“Symphony must be like the world—it must contain everything,” said composer and conductor Gustav Mahler. If a symphony must contain everything, how much more true is that for the compositions that are our massage sessions? Our medium, rather than just being notes, is the whole psychophysical human being.

Music uses volume, quality of tone, accuracy of tuning and technique, notes’ duration, rhythm and instrumentation. Just as music depends on the acoustical universe, we depend upon the wondrous structures and functions of anatomy and physiology.

The science-based art of massage uses pressure, quality of touch, accuracy of knowledge and technique, strokes’ duration, rhythm, choice of instrument—thumb, palm, fingers, handheld tool—and the harmonious use of two hands, as in a Johann Sebastian Bach two-part invention for piano.”