3 Keys to Better Session Success

We all want our clients to get better, faster. They want that, too. So, what can we do to become the best therapist we can be and have greater session success?

Today, I share with you the 3 keys I believe every practitioner working on the body needs to know. These keys have been instrumental in my own success in client sessions, and I know they will have a positive impact on your clinical outcomes, too.

Loving Therapeutic Presence

How we show up for our clients is just as important as what we know. Developing a loving therapeutic presence is critical for better session success with your clients. One area that helps with creating this presence is by doing your own inner work, so that you are grounded and in your own body in your sessions.

By being grounded and in your body, your clients will be able to co-regulate with you and will, likely, feel a stronger sense of safety in the clinical environment. When they feel safe, then their nervous system switches to more optimal function and allows for deeper healing (i.e. better sessions). Also, because love is the basis for all healing – again, you’re creating that sense of safety – opening your heart and allowing love energy to flow through to your touch is another key to achieving session success.

Anatomy

Knowing your anatomy is a must for clinical success. Understanding the relationship between structures is what can help you have a better idea of what is going on in the body. If you work in pelvic health, you must know the anatomy of the pelvic bones, the pelvic organs being housed in and around the pelvis, and the pelvic floor muscles.

There is so much to learn in this space that it is hard for any one course to cover it all; However, if your knowledge doesn’t include how to mobilize the pelvic bones, I highly encourage you to study your pelvic bone anatomy. The bones are what the pelvic floor muscles attach to. When the bones are not in balance, then the muscles will continue to be restricted because they are trying to do the job of the bones and bring stability to the body. Getting the pelvic bones balanced and moving first will allow those muscles to relax and should be the primary focus before doing any internal work.

If you are a bodyworker and your focus is on the muscles, understanding the influence the nervous system, the organs, the boney structures, and fascia play in muscular tension is imperative for session success. The muscles are usually at the effect of everything else, especially when we are dealing with the pelvic floor muscles. In the intravaginal protocol I teach in my courses, the muscles are addressed last because after you work on the other pieces the muscles do not need as much work which is a win-win for both you and your clients.

Intravaginally, the mobility of the anterior vaginal wall and the cervix is critical for better pelvic floor muscle function. There are so many factors that contribute to their function and understanding the relationship of them all only comes from knowing your anatomy.

Palpation Skills

Once you know your anatomy, then you must develop the skills to be able to palpate and identify the specific structure you are on. Being equipped with these skills will enable you to understand the patterns and restrictions you are finding in the body, so you can see what is connected and have a better understanding of the root causes that are at play.

How to Improve Your Palpation Skills

Learning to differentiate between the structures you are on, whether they are muscle, ligament, fascia, organ, vessel, or nerves, takes time and skill, but is essential to session success. Muscles and ligaments are easier to palpate than blood vessels and nerves. Start with the easier structures and get good at them, but know all the others are just as important, and that with time and practice, you can learn how to identify those as well.

As a pelvic health practitioner, palpating all the structures in and around the pelvis are essential to session success and better clinical outcomes. If your palpation skills are lacking, find another bodyworker with good anatomy knowledge and practice palpating on each other. If you don’t have a partner who is a bodyworker with good anatomy knowledge then attend a live course so you can practice these skills with support and feedback to get better.

Here are two exercises you can do with a partner who knows their anatomy to enhance your session success by helping you improve your palpation skills:

• Palpate the body and say out loud the structure you are palpating. Have your partner give you feedback to help make sure you are on that structure.
• Take it to another level and you find a structure without telling your partner and have them guess what structure you are on.

Give Yourself Grace

If you are newer to pelvic health, please give yourself some grace as you dive into all that this amazing space has to offer. Know that it takes time to learn and feel all that there is to feel in the body. Remember that the greatest keys to session success are to keep learning and reviewing your anatomy and to have fun with what you feel with your hands on the body. You will be amazed by how much you improve over time, especially as you learn to ground in and develop a loving therapeutic presence. Keep up the amazing work! It is so needed!

About the Author: Lynn Schulte is a Pelvic Health Therapist and the founder of the Institute for Birth Healing, a pelvic health continuing education organization that specializes in prenatal and postpartum care. For more information, go to https://instituteforbirthhealing.com