Burnout in the Healing Arts Industry
(and how to prevent it!)

Recent statistics of the length of a massage therapist’s career is 3-6 years.  That’s an incredibly short amount of time considering most massage schools certification programs are at least 1 year!  Common reasons for such a short span are physical injury and emotional stress.

Physical injury is most likely due to overuse of thumbs or poor body mechanics and can be prevented by the therapist using correct posture while give massages and receiving bodywork on a consistent basis. Emotional stress can be more challenging to deal with if you do not have the tools or training.

In the beginning of my massage practice, I was not as aware of healing others by taking on their energy as I am now.  Now, my body has a pretty rapid response when I’ve taken on some energy that isn’t mine and therefore, can take care of it quickly.  However, for those who do not have the tools to release energy they’ve taken on from their clients or anybody else in general, this can wear down on them.

Basically holding on to other’s energy will create stress for you.  Some people feel another’s energy or pain.  These people are empathic.  Their 2nd chakra is wide open and they are pulling another person’s energy into their 2nd as a way of healing that person.  If you are unfamiliar with chakras - a chakra is a spinning wheel of light and energy.  If you would like a little more information on this, please read my article on Chakras.

Let’s say you go out to dinner with a friend or family member and during your get together, you do not feel too good.  Maybe you get a headache or your stomach just does not feel right, basically something is off.  Maybe you’re catching a cold or it could very well be that you are taking on that person’s energy.

So you have taken on someone else’s energy – what can you do?  Ground!  Grounding is the easiest way you can clean out energies that are not serving your highest good.  If you have not read the Grounding article, when you get a moment I invite you to take a glance at it so you can start healing yourself.

For an audio exercise on grounding, click here.

Managing your space is the first step in having a long career in any chosen field, not just in the healing arts.  If you are in the healing arts, you take the time to heal your clients – take the time to heal yourself!