For the kahunas of Hawaii, ancient and present, the art of Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage, has always been treated with sacred respect.  Because this body work is performed for the purpose of aiding individuals during their rites of passage, Lomi Lomi was traditionally done in temples on sacred land.  The aura of sacredness permeating Lomi Lomi is such that I'm not sure many western schools of body work fully transmit how important this sacredness is.  All good schools, of course, talk about honoring the client's boundaries.  I feel, however, that honoring the client goes so much deeper that I wish to share my perceptions here.

Divine Will and not mine.  I need to repeat this principal to myself all the time.  We, as practitioners are there for the client and their healing.  We honor the client by having the intention of being a clear channel for Divine Love and Healing.  If we are struggling with a session or we don't feel good about it, then there's something going on with either the session or ourselves that need to be addressed.  Probably, we are not allowing the Divine into the session or we're putting our own agenda ahead of our client's healing.  The client will sense this and the space needed for healing will not form.

We honor the client by being present with them, by listening to them with all our heart, and by accepting them totally.  We may not have walked everywhere they have, but can we honestly say that we have not experienced pain in our lives?  This connection of shared human experience produces within ourselves a great empathy and love, for ourselves and for the client.

We remember that the client sets the stage for their own healing.  They determine how little or how much they will open up during the session.  While, sometimes, we may feel that a client's process is inching along, the client is actually moving at light speed for themselves.  Everyone has their own pace.  We honor the client by honoring their pace.  When we stop putting expectations on how things should go or on how fast they should move, then amazing things can and do happen.

We create our own temple, our own  physical sacred space for healing.  The focal point of this space is the massage table and the person on it.  The massage table is the altar or sacred place upon which we honor the person, their life journey, and their body temple.  When the client allows or asks us to enter their energy field, we are entering a space of vulnerability for the person.  They are sharing with us their vulnerability in ways they may not have shared with anyone or even previously with themselves.  In this space, we can become like a nurturing parent, holding the small hurt child in a loving embrace.  We expect nothing from them.  Instead we give them our whole attention and reassurance that we are there for them while they express what they're feeling and experiencing.  We love them unconditionally as we would wish to be loved.

We honor the client the whole time we are in contact with them, whether we're on the phone with them or they are on the altar.  The client is special; they are the center of attention.  They are on the table because they feel that you can help them heal in some very special ways.  We hold the client in our heart during the entire session and even before, when we're setting the energy space for the session.  After the session, we need to disconnect from their energies for our sake as well as their own.  The client needs us to be disconnected so that they can integrate the healing session on their own without further input from us.  We need to disconnect so that we focus on our needs or prepare for our next client.  By not disconnecting, we are creating an unhealthy dependency between the client and ourselves.  This dependency removes the opportunity for each of us to become complete on to ourselves.  One or both of us are giving our power to the other.  In psychological terms, this is known to as transference and counter-transference.

As we created a physical sacred space for healing, we create an emotional or energetic sacred space.  This space can be created by using ceremony.  We, the client and ourselves, use ceremony to set the intention of the session.  We call in Divine Will and Love.  We ask the client to state what they want to heal, to transform and to clear.  Together, we open ourselves to infinite opportunity and possibility where anything can and often does happen.

The work we do is very sacred and we cannot give what we ourselves don't have.  We must be vigilant about our own personal emotional and spiritual growth.  We need to be truthful to ourselves about where we are at in our own healing process.  This means that we need to commit to our own regular program of receiving healing from others who can love us as we would want to be loved.  In this way, we honor the client by honoring ourselves.

Tel: 952.953.7035
e-mail: sprtwrks@minn.net