Have you ever tried to explain your massage experience to someone else? It’s like trying to describe your favorite sorbet—impossible to accomplish, but fun to try.

In this Spring 2012 issue of Body Sense, a newcomer to massage therapy writes about his first session. His piece made me smile and I recalled my first massage. Years ago, working bizarre, stressful hours at a daily newspaper, fate smiled and I was assigned to write about stone massage. Long story short: it was magical and I floated away. 

After almost a decade as the editor of Body Sense, I now have a deeper understanding of what’s necessary for a successful bodywork session. The ideal experience begins with our expectations and how our bodies feel at the time. Some days we may be ouchy and want something fixed; other days we may want to simply drift away. 

The therapist meets those needs with a collection of amazing skills blended with a caring personality. Whether or not the practitioner is someone we know well, massage devotees understand that this person is answering a calling to nurture and serve us. 

The rest of the client-therapist relationship is poetry: from the moment we nest ourselves on the table and exhale, the music stills our busy brains, and we begin to breathe away the knots and melt under knowing touch. 

Before you float away, enjoy this issue, and the bodywork wisdom it holds for you. 

—Leslie A. Young, Editor in Chief