Part 2 of the 20-part Between Mind and Body series

An interesting thing happens when I walk into a guest’s room and meet them for the first time.

The door opens.

The guest stands there, hand still on the door, and looks into my eyes. My eyes look into theirs. I greet them with a smile and tell them my name. Sometimes they tell me theirs. More often than not, they simply reply, “Hello.”

The ones who offer their name usually add a smile and ask how my day is going.

Some seem happy to see me and say, “You’re just what I need.”

Some I can’t read at all.

Most are somewhere in between.

The energy moves quickly.

Before we’ve said more than a few words, something has already begun to form. A quiet assessment. I imagine it is happening on both sides.

In those first few seconds, I notice myself responding.

Two nervous systems are taking each other in.

Massage can be very vulnerable.

The guest is usually standing there in a robe, waiting to remove it, waiting to lie down on a table and allow a complete stranger to touch them.

There is trust involved, or at least the hope of it. And when someone feels guarded, trust does not always arrive right away.

So in that first exchange, before the robe drops, before the table, before the first contact, something is already being processed.

There is a brief moment when nothing has fully been concluded yet.

It is subtle. Almost invisible.

Observation is happening.

Eye contact. Tone. Posture. Energy.

And then meaning begins to attach itself.

Friendly. Guarded. Open. Closed. Safe. Unsure.

It happens quickly.

And then we move forward.

What we often react to is not the person themselves, but the interpretation that took shape in those first few moments. And that interpretation quietly influences everything that follows.

That pause is easy to miss.

It doesn’t announce itself.

It lasts for a breath, maybe less.

But in that brief space, nothing has hardened yet.

The person in front of me is still simply a person.

And I am still simply myself.

What happens after that moment is another story.