This is How Self-Esteem will Help You Succeed as a Massage Therapist - Massage Magazine

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Self-esteem is a necessary component of mindset to produce highly successful results when giving a massage to a client. A massage therapist cannot produce a great massage session until that great massage therapy session exists in our thoughts. This translates into having thoughts of a specific therapy plan and a specific technique strategy.

Thought, Confidence & Self-Esteem


I began my massage therapy career in 1975 in Gainesville, Florida. The early days of my career included failures, financial stress and discouragement. A friend gave me a book they had read and thought that I would find it helpful. That book was “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Hill.

I initially thought this was a book about earning millions of dollars and living the life of the rich and famous. It turns out that this book explored the metaphysics of thought, confidence and self-esteem. I continue to read this book to this day. It sits on my desk, and I read excerpts from it and other metaphysical books daily.

What I discovered is that my massage therapy career success hinged on my professional self-esteem. My self-esteem is fueled by my thoughts, my vision and my mission to take personal action to do what I love. I love doing massage! I love helping people with respectful touch. I love my curiosity of how I can help a client.

Self-esteem is a necessary component of mindset to produce highly successful results when giving a massage to a client. A massage therapist cannot produce a great massage session until that great massage therapy session exists in our thoughts. This translates into having thoughts of a specific therapy plan and a specific technique strategy.

Before a massage session begins, the massage therapist must think what they will do with that client. Be specific and detailed in your thoughts of a therapy plan. This can happen moments before the therapist enters the massage area, immediately prior to the first touch or during the first touch. Massage therapists develop expansive tactile intelligence after performing hundreds of massages. It is this tactile intelligence that provides feedback to your thoughts of the therapy plan and strategy in action.

Your massage therapy outcome is linked to your thoughts about the outcomes and what you would love to accomplish in the session. We as massage therapists get to use both facts and intuition in helping our clients with touch.

The massage therapist must use both facts and intuition to create a balanced approach that will allow for creativity and customization of the massage session to generate best results. It is important for the massage therapist to recognize facts, but it is not necessary to only rely on facts without the engagement of one’s intuition through touch.

We are conditioned and trained throughout our education system to think in fact more than our intuition.

As massage therapists, we quickly begin to sense the vibrational frequency of thought, intentions and intuition gained from the power and energy of respectful touch—aka, massage therapy. We get to believe what we choose, and if a massage therapist believes that massage can help their client then, so it is!

We may not always know how our massage will help the client, but when we suspend the need to know how it will help and place our intentions and focus on what we would love to have our client’s experience.

A massage therapy session is the direct result of the way the massage therapist thinks about the client and the treatment strategy. The massage therapist will have great results when you choregraph the entire session in your mind and thoughts prior to the session. The great wonder with massage is that we can do this in seconds during the first touch of the session as we allow our tactile intelligence to provide vibrational information to our intuition, which in turn will guide you during the session. Our intuition speaks to all of us, but it is the willingness to listen that separates us from transformation and personal development

Some ways to support your mindset of self-esteem begin with the words that you use. Words have power and are a direct reflection of our thoughts. Words carry vibrations; thus, it is best to choose words that are empowering when speaking not only with your clients but with your colleagues, classmates and all people that you engage socially and professionally.

For example, when I hear a massage therapist exclaim in a conversation that “I’m just a massage therapist,” this carries a vibration that is less than supportive. Compare it to: “I am a highly successful massage therapist.” This creates a different vibration that welcomes the power of your respectful touch as a massage therapist. Your clients will feel this shift in energy and will respond accordingly.

It becomes more about your thoughts during the massage session while applying a variety of techniques. Your knowledge and technique skills are empowered with your thoughts and your word choices. The way you think consciously and subconsciously impacts your nervous system. Massage therapy is both a physical and an energetic modality for helping people establish balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. The nervous system is the real client on the massage table.

3 Simple Ways to Grow Your Self-Esteem


For professional self-esteem to remain at the forefront of your mindset, I offer these suggestions:

1. Do not focus on or give attention to the possibility of failure or use words that infer failure as a possibility.

2. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many massage therapists to be guided by fear. Instead, do not think or speak of these times as being hard. At the level of fact, these may be challenging times but be reminded that you can create what you want and you are above fear. This is not to say that fearful facts do not exist, but do not let your whole self be in fear. A better way to frame fear in your mindset is to say: “Up until now, a part of me is fearful about this pandemic.” In this fashion you do not give your whole self over to fear, yet you acknowledge a fact and recognize its existence.

3. Replace low-vibration words with higher-vibration words such as:

• Instead of “need,” use “require.”

• Instead of “no worries,” use “my pleasure.”

• Instead of “your muscles are so tight,” use “your muscles have a lot of stored elastic energy.”

• Instead of “let’s go back to the massage room,” use “let’s go to the VIP therapy suite.”

• Instead of “I don’t know if massage will help you,” use “I can help you.” (Suspend the need to know how you will help them, just believe that you will.)

Change Your Mindset for Better Results


When you as the massage therapist has a mindset that supports your professional self-esteem, the results with clients will continue to improve.

A therapist who will release their expectations of the outcome of their massage session and retain their vision of service to their clients will create a positive therapy experience for the client! Answer the question, “what would I love?” Allow the answer to be the compass that your self-esteem is set to—and this self-esteem thus becomes a focus of your attention on what expands you and your consciousness.

[Visit massagemag.com on March 25, 2022, to read the second of three articles by Benny Vaughn on massage therapist personal development.]

About the Author


Benny Vaughn has been a working massage therapist for 46 years. He created a highly successful massage therapy business. Benny lives in Fort Worth, Texas. At age 70 he has transformed into life coaching services for massage therapists. Visit his website to learn more about his solutions related to learning, leading, motivating and inspiring others, finding emotional peace, and to schedule a free consultation.

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