ThomasRoss's Personal Masseur Interview

Last Updated: Dec 04, 2018

- I like clients to feel healed, even if they only came to relax. I love to hear them say, "I was going to go grocery shopping, but I think I'll go home instead and take a nap." Also, I like clients to feel like they've had a massage! Have you ever had one where a few hours later your body felt just like it did before? You won't get that with me. The best description I ever heard was, "I wake up the next day after one of your massages feeling like I'm about an inch taller."

- I don't work when I travel. Heck, I only do outcalls if you live in the city and have your own table, so I barely leave the house. It's a good thing my studio is in a central location.

- No, I don't think extensive training is necessary to give good massage. I've received amature massages that were better than professional ones! I do believe that at least some training is quite important, if only to learn how to preserve your body. But possessing physical empathy is just as important. It's like learning how to play an instrument when you do in fact have an ear for music.

- Depends on what you mean by successful. I've never been any good at self-promotion and general hustle, so it always seems like I could use some more business. But I can depend on the fact that if I see you once, there's a better than even chance I see you twice. Even if you're from out-of-state! With my promotional skills, I'd be out of business without a decent returning client base. So I'm successful in that way.

- If I were to leave the profession, I would definitely miss it! A lot. Think about it--some 40-ish guy limps into my studio, moving like a 75 year-old man, pleading, "fix me." I do my thing, and he bounces out at the end like he's 25 again. Literally, I lay my hands on people, and they are healed. I should start a church or something! It's heady stuff! Probably somewhat like what doctors must feel when they fix people.

- I wish my memory worked that well! I can remember a few of the clients I had in my first month of practice, but not which one was the very first. It was almost 13 years ago, after all! I originally decided to be a masseur because I was an unhappy landscape architect and wanted something to cushion me financially while I found my next profession. That plan barely lasted through the first day of class. By the second day, I was hooked. This is now my profession, not something to keep me busy until the next thing comes along.