If someone asked you whether you’d rather give a great massage, a bad massage, or a massage that’s just okay, you’d certainly say that you’d prefer to give a great massage, right? But have you stopped to think about  the definition of a great massage?

• A massage that has positive therapeutic outcomes?
• A massage that leaves a client feeling great?
• A massage that is what the client and the therapist agreed on?

Certainly, all of these could be important parts of a great massage. But what about you, and your body?

Consider this, from massage therapist, educator and founder of the Auth Method, Shari Auth, “If your client leaves feeling relaxed but you are more tense, you have only succeeded in transferring tension, rather than reducing it.”

Shari’s repeat clients in New York include Sting, Yoko Ono and Christy Turlington, whose reviews you can find on Shari’s website - so great massage is a given – but how has she managed to keep herself healthy and energized after almost 20 years as a massage therapist?

We visited Shari in her massage studio and asked her to share her story, which you can view on video or read below:

Q: Why did you create the Auth Method?

First off, I wanted to give back to the profession that had given me so much. So I started teaching continuing education at the Swedish Institute in NYC.  Massage therapists have a high propensity to injure themselves or to burn out or just get exhausted. I designed the Auth Method as a way to teach sustainability techniques to other massage therapists – using proper body mechanics, using body weight instead of muscular force, using the forearms instead of the hands – these kinds of techniques to prolong the career of the average massage therapist.

Q: Where was your first job?

My first massage job was at a spa – spas often require long hours – an average day at the spa was six clients. I felt like I went from zero to a hundred right away and realized I needed sustainable massage techniques.

Q: You’ve expanded your expertise to including training in many healing therapies – how has this influenced your massage practice?

I’m a licensed massage therapist, licensed acupuncturist, certified in Chinese herbology, and in the Rolf Method of structural integration. Implementing some of the things that I was learning in yoga and Qi Gong classes helped me achieve better body mechanics in my own body and I also learned how to use my forearms instead of my hands.  I would say that those two things saved me from injury and burnout and really gave me a career that I’m still enjoying today almost 20 years later. I believe that if you have a big toolbox, you can treat a lot of different ailments and you can also blend the treatments together and really become an artist of holistic healing techniques.

Q: Who are your massage clients?

I work in the center of Manhattan, definitely by choice – I feel like I literally work on everybody. Because it’s New York, a lot of people in the creative professions – actors, musicians, artists as well as busy professionals, lawyers, bankers, architects. . .  this is what makes our job exciting, the people we work with.

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The best massage, the massage that’s truly great, will leave you and your client refreshed and renewed, and ready to take on the further challenges of the day. Fighting against your own body in order to ease a client’s pain is in the end no more productive than fighting against a client’s body to ease your own. Good body mechanics, awareness, and understanding of the concepts of weight and leverage will help your massage become a great experience for everyone involved.

So expand your toolbox and join Shari and our other educators at the upcoming Tools for Touch™ Webinar on November 5. Drawing on her multifaceted background in massage therapy, structural integration, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, she will present “The Art of Effortless Massage” in order to help you give the massage that you and your clients deserve.

Register now to be a part of this career-transforming webinar! Cheers from the whole production crew here in the At Peace® Media Studio