What Gift Do You Bring?

Hello out there, and Happy Memorial Day weekend to all of you in the Find Touch community! Since I’m brand-new to the Find Touch blog, allow me to introduce myself: My name is Lynna Dunn, and although I’m a Washington state-certified massage practitioner and graduate of Seattle’s Brenneke School of Massage, I originally hail from Arkansas. Furthermore, before I was reincarnated as a massage therapist, I was a college English professor. I mention these fun facts because no doubt you’ll notice the eclectic geographical/cultural/former-career quirkiness coloring my writing :-)

I am very excited to have this opportunity to communicate with Seattle’s massage community via the Find Touch blog. I have in mind a list of topics to explore in the coming months that I hope you find interesting, thought-provoking, entertaining, and occasionally a little zany.

I’d like to begin this week with a question I heard one therapist ask another: “What gift do you think you bring into the massage besides the massage itself?” Hmmm. Interesting question. I’m going to add another twist here, and ask, “What do you think you bring into the massage besides your healing hands that helps you bond with the client or put the client at ease?” In my own case, I’d have to say my own unique gift in the whole bonding and relaxing process is my voice, which though not exactly a drawl, is definitely slower, rounder, softer and more idiom-rich than the Northwest dialects around me. Clients often say things like, “I love the way you talk . . . it’s so relaxing. Are you from . . . Alabama?” Why they are so tentative and why Alabama is such a popular choice, I’m not exactly sure. I’m certainly not going to get hurt and say, “Alabama? Do I LOOK like someone with ‘Heart of Dixie’ on the back of my car??? I am from the NATURAL STATE!” No, I just say, “Almost there; just slow down and back up a couple of states east.” And then if they look like they might want to ask more questions, I say quickly, “Yes, I met him once at my high school awards ceremony, and the gym was sweltering, and I paraded past him and shook his hand, which was very sweaty, but as no one thought he’d be president then, I just rubbed my hands on my skirt and forgot about the whole thing for about twelve years.” And then we both laugh, and a bond is formed, at least for that massage. So my voice is my gift, and a gift in truth, as I acquired it naturally and did nothing to earn it.

And now I invite you to comment in the same context: “What gift do you bring into the massage besides your touch that forms a bond and makes you unique?”