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On Not Healing Other People

June 29, 2016 by Tracy Walton 16 Comments

I spent the night in an awful dive of a motel. I had cleared my client schedule and headed out of town, eager to attend the workshop.

It was worth the sacrifice.

About 20 MTs were gathered in a massage school flanked by woods. It was the early 1990’s, and it might have been the first CE course I took as a massage therapist. I was one of the greener members of the group.

I can still hear the instructor’s quiet, reliable voice guiding us through lessons in massage therapy for people with AIDS. She was Irene Smith, and her work was radical for the time, still early in the HIV epidemic.

It was one of many paths she cleared for our profession. Since then, she has forged ahead with massage for people with dementia and with cancer. Massage for elders. Massage in hospice.

Her words changed everything

I remember her voice being luminous, but her words, even more so:

“This work is not about healing others. We can’t heal another human being. We can only heal ourselves until our presence is healing.”

I scribbled it down.

Later, I would tell my students, “Beat a clear path to one of her courses. Then follow her around, write down everything she says. It’s like meeting Mother Teresa. If you cannot train with her now, then someday. Her message is important.”

Irene Smith Quote Copyright Everflowing.org

The words that kept giving

I’ve read her healing quotation in every single foundational oncology massage course since. I’ve shared it in tiny seminars and large groups. After that training in the woods, I purchased her VHS videotape about the emotional impact of working with people with AIDS.

I showed that video to every pathology class. Some of my students from 20 years ago still remember it. Her words had a huge impact on our discussion.

Yet the larger impact was on my practice

Among the clients I’ve seen since, there have been many with cancer, HIV, and diseases of aging. Others facing loss of a child or another loved one. On top of it, any number of hard situations: a headache, back pain, a neck that won’t turn. A body worn down by grief or fear.

These travelers to my office have opened my heart and honed my craft, over and over again.

Throughout, Irene’s words have reassured me: I don’t have to heal any of them. Serve them, yes, to the best of my ability. Help with the neck pain or the headache. Be present for the rest, as fully present as I can be.

But I don’t have to heal a single person.

That took some pressure off, right there.

I have only to heal myself.

Pressure back on.

Now I have to heal myself. The focus was back on me and my healing.

I learned, early on in my career, that by being with someone in pain, my own pain is often nudged into my awareness. I learned that my grief mirrors another’s grief. My fears flare when I am with someone who is living them out.

I began paying attention. As Adrienne Rich also tells us to do, I’ve “made my life a study.” In the off hours, I’ve searched out my troubles, and sent them some affection. I’ve held my pain, softly in my hands. Wondered at it.

I try to run with people who do the same.

I learned some math

At some point, Irene also observed, “If you stuff your own pain, if it remains unexpressed inside you, there is less room for other people’s pain.”

Period.

This insight has been expressed in many different ways, and most people learned it long before I did. But for some reason, when she said it, it moved my earth. It stuck with me. The math was simple but brilliant.

The really largest impact? On myself.

The converse of the stuffing equation? The rewards of un-stuffing. Remove some stuffing and take a look. Turn it over and examine it. Appreciate it. Feel some of that pain, fear, and emptiness. Feel it, perhaps, for the first time.

On the other side of the pain, fear, and emptiness is deeper connection.

After holding my suffering up to the light, after giving it a little love, I am a bit more free.

I am less afraid of others’ suffering, because I’m cozier with my own.

Not a reality show reveal

This process runs in the background, without fanfare. It’s not a single, dazzling, made-for-TV discovery. Sometimes it is a tiny little shift, and that’s on a good day.

But even small increments of healing have their rewards. Before, I came by my numbness and disconnection honestly. Now, in moments, I lean into my pain, rather than exhaust myself by dodging it. In moments, I am open to whatever comes up. I remind myself: It’s just weather. It overwhelms the landscape in the moment, but it’s just passing through.

Then the worst is over. Move along, nothing to see here.

“We can only heal ourselves, until our presence is healing.”

Her words lit a quiet path to my heart, and now when I stray, I can find the way back by feel. I arrive and re-arrive, broken and whole. Hurting and healing. Alone, but not really.

Massage therapy may be a healing path for clients, but in my case, as a massage therapist, it’s been my healing path, too.

A single teaching.

For about 25 years, this teaching has guided my work and my life. A single phrase, a simple call, it rang out clear the first time I heard it. Then it echoed, again and again. Heal yourself. Heal again. And again. The weather keeps coming, relentless at times, but punctuated by peace.

Irene Smith has plenty more to teach about hospice and touch, about dying and living. From time to time, we have sponsored her course, An Introduction to Massage in Hospice Care, in Boston. Check it out on the course page .

Or, you can head for the San Francisco Bay area, where she holds courses, or check out her blog for her writing and teaching. Read her interactive e-book.

I took her course here in Boston, thinking, 25 years? Maybe it was time for another dose. It was wonderful. And I didn’t have to cross a continent, or stay in a dive.

I just had to listen.

Filed Under: Art and Soul of Massage Therapy, End of Life Care, Hospice, Oncology Massage

Comments

  1. Irene Smith says

    June 30, 2016 at 6:51 pm

    You have just moved me to tears. I am truly humbled to think that something I said, some way I am has stayed with you and assisted you along the way. You have been and are an international voice , a trusted confidant , and educator in one of the toughest fields in the massage profession. I feel so honored and blessed for this level of respect. Deep Gratitude for this awesome healing. See you in July.

    Blessings,
    Irene smith

    Reply
  2. Jackie rose says

    July 1, 2016 at 5:18 am

    This was awesome and really hit home for me. I thank you for sharing this. I’m sure many others can also resonate.

    Reply
  3. Christina Marcolini says

    July 1, 2016 at 5:33 am

    Lovely reminder. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. Kathi Healey says

    July 1, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    Tracy,
    I have been on Irene Smith’s Everflowing mailing list since my 4 Day Intensive with you in June 2015. Meant to sign up when received notice but alas we all know how that goes.
    Well I am signed up NOW and once I remember my password to unlock my IPAD I will download the eBook.
    So Appreciate the Reminder.
    Kathi

    Reply
  5. Dee Hiatt says

    July 2, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    The wonder of your words (and Irene’s) is that I already know their message yet I need to hear these words again and again. Their freshness refreshes and reminds me. Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Dale Nimmo says

    July 3, 2016 at 5:42 am

    Thank you for the rope thrown down into my self-made well of depression .
    ( it always IS self-made)

    Now, to begin the climb back up!

    Reply
    • Tracy Walton says

      July 8, 2016 at 11:58 am

      Dale, blessings and care on the way up.

      Reply
  7. Sabrina Brasher says

    July 4, 2016 at 8:44 pm

    Beautiful story and lesson.

    Reply
  8. Deborah Hunter-Jones says

    July 5, 2016 at 3:31 pm

    Thank you Tracy, as always for your heartfelt and eloquent teaching and for sharing Irene Smith and her inspirational message.

    Reply
  9. Jan Dickerman says

    July 5, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    Thank You, well written, I could surely relate, as I am sure many of us can, it was a good reminder, we cannot heal, but we can care and just be there. A caring touch gives life.

    Reply
  10. Maryanne says

    July 6, 2016 at 11:11 am

    What a wonderful story and yes, a beautiful lesson. A reminder that we too need healing.
    Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  11. Natalie Gould says

    July 9, 2016 at 4:45 pm

    Thank you Tracy, for writing this. Impeccable timing for me to read this. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    Reply
  12. Jennifer says

    May 30, 2019 at 11:53 am

    having just attended the weekend workshop with Irene, I’m moved to tears in my little, soon to be, massage space. I opened my journal this morning to reread notes from Irene. Wow….l went to attend her Hopsice massage and left with a fresh reminder of life itself. Being with Irene was like bathing in divine sunlight. Her depth and abiliity to trust space was like a remembering deep inside myself. As I read your blog I’m filled with gratitude. Yes to all of it.

    Reply
    • Tracy Walton says

      May 30, 2019 at 2:49 pm

      Jennifer, it was great to have you there. I’m so glad you took the leap to attend.

      Reply
  13. Debbie Stokke says

    June 16, 2019 at 8:09 am

    Tracy I love everything you write and have always appreciated every opportunity to somehow be where you are teaching or attending a trainings….just to hear something you have to share. I’m a con-ed junkie and even moreso since I began my oncology massage path, thst begsn with you. So reading about Irene and her offerings, sparked my ‘Ohhh, I want to learn from her too’ reaction for my precious patients.

    As I wait for IV chemo cycle 3 of 8 this Wed, its a strong reminder that I’m currently not going anywhere. 🙁

    BUT Irene’s words and yours, are a powerfully gentle and comforting reminder to stay put and just try to heal again from my 19 year cancer experience.
    Thank you both for the permission.

    Debbie Stokke, Medicine Hat, Canada

    Reply
    • Tracy Walton says

      June 16, 2019 at 9:34 am

      Oh, Debbie.
      Thank you for your kind words. Staying put and healing.
      All good wishes for this Wednesday and all of the Wednesdays ahead.
      Peace.

      Reply

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Service. During cancer treatment and beyond, people need support. They need symptom relief. They need sleep. Oncology massage therapy (OMT) can help people cope during cancer treatment, at end of life, post-treatment, and during diagnosis.
Practice building. With the right skills, you can meet growing client demand and build your practice. You can be part of cancer care. It is better for your business to be able to work with people right then, right where they are, than to refer them out or send them home.
Career satisfaction and longevity. OMT is immensely satisfying work. Your steady presence and your hands can make a huge difference in someone's day or week. You might even find our approach to be easier on your hands and alignment. We offer new ways to provide comfort without effort and "deep tissue" work.

To practice OMT, massage therapists need to know what to ask clients before the massage, and how to use the client's answers. They need to know how to think through what to do, and how to communicate with clients in difficult circumstances. They need confidence, sensitivity, strong interview and table-side instruction. They need to learn from actual case studies and real-world exercises, and good chances to practice.

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