Sharpening the Fundamentals.
Massage is one of the oldest forms of healing. It’s simple — anyone can press on a sore spot, anyone can rub a shoulder. And that’s exactly why it’s so often overlooked.
Because anyone can do it, people underestimate what it can truly be.
But in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing — someone who’s trained to feel, to listen, and to apply skill with purpose — massage transforms.
It goes from “rubbing muscles” to unlocking patterns of pain. From “relaxing someone” to changing how their body moves.
That’s the power of massage therapy.
It’s not about the technique alone — it’s about the skill behind it.
And when you hone that skill, it becomes powerful not only for the patient who receives it… but for the practitioner who delivers it.
If massage therapy can be simple in concept yet powerful in practice, then the way we communicate that power becomes just as important as the treatment itself.
From the patient’s perspective, every moment on the table is filled with questions. They may not say them out loud, but they’re always there:
1. What’s going on?
2. Who am I in this situation?
3. What’s going to happen next?
These are the three fundamental questions of communication theory. If they aren’t answered clearly, the patient is left uncertain, guarded, and less able to benefit from treatment.
When these questions are ignored, patients begin filling in the gaps themselves. That shows up as guarding, tension, and reduced accuracy of feedback. They may doubt your skill, disengage from treatment, or stop care altogether — even when they need it. Unanswered questions don’t just affect rapport; they directly limit both clinical results and patient retention.
Guarding: The body stays tense because the mind doesn’t feel their pain is safe in your hands
Reduced Accuracy of Feedback: Guarded patients give misleading responses, which can steer treatment away from the real issue
Decreased Trust: Uncertainty makes the patient doubt your skill, which can prevent them from following through on care plans.
Drop-off in care: Patients who don’t feel safe or guided are less likely to return, even if they need ongoing treatment.
In short, ignoring the 3 fundamental questions means more than a poor interaction - it directly limits outcomes, both clinical and relational.
Our role is to answer the 3 questions — not only with words and body language, but with our hands. Because hands that feel confident, clear, and purposeful tell a patient far more than words alone ever could.
When patients feel their questions are answered you see the opposite response:
Relaxation and Safety: The body softens, giving you accurate tissue feedback.
Strong Trust: patients perceive you as competent and attentive
Better Outcomes: When a patient is less guarded, treatment penetrates more effectively and changes happens faster
Engagement in Care: patients who feel safe and understood are more likely to prebook, follow recommendations and commit to the process.
The experience becomes collaborative- the patient isn’t just ‘receiving’ care, they are actively participating in it.
“When communication and touch work together, treatment stops being a sequence of techniques. It becomes an experience that builds trust, safety, and change.”
How does touch become an experience?
Words and explanations reassure the mind, while skilled touch reassures the body.
A confident introduction of touch signals safety.
Consistent pacing shows control.
When your verbal explanations line up with what the patient feels, the story and the sensation match — and that congruence eliminates doubt. This alignment is what allows the body to release, and the patient to trust.
This is how communication and touch combine: they eliminate doubt, build alignment, and allow the patient to surrender happily into treatment.
Patients rely on you to know what’s going on and what’s going to happen next. You are the one who holds the map. And the one with the map controls the situation — because you can see the path forward when the patient cannot.
The Anatomy of an Appointment is that map. It provides the structure and sequence that allow you to guide the patient confidently. When you can clearly explain what’s happening now and what will happen next, the patient no longer feels lost. They know their place in the process, and they know you know where you’re going.
And when all three questions — What’s going on? Who am I in this situation? What’s going to happen next? — are answered, the chances of success increase dramatically. Why? Because clarity removes guesswork. The patient no longer needs to guard or resist. Trust settles in, treatment deepens, and progress compounds.
Trust: The patient recognizes you as the guide
Treatment Flow: Muscles, fascia and joints respond more freely when the nervous system feels safe
Progress: Patients return, you build momentum, and outcomes improve with consistency.
In practice, safety leads to trust, trust leads to consistency, and consistency leads to results. This chain reaction starts with answering the three fundamental questions.
Every appointment follows a natural arc — a beginning, middle, and end. This structure is what keeps the patient oriented and ensures their three fundamental questions are answered.
Beginning: Greet, Walk In, Intro…represents the initial moments of interaction.
Middle: Assessment, Explanation, Treatment…is the active components of an appointment.
End: Review, Prebook, Close…the conclusion phase where the next appointment is set.
For our first two sessions we are going to zoom in to the middle of the appointment arc and focus on the treatment moment — more specifically, what your hands are doing during this time.
“Great hands can carry an appointment while communication skills are still developing, but great communication cannot carry awkward, unskilled hands”
This is because patients, especially during an initial appointment, first evaluate safety and competence more through what they feel than through what they hear. A steady, confident touch tells the body “you’re safe,” even if the words are simple or imperfect. But an unsteady, hesitant touch does the opposite — it tells the body “something isn’t right here,” and no amount of smooth talking can override that signal.
Patients don’t always have the language to explain this, but they know it in their experience. They may not say, “Your tempo was inconsistent” or “Your leverage felt wrong,” but they’ll say, “It didn’t feel good” or simply not come back.
On the other hand, when your hands feel confident, intentional, and precise, the patient’s body relaxes. Guarding decreases, tissue feedback becomes clearer, and treatment starts working at a deeper level. Even if your conversation is still developing, the patient leaves with the memory of a powerful hands-on experience — and that is what brings them back.
That’s why we begin here. With our hands. When your hands are skilled, even the simplest words are enough.
Sharpening the Fundamentals
We’re going to take our hands back to the fundamentals.
As a manual therapist it can feel like there are a lot of hand techniques to know, but I disagree — there are not a lot of techniques. The hand only does two things: Open and Close.
So to practice your skills in the most efficient way, first you must view your repertoire in an efficient way.
There are open hand techniques, closed hand techniques, and combined open and closed techniques.
What are the hand movements:
Open hand technique: Sweeps
Closed hand technique: Kneading
Open to closed hand technique: Lift & Release
What makes these basic moves feel advanced is how you modify them. How you modify hand techniques is through: Depth, Tempo, and Leverage.
Depth: Which layer of tissue are you targeting?
Superficial (Fascia) / Mid (Muscle)/ Deep (Joint)
Tempo: At what speed are you applying the technique?
Downtempo/ Midtempo/ Uptempo
Leverage: How are you achieving depth?
No Body Weight (BW)/ Half BW / Full BW
Depth, Tempo, and Leverage are what make your hands feel vibrant. They’re also what allow you to get the feedback you need to perform the right technique at the right time.
No matter which hand technique you choose — Sweeps, Kneads, or Lift & Release — your focus should always be on this question:
“What is the optimal combination of depth, tempo, and leverage for my technique in this moment?”
The Big Picture
At the start, I told you that you decide how powerful massage therapy can be. That power shows up not only in your hands and your confidence, but also in the kind of practice you build.
A successful practice is one where patients pay, stay, and refer happily. When your treatments are consistent, patients see value. And when patients see value, financial success follows naturally.
This isn’t about selling — it’s about delivering care at a level where patients want to invest in their health with you, over and over again. That steady flow of returning patients is what creates stability in your schedules and growth in your income.
And that’s what I want for you — a practice where you’re known for your skill, proud of the work you do, and financially successful because patients trust you enough to keep coming back and to bring others with them.
The main thing is you winning — building a career you’re proud of, supported by both the results you create and the success you earn.
When We Meet
We will practice: 1) Sweeps 2) Kneads 3) Lift and Release using the modifiers of depth, tempo and leverage.
What You Need to Do
Please bring or wear a tank top for our practice session.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Ashley
