I've been seeing Bill N. for over 2 years now, weekly if I can. I have always had a lot of muscle…read moretension, and my job involved a lot of physical labor, so my neck and shoulders, especially, ached and hurt and cramped pretty much every day by the time I'd been awake a couple of hours. Seeing Bill regularly is the difference between "aching almost all the time" and "I'm kinda sore at the end of my workday, but I'll be fine tomorrow." He's adaptable, asking before each session if there are specific areas he should concentrate on, and he's happy to skip an area that you don't feel you need much work on -- for example, we mostly stopped doing the mid-back, though he asks each time, because sometimes I want a bit of light work -- so he can spend more time on other areas that need attention -- in my case, the whole ring around the shoulder blades, which I'd never even thought of as something that would benefit from massage, but boy was I wrong!
Also of note: I have a trauma history, and the PTSD and hypervigilance that goes along with that, especially regarding being touched. In all the time I've seen Bill, nothing has triggered me, which is remarkable. He's professional but easy-going, and I have come to feel like, when I am there, my body is kind of a complex, important machine that requires regular maintenance to work effectively.