Client Flow and Ebb

I think as a privately-practicing and employed massage therapist, it is safe to say that, at least in Las Vegas, there are times that I can speak for the population of other MTs in this valley of perpetual cornucopia and perpetual drought - depending on the season.  While I’ve experienced bounty as a private practitioner in seasons where employees at spas and salons were scraping by, I’ve also experienced cups “half empty” when employees’ cups were overflowing.
Where does the fruity wine of client flow originate?  How can I keep a full cup and where do I need to hold my chalice to benefit from the grace of the massage gods? Where a massage therapist holds that chalice is sometimes like that board game at the county fair where you pay two dollars to let passers-by and the attendant watch you try to beat as many of the randomly-appearing mechanical gophers back into their fake, paint-chipped gopher holes as you can - in 60 seconds – with a over-sized, padded mallet that you’d rather hit your brother with than use to play this frustrating, pulse-raising game. (And what do you win? A big, pink fuzzy “thing” with eyes that starts shedding in the car on the way home.)
Employee massage therapists often thank the massage gods (or goddesses, if you will - the gender of your deity makes no matter) for a “great day” of plenty when s/he has a full schedule.  Tired and bereft of any energy to even call it “Miller Time,” we still have enough energy to find good in the gods at the end of a harried day and thank them.  We also, forecasting how the day is sparsely laid out for us on paper or screen (half an hour of space here, 2 hours of space there), wonder if the massage gods are giggling at us, laughing even, at our vain attempt to control our destiny, our flow of clients.
Independent, or self-employed, massage therapists have a hard time praying, I think. It seems that the segment of the industry in which we love to give time, energy, and talent, not just in serving our clients or performing the bodywork, but also in the marketing and administrative duties we are bound to complete, we also take the worst criticism – not from the massage gods, but from ourselves.
If I am at a spa, it seems that the massage gods are more present, kind of like being in a church.  Of course, I am more religious, pious, respectful, and aware of my language in a church - aren’t we all?  But isn’t there a sense of beingness in both places:  church and spa?  I would venture to say that the massage gods are officially prayed to more inside a spa or salon than outside a spa or salon.
Have the massage gods abandoned the independent massage therapist? Is there no official chalice that is issued to an independent massage therapist when they take the reins of their own sled or abandon the sublime and sacred space of the resort or day spa? Or is there a gaping, steaming fissure in the Optimal Spirituality Zone that separates independent from employee such that calls made to the massage gods are categorized as “long-distance” on the phone bill?
Spirituality is not a thing to discount when anticipating a quantity of performance of the art for which massage therapists love, cherish, and would sometimes die (or at least be permanently disabled).
It is important to meditate, reflect on, and anticipate a plan for assisting as many clients as possible, at whatever the value the service may be held by the client or the massage therapist – charity or otherwise. This is what is commonly referred to as “praying to the massage gods.”
It is also important to respect and honor the power of the therapeutic relationship that the massage therapist (employee or independent) and the client create together, beyond the will or means of the massage gods – and realize that without the prayer, there is no faith. Without the faith, there can be no spirituality. And, without the spirituality, there is no therapeutic relationship. Recognizing this is what is commonly referred to as “thanking the massage gods.”
Thus, the question remains – how are independent and employee massage therapists’ gods different? Why is there “less” spirituality in a self-structured, -maintained, and –employed atmosphere?
It is my contention that independent massage therapists follow their own makings, or makers, in this case.  If I hold in high regard a massage god that is good, kind, and generally likes me as an MT, I will make all the right connections, set all the right appointments, and confirm my appointments the day before the traditional praying is to take place, thereby making my own decisions about how my day will go.  If I have a bad marketing day, I write it off.  If I have a good marketing day, I must have had a good breakfast.
Generally, my massage gods are my instructors, mentors, teachers, teaching assistants, students, colleagues, clients, gurus, heroes, heroines, friends, family, favorite model citizens, poets, writers, actors/actresses, and actually anyone else that inspires me to do good and right in the world. I pray that, by the examples and actions of thought and deed that these “massage gods” have committed to my memory, I have the intelligence, senses, and courage to form my experience into a most remarkable gift that I offer people whose lives I affect through bodywork on a daily basis. If I have not learned anything from interacting with any of these people through my life, training, and/or career, then my chalice should not be full, and I have only lack of fortitude, patience, and planning to account for my lack of flow and my cornucopia of ebb.
And…I get to take home the big, pink fuzzy “thing” with eyes that starts shedding in the car on the way home.

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