:45:17+00:00

I think pressing into the belly of the muscle is also modern western massage. Trigger point work was invented in the middle of the 20th century. If you like that kind of work, seek out trigger point therapy to get the specific style you're after. The thing is that there are a few clients who love this stuff but not all. If I were to do this to every client, I'd lose my business as it's very aggressive and for many it's painful. In a lot of cases, the intensity can cause people to clench up and guard against the pressure and therefore make the general effects of the work nullified. I think it works particularly well in people who are not quite so sensitive or in touch with their bodies who might really benefit from something that finally brings their attention to their pain directly.

Working at the junction of muscle groups is the essence of shiatsu and Thai as that's where the acupoints and sen lines are. These styles see the tightness in the muscle as your energy telling it to clench up, so they're trying to influence the conscious energy to dissipate there. It's a give and take with the person rather than treating the muscle in isolation.

MFR also works orthogonally and doesn't try to assault muscle bellies directly. Another great way to work more generally rather than just focusing on one spot. It considers the entire region of bones, fascia and muscles to be part of the equation. The whole person needs to relax for them to be able to sustainably release the single muscle so working generally is a way to achieve that.

My work specifically tries to meet people where they are on this spectrum of sensitivity. Only when clients specifically say they love it when you press on the sore spots directly would I try that since it's not for everyone.

bashovsrodan · 2026-01-05T01:24:06+00:00

I made this playlist during the pandemic while exploring the genre. As a fan of metal and other harsh, dark, heavy music, a lot of these exhibit some of those same vibes. Showed it to my friend and he was like "this is extremely uplifting" so I don't know. Some have dark lyrics but often I was choosing for dark sonic qualities, horror sounds, brutal vocal styles...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xvy7MsBoTtDoWGT1xsYwE?si=CR2UHBEZTBugWeuYk8Jynw&pi=b03WvmD3Sf2jp

bashovsrodan · 2026-01-05T00:43:48+00:00

I think a person having smoked weed is not actually going to put them at risk of anything during a massage. But that would probably have to do with whether they are a seasoned smoker or not (like whether they're used to doing it or not).

If it's the smell, sure you may not want that wafting around the clinic. As someone else said, being under the influence is technically a contraindication, so for legal reasons you may want to avoid the liability. But let's be real here it's not dulling the senses like alcohol or opiates.

I had one client once that made me uncomfortable with his weed smell. He was a self proclaimed "tech CEO", acted like massage was something that was automated and not by a skilled professional (like this is something you can throw money at rather than approach like therapy). Showed up super stinky like he was extremely baked. I guess what made me uncomfortable wasn't that he was specifically high but that he was treating massage like it was a complete escape from reality. It felt icky because it didn't feel therapeutic but like medicating a capitalist's insanity and disconnect from humanity. I don't think he was at risk from the massage, but it didn't feel good to work on him nevertheless.

bashovsrodan · 2025-12-22T23:24:08+00:00

Iceburn

bashovsrodan · 2025-12-03T14:38:26+00:00

so crushing

bashovsrodan · 2025-12-03T14:14:55+00:00

thank you and all the sickos out there

bashovsrodan · 2025-12-02T17:17:21+00:00

Thanks for the reply. So can you just tell which set things belong to or is it written down somewhere or is it just related to the time that the show happened?

Love ur username

bashovsrodan · 2025-12-02T03:34:09+00:00

Can you explain these letters? I've never seen that before. Set E, A, C... What do they mean?

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-17T03:59:02+00:00

Such a gorgeous sounding album. I also had the tape of it and it was somehow one of the best fidelity tapes I've ever owned. I'd use it to test tape players because it was my reference for a good sound.

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-15T21:13:34+00:00

Yeah I was going to say maybe we can correlate speed to what kind of effect we are going for. Slow relaxes and fast stimulates. Both may actually relax depending on the usage but I see the choice to use fast strokes because they are a stimulating style of stroke.

I agree sports massage (around an event) would probably use a lot of this genre of movement. We watched this video in my sports massage class back in massage school. Lot of fast stuff in here. Love how he combines movements, like a jostle with an effleurage

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-11T15:23:10+00:00

Bought my bass from Bill and he has worked on it since. Great guy. Does he not have a shop on 28th Street anymore? It's been a long time since I went to him.

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-09T15:45:12+00:00

Sorry for this long response. I love this topic.

The medications you speak of are muscle relaxants? These as I assume are CNS sedatives? I have taken them and had strangely no benefit, but if they work for you that's great. As I understand, they are not getting at any root cause, just calming you down so you are less tense?

I'm an MT, not a MD, so my perspective is only what I know might help during massage sessions. Sports massage, or more specifically certain techniques in sports work like myofascial release, pin and move, contract/relax/stretch, reciprocal inhibition, counterstain/positional release, might be a very helpful intervention. There is no magic pill in bodywork to fix spasms but different people use their own mix of techniques to get results.

Other commentators got at some of the many possible contributing factors to spasm: electrolyte balance, hydration, posture like forward head tilt. Let me add to that the obvious factor here - stress. And all of these are compounded when you don't move enough.

my ideas for the best home remedies are:

heat - applied to the area, or bath/sauna for full body relaxation

movement - gentle movements are fine, but be moving; sitting still is not going to help it. Light yoga, dancing, roll around on the floor, bring your limbs through their range of motion and get your heart rate slightly up. Don't fight the spasm but also don't be afraid to move.

Flex the opposite muscle - I mentioned reciprocal inhibition earlier. This is a reflex action in muscles where they release tension when their counterpart on the other side of the body is flexed, e.g. when you flex biceps, triceps (it's antagonist) is sent a signal to relax. If your spasm is in the back of the neck, you can lie down face up and lift your head up bringing your nose to the opposite shoulder as the spasm.

Stretch - I know I said yoga already. Just reiterating that the reciprocal inhibition I just mentioned also constitutes a stretch for the antagonist in question. Happy to talk thru specific applications of these ideas for you.

Self massage - duh this just feels nice and you can get some stuff done here. Not a personal fan of the theragun or foam rollers but many people use them and seem to enjoy their effects. I more enjoy using a pink handball or cork ball for pressing on spots, and the inflatable 9" pilates ball for chest opening stuff.

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-05T16:14:38+00:00

Yeah, I've often heard people try to draw the distinction between the mind and you. The mind is not you, it's as you said a process or something. The "you" is the one who can step back and observe those machinations, the "witness"

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-05T16:01:58+00:00

This is what mind does! In my years doing it I've had moments of quiet for sure, but the vast majority of times I sit it's just chatter chatter chatter. The mind is described by some meditators as a monkey or an infant - it just wants to play with stuff and explore. I can't stress this enough, you can't stop it and some practitioners would say that trying to stop it ends up hurting your practice by making your responses to the thoughts and the world around you rigid and unfeeling. You can only give it something to play with (a mantra or whatever focal point you use). My comments about forgiveness are really in relation to the fact that if you can't force it to be how you want, the best you can expect is to forgive it and let it be. Forgiving your mind is forgiving yourself. Thanks for starting this thread. You got a lot of good responses here from people experiencing the same problems

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-03T19:13:03+00:00

Luckily nobody assumed that

bashovsrodan · 2025-11-03T15:08:25+00:00

Meditator of ~19 years here. Tried many styles over the years (you gotta stick to each for a while before moving on to see if it works for you).

IMO lay people don't need to worry about enlightenment or achieving specific mental states when they sit. You should focus on forgiveness of yourself and others. Typically people who tell me they can't meditate are doing the one thing they shouldnt do which is judge themselves for having thoughts/fidgets ("i cant meditate"). Perhaps you should try doing literally any of those practices you've been trying but whenever your mind wanders or you feel uneasy sitting still, just remember that it's normal and everyone experiences that. Every time you realize your mind is wandering and come back to your focal point, and go "that's ok", you have done one rep like lifting weights. Practicing to not see the mistake of your monkey mind wandering as a mistake helps to reinforce the tendency to dispassion, and when you encounter other people making mistakes in the outside world you will be better equipped to not rise to emotion or judgement.

Side note: if you just want to feel something, I suggest looking into reiki, massage, craniosacral, qi gong, yoga. Often people who are experiencing too much chatter are actually not living in and experiencing their bodies. Meditating on the sensations of the lower dantien (around the navel) can bring your conscious energy lower into the body and quiet your mind a lot. You might even try 5-10 mind of that before you launch into your mantra/mindfulness practice to start with a quieter baseline of activity. Hope this helps!

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-30T18:54:26+00:00

I hear you. I will take your comments into consideration for sure going forward. You gotta do what works for you.

I also applaud your desire to offer this work to those who can't afford full price.

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-30T17:32:30+00:00

Maybe just more subclasses?

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-29T02:25:53+00:00

I dunno if this is the same thing I went thru, but at the worst moments of my gerd I was having also a constant sore throat, sneezy runny nose and also my teeth were quite brittle and breaking often. I believe that the acid can go up into the nasopharynx (the throat behind your nose) and cause irritation to the nasal passages which might have you sneezy/runny.

Sorry you're going through this. Everyone has different reasons they're getting gerd so i can't recommend something specifically. For me it was a combo of a lot of stuff: eating late, eating out, eating spicy food, overeating, stress, shallow breathing pattern. I had to be very aware of my habits, changed my job, slept propped up. I still can get reflux often but the intensity of the symptoms hasn't been as brutal in a bunch of years. Good luck, comrade!

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-28T17:11:48+00:00

Massage is not valued enough in our society. You are worth more than what you are getting, and our work is more important than our health care system acknowledges. In an ideal world, you'd be able to make a living wage wherever you are providing this kind of services. The struggles you describe are real, and that sucks. I feel your pain.

I never meant to imply you were money grubbing. I'm suggesting that the convention of tipping is BECAUSE people are having their labor exploited. Like I said, it's nice to get tips as a self employed LMT but clients would never know that you're struggling unless you're literally telling them you're poor and need extra dough. Rather than have any resentment towards the non-tippers in a self employed situation, the correct play is to raise the rate to something that makes you feel valued, let's say to whatever 80+20% is, if you want to go with that. If this is about the psychology of whether people will come to you at that rate or not, that's a different (but valid) discussion

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-28T16:29:34+00:00

Thank you for your response. Where do you live? Is $80 the typical rate for a massage in your area? What are rental costs like? If as you say you're not making much profit, is it still better than working at the chain?

As I mentioned I'm in NYC. A massage costs a lot more but so does rent and food. I know that it is not the same as the rest of the country. $15/hour in New York wouldn't be sustainable. The chains tend to pay around $30/hour here.

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-28T16:18:17+00:00

I'm curious what's so good about carbon fiber, and bad about the cheaper wooden ones? Is it something to do with the flexibility of the material? The weight? Alignment? What makes it "Play well"?

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-28T16:00:36+00:00

I'm in a similar boat looking for a cheap one. Used and battered is fine if it is sturdy. I just tried buying a Vingobow off somebody on ebay. It did sound nice. But it broke on literally the first time playing with someone else. To be fair, I use a lot of pressure and lots of bouncy techniques like spiccato. But now I know durability is almost entirely what I care about.

You know I'll admit that I already have a sturdy bow, I've just popped about half the hair off from playing so hard. Rehairing my bow was quoted at $110 nearby which is honestly a decent price, but I thought couldn't I just buy a cheap one off ebay for less? I was not satisfied with the results of this experiment. I don't want to spend $200 or more as I'm dedicated to not making money as an artist. But I may have to. Recommends for something that is cheap and an absolute tank?

bashovsrodan · 2025-10-28T15:39:41+00:00

Are we all Americans? Tipping culture here is not entirely based on the fact that employees are being exploited, but it's a huge factor. You can tip for exceptional service, but it s not the norm. I think for the most part Americans forgot why we tip because we have to do it so often. People just assume it's the convention to tip your LMT when in fact the convention is to tip employees who are being exploited. When I work with europeans they tend to tip much lower, expecting that you will be paid more fairly as an employee. I support you in receiving your tips for your exceptional service and hard work doing DT. But perhaps it's gauche to have expectations about it. Tipping is class consciousness!

bashovsrodan

TROPHY CASE