Massage has long been ensconced in the world of athletics. As a subtle energy practitioner, I’ve been supporting athletes with my energy work for years. But the truth is, everyone has to perform for one reason or another. Because of this, I employ “sporty” techniques with nearly all my clients, and I will show you how to do the same.
My favorite athletes are young athletes. Eager to excel, they are also willing to transfer ideas about energy into other life areas. For instance, I worked with one young man who was a high school hockey player. He wanted to qualify as a Division I rather than a Division III athlete, a shift that could conceivably earn him a college scholarship—and maybe even set him up for the pros.
A few simple processes I taught him over about nine months on a bimonthly basis helped him accomplish this goal. A great Division I school not only scouted him, but also offered him a scholarship. And guess what? His grades rose a full point. He worked through his shyness, entered his first-ever relationship, and also passed his driver’s license test, having flunked it twice before because of nerves.
Who among us isn’t performing all the time? Even Sunday football watchers believe their cheers and groans are affecting the outcome. Understanding the basics of energy reveals why adding that extrasensory “zip” during a massage can boost a client’s success in the world.
Energy is information that moves. Everything is made of it, but most of the energies that determine reality—and our attainments within it—are invisible and inaudible. Basically, there are physical and subtle energies. Supercharging goals is best accomplished by empowering the latter.

Physical and Subtle Energies

On the surface, distinguishing between physical and subtle energies sounds simple. Physical energies are concrete and material. Hence, massage work is obviously quite focused on manipulating physical energy. We can perceive why massage nourishes athletic prowess. All that physical activity needs to be soothed and smoothed.
Subtle energies are the ineffable stuff of the universe. Poetically, subtle energies comprise the whisper of hope, the attitude of the beatitudes, the ideas behind ideals. But subtle energies are so much more than these romantic notions—for the physical realm is constructed on the latticework of subtle energies.
Subtle energies equate with quantum particles, tiny flotsam that defy gravity, logic, and the classical laws of science. According to quantum physics, our consciousness helps steer quanta, determining how physical matter arranges in space and time. By aligning with productive subtle energies and domains, we exponentially increase our chances of success.
Striving for excellence involves adjusting subtle energies by addressing four pillars of achievement: passion, past, present, and practices. After introducing you to the first three arenas, I’ll showcase several practices you can use in your client work to bolster performance and positive outcomes.

Passion

Passion invokes willpower. We must be passionate about a desire to muster the strength required to move forward, despite the inevitable blocks. Passion is one of those invisible, subtle substances necessary to ensure we can defy the odds.

The Past

The past is significant in two ways. First, history holds the reasons for our passions. For example, why did my hockey client yearn for a career on the ice? He’d seen a professional game when he was in elementary school and loved the sounds, smells, and sights of the game. He went all in and hadn’t stopped playing since.
What he didn’t realize until we worked together was that his goal was intangible and subtle, not only physical. Ultimately, he yearned to become the type of person who manifested the qualities necessary to embody high-performance athletics, such as fluidity, perseverance, and prowess. Think about what characteristics are necessary for you to achieve the same for your client. Manifest these and the grueling components of performance become easier.
The past also holds the obstacles that prevent someone from realizing a goal. For instance, my hockey hopeful was afraid he wouldn’t—and shouldn’t—become triumphant because his dad, who had once wanted to become a professional soccer player, had given up that dream to attend medical school. Apparently, my client’s grandfather had insisted it was more important to be realistic than to go for your dreams. My young high school student felt caught in a dilemma. If he materialized his own desire, his dad might feel disappointed in his own inability to achieve his dream.
This issue occurs frequently in a family. If we push ahead and prevail, the implication is that a family member could have achieved their goals too. On the other hand, if we don’t try, we’ll never turn possibilities into probabilities and, perhaps, into our destiny. These types of subtle energy issues turn us into pretzels, deterring focus and progress.

The Present

The present is the place of power. Whether we ultimately succeed or fail, we can only move forward by steering the ship on a moment-to-moment basis. This way, we can keep heading toward our desirable direction while avoiding the shoals and other obstacles. In other words, the present is the point of choice. The subtle energies that formulate your thoughts, attitudes, and creativity will determine your on-the-spot decisions and overall perseverance.

Practices

Practices are the series of activities undertaken to support these three pillars. Everything about massage is about practices. Why not insert tools that will boost your clients’ performance desires while inviting bodily relief and healing?
Following are the three main subtle energy practices I use to support my clients’ performance, adapted for the massage room. I’ve put them in a logical order, moving from transforming the past to activating a healthy passion to empowering present-day actions. Of course, these steps flow best if a client has shared a goal or desire. Once they’ve done this, you can plunge in.

Practice One: Transforming the Past     

Let’s say a client has shared a goal or dream. As stated, the past holds the reasons a client is committed to a passion and also holds the blocks that might be tripping them up. On the subtle level, both positive and negative emotions, beliefs, and experiences are held in the body. These realities won’t show up on an X-ray, but an energy specialist can differentiate between favorable and detrimental subtle energies and work with each appropriately.
Negative energies, which are averse to success, are apt to form bodily inflammation and pain. As a massage therapist, you’ll sense these areas as heavy, congested, and thick, and pressure will often stir the challenging emotions. For instance, the body part storing the fear of success will result in scared reactions in the client. Same with anger, rage, shame, guilt, and other issues. These clogged regions oppose the fulfillment of a passion.
On the other hand, bodily regions can also contain the energies supportive of a fervor. Typically, these bodily areas are pain-free and limber. If lightly pushed or stroked, the client might sense feelings like joy, satisfaction, and determination. The following exercise can be used to clear negative emotions and also accentuate those supportive of success.
First, ask a client to focus on the goal or passion already communicated. Then, ask them to sense the bodily areas that become tense, dense, or painful. These bodily zones aren’t “bad.” Rather, imagine them as blocking rather than enabling success.
To assist the client in freeing up these potentially useful energies, help them picture the transfer of these stuck energies to their feet. You can track the path of this occurrence with your hands. From a subtle energy point of view, our earthly powers rise up through the feet into the legs and, furthermore, into the hips and up the spine. This means your next step is to assist the client in shifting the energies now gathered in their feet into the rest of their body. Move your hands while describing the progress of this once-stuck energy. The previously negative energies will merge with the already-present positive energies to invite a free flow of power.

Practice Two: Further Activate the Passion

Once the energy of the past is readied for action, it’s time to amplify the client’s passion for optimum performance.
In the previous step, your client transformed their negative energy and powered up their success energy. Now, it’s time to get them more excited about their desire. This work is best accomplished through attending to the heart chakra.
Chakras are subtle energy organs that transform physical to subtle energy and vice versa. The heart chakra lies in the middle of the chest and is the core of the subtle anatomy. It is fed by energies drawn from the earth and received from the heavens—and is also the font of the heart’s desire within a person.
An overarching passion, whether it involves becoming a hockey player or motivational speaker, is comprised from dozens—if not hundreds—of mini-passions. My youthful hockey player wanted to enjoy hockey at a high level, but also yearned to develop courage, tenacity, and other qualities.
What about the client who wants to be a speaker? They want to talk in front of a crowd, but maybe they also dream of encouraging change, assisting the needy, or benefiting youngsters. Then again, perhaps sub-goals include buying a big house or transforming into a philanthropist. To reach the heights of a passion, it’s imperative to stimulate the many sub-passions.
To accomplish this goal, I ask that a client focus on the center of their heart. As a bodyworker, you can rest a hand on their sternum or massage the dorsal vertebrae. Then, ask them to state aloud—or ruminate silently—about all the reasons they long to achieve a specific goal. Most likely, you’ll feel this area of the body warm up as the hidden energies emerge.

Practice Three: Living—and Succeeding—In the Present    

The final subtle energy technique is one I encourage a client to use outside my office—and especially before they take an action toward their goal. This subtle energy technique involves establishing a vertical beam of gold light from above the head to anchor under the feet.
In some circles, this shaft of subtle energy is called a hara line. Emanating from the heavens, it passes through the center of the spine and in-body chakras and lodges in the center of the earth, simultaneously connecting the self to the spiritual realms and material world. Gold is the energy of divine power; therefore, this hara line draws on the highest of energies to reinforce a person’s purpose and actions. It also serves as a protection, fueling positive energy and deflecting negativity.
I suggest you initiate this practice by asking a client to visualize a gold stream of light falling from the stars to enter the top of their head. Help them sense this flowing down their spine and attaching them to the middle of the earth, assuring grounding. Then, request that they visualize this light expanding beyond their body, to the outer bounds of their energetic fields, or to about 6 feet around them. Ask them to practice the establishment and use of this hara line so that if they construct it before an important activity, such as playing in a hockey game or giving a speech, they are comfortable with it.
The first time my young hockey player established a hara line before a game he scored more goals than ever before. He then began creating a hara line before taking tests or talking to girls. Guess what? Every area of his life improved.
Encourage your clients to refrain from comparing their successes and the timing of them with those of others. As wisely stated by Marty Rubin, “The last goose in the column is flying just as high.”