Task 5 – Sustainable Massage Practice

Principles of sustainable massage practice is considered to have three aspects.
environmental, social and economic. Sustainability is defined, as sustainable developments as those that "meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs" (defining sustainability 2009).


The environment is such a hard thing to describe, we see it every day and can take hardly any notice of it, even when its a huge part of everyone’s life. The environment has been treated very badly for so many years now that it will never be clean again. People have started to realize what we have done to this planet. We are now recycling etc, Using less power by turning power off at the wall, using energy saving light bulbs. Using the input and output rule will help keep the environment healthy and safe from degradation. Output rules states that waste should be at a level which can be assimilated without environmental degradation and the input rule states that in the case of renewable resources, harvesting should not impair renewal. Non renewable resources should be used at less than the historical rate in which renewable substitutes can be found or manufactured. Ideally we should use materials within our practice that are from renewable resources and not disposing of good materials that cannot be reabsorbed back into the environment.

Social sustainability in relation to massage practice refers to a lot of things, including surrounding yourself by nice cheerful people that will keep you focused, this will reflect on your clients. By being friendly and welcoming to any new person that is need of a massage, this will help the start of a healthy relationship. Also to make our practice more socially sustainable we need to have a wide variety of networks we can use to refer to etc.

economic sustainability in relation to our massage practice is the ability to make a profit, to be able to afford new materials such as towels and oils etc. to make this profit to be able to compensate your own well-being and the well-being for the clinic, you have to get your business known. To make your practice known as good value, including safe professional massages at affordable prices, you have to to some advertising to spread the word about your great business, the best way to do so at an affordable price is to promote through word, by telling all your friends and family etc. Financial sustainability now encompasses the environment and social sustainability otherwise known as “triple bottom line”.

To make the massage practice more sustainable i feel as a therapist that using materials that are mainly renewable, recyclable and overall safe for the environment . This will reflect that you are trying to make a difference.
By increasing you network base would make your practice more sustainable towards social and economic aspects as you would have more people to learn from, ask for help and refer clients to and from.
By optimizing your target range towards a wide variety of different people your practice would become more sustainable socially and economically by massaging a large rang of people, you should get a lot of recognition resulting in further clients, meaning more profit.

Making a sustainable practice will take time, effort and a lot of planning. But in the end will result in a well functioning professional business.

references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
Salvo, S. (2007) Massage Therapy: Principles and Practice (3rd Ed). Saunders: Mosby.