Massage Therapist Rituals: How to Switch Off After Work

Why switching off is hard and why it matters:

As a massage therapist myself, I know too well how rewarding but also how physically, mentally, and energetically demanding 1-1 massage therapy work can be.

I also recognise that sometimes there can be a blurred line between personal life and work life, which especially applies to those who are self-employed or mobile massage therapists.

It can feel hard to switch off after a long day at work, and this can lead to having poor sleep, compassion or emotional fatigue and can also feel like the motivation for work can slide, leading you to not feel the usual spark for your work.

This blog offers practical, simple start and end-of-day rituals or practices to help therapists feel more grounded, protected, and present for their work, coming from the perspective of a massage therapist.

The power of ritual for therapists: Why small acts make a big difference

But what is a Ritual, I hear you ask?

A ritual is a purposeful, repeated action that carries symbolic meaning and helps mark a transition or maybe helps you set an intention to focus on tasks. Unlike habits, which are often automatic, rituals are performed with awareness. They bring mindfulness to the moment and can help create a sense of structure, grounding, or renewal. Rituals don’t have to be spiritual or big; even simple acts like lighting a candle, doing a few deep breaths, or washing your hands with intention can be powerful when done with intention.

For massage therapists, rituals can act as energetic boundaries, tools to prepare mentally before a session or to let go of residual tension and emotion after a long day. Rituals can help to create a sort of separation between our work and our personal lives.

For myself in the clinic, rituals have helped to support my body to help shift gears. This, in turn, helps me to regulate my nervous system and sort of leave work where work is.

Ever had a long clinic day, and felt emotionally fatigued and wanted to get home straight away and put your feet up? I certainly have had this feeling. And have gone ahead and done that, but still felt the remnants of the day on my shoulders and didn’t find a way to release and relax once on the couch.

I find it comforting instead to allow myself that sense of closure of the day. A full stop on the working day, if you will. This, for me, can be as simple as slowing down, washing my hands, really thinking about each part of my hands, and enjoying the process instead of the end product.

Or maybe sitting in my space after the working day and revisiting my intention that I may have set at the beginning of the day.

These small start and end-of-day rituals form a framework for healthy boundaries, helping you feel restored at the start and released at the end.

Start-of-Day Rituals to Ground and Prepare

So let’s look at a few ideas that you could welcome into the beginning of your working day. These are all friendly offerings, and something to try and see what works for you. Look at it as a calming foundation before you even touch your client. Before we connect with others, we connect with ourselves.

1. 5-Minute Grounding Meditation or Breathwork

Breathwork, as we know for our clients, allows us to connect with our parasympathetic nervous system, allowing us to operate out of that rest and digest mode. It also allows my mind to calm and connect within, tuning out everything else. This could help if your brain has been super busy in the morning and you need to reconnect. A lovely visual I like to use is the box breathe. Allowing you to breathe in for 4 counts, holding the breath for 4 counts, exhaling fully for 4 counts and holding for 4 counts. If it helps you, draw the box with a finger or imagine it in your mind. Other offerings could be gentle mindful breathing or a full body scan.

2. Set an Energetic Intention

Intention setting is one of my personal favourites. If the morning has been busy, for those who are juggling family life, studying and a busy clinic like myself, I offer you an energetic intention setting. An example would be to think about what you’d like to get out of your day, what you’d like to achieve or create. I may think about being patient. The idea of repeating either out loud or within the mind your intention allows us to cement our energy, our thoughts, our focus of the day and something to come back to throughout the day or towards the end of the day.

3. Stretch or Gentle Movement Warm-Up

Our work is physical, and as much as we tell our clients to look after their bodies, we must also look after ours. If you are leaving the clinic and feeling tension in the shoulders or pain within areas, release into those spaces before working. This could be gentle warmups or movement, stretching. As a massage therapist who is Hypermobile, I like a short gym session before my working day, allowing me to support areas that can feel unsupported if I have a huge day. Check in with a body scan of what would benefit from some release and support. We can’t support others if we aren’t supporting ourselves.

4. Cleanse Your Space

A tidy space = a calm mind. I really love putting on music that allows me to create an intentional atmosphere for the work I am doing. I like to look at who I have for the first treatment and understand how I’m supporting them, and set the space to their liking. Other offerings could be your oil diffuser, burning sage, and making sure everything is in the correct space, allowing you to set up for success.

5. Personal Check-In or Journal Prompt

This is by far my favourite.

We ask clients how they feel all day, but what about us?

“How do I feel today?” “What do I need to support myself?” can be a nice question to either think about or jot down, so we are showing up for ourselves before others. This could be a lovely time to jot down intentions for the day and look over notes for clients.

Something to note here would be that if you work in multiple locations, adapt these rituals to what’s feasible, even just 2 minutes in your car before entering a clinic can help, or time outdoors before entering a busy clinic can be really welcomed.

End-of-Day Rituals to Release and Reset

Reclaim your time, let the day go.

Just like we prepare for the day, we should also consciously end it. Here are some gentle ideas to help you separate work from personal life.

 1. Physical Shake or Movement Practice 

Work such as shaking or tapping the body can be a nice form of reconnection and release. If movement is your medicine, welcoming some stretching or dancing or yoga into the space or having a class booked can be nice to clear the mind and focus on your body again. This can also be performed from a chair if that feels more comfortable.

2. Intentional Handwashing or Shower

Wash away the day, literally. I find intentional handwashing super calming. Taking time with the hands that have worked hard throughout your working day to give back can be supportive. This can also be a nice thing to do with a longer shower, revisiting your intention and closing off the day as we bathe or shower. You could even welcome in the visual that you are actively washing away the tensions and emotions, watching them go down the drain.

3. Digital Shutdown

Your brain and body have been switched on all day. To continue the evening on more admin, apps, scrolling, or emailing can lead to burnout and overworking. Allow yourself that digital shutdown by putting your phone on silent and coming away from your booking system; it can wait for a day. I allow myself allocated time to finish off paperwork relevant to my day at the end of the day, before leaving the clinic. An idea here could be that the tasks that can wait till tomorrow could be jotted down somewhere, and then we come back to them. They will be there, and you are allowed to rest.

4. Journaling to Offload Thoughts

As part of many of our studies, we are invited to journal, sometimes in a more reflective way. This allows us to jot down 2 or 3 things that may have come up through the day, success stories or things you want to shed, without judgment. Taking even 5 minutes to write down how you are feeling, revisiting an intention or even jotting down work that can wait, can be nice to leave it in the pages, leave it at work and head home.

 5. Anchor Activity: Candle, Tea, or Walk

Here you could choose one “anchor” activity that signals your workday is done.

The feeling of closing the day, putting a full stop at the end. If you work in a clinic, this could be taking a flask with you and having a tea as you walk home or for your travel. Head to your local park and grab 10 minutes of fresh air after being in the clinic all day. Or even as you are winding down for the day, putting on a calming scent in your diffuser or candle can be relaxing.

6. Energetic Cord-Cutting or Visualisation Practice

As massage therapists, we welcome a variety of clients through our doors, all holding their weight and worries that can sometimes be left in the space and with us as massage therapists. This can be the natural process as you are building longer-standing client-therapist connections together, and there is more to understand about why the client may be experiencing their pain physically. Taking 5 minutes to visualise releasing what doesn’t belong to you can be especially helpful after intense or emotional sessions.

I encourage you to bookend the day with care, not just collapsing into rest without that transition. Rest is super important, but allowing yourself that sense of closing the working day can help you settle into rest more sustainably and comfortably.

Build Your Own Ritual Toolkit

You don’t have to do all of the above; take this blog as a friendly invitation and go off and find what might work for you. If there is something you do in your clinic that works for you, share with us, we would love to share with the greater community how we all settle into our own time after our working day. Each ritual can be personal to you and what bodywork you do and how you like to connect with yourself, there is no one-size-fits-all all with this. Don’t worry, also if you work 5 days a week and it feels a lot to implement this every day, start with one morning and see what resonates. Acknowledging that some days are busier than others, that’s okay.

And remember, rituals are a way of valuing your energy and not another work task, so enjoy them!

Take Your Energy Back

As massage therapists, we give so much, but our well-being is essential, not optional. Even small rituals can prevent burnout, emotional overload or fatigue. I welcome you t reflect on how you currently transition in and out of work and what you might try from this list above.

Do you have a go-to ritual that helps you decompress after a long day? Share your practice or thoughts in the comments; you might inspire someone else!

About the Author

 I’m Bethany Wynn, a Level 5 Advanced Clinical Massage therapist based in London, sharing with you what helps me to separate work from my personal life. We would love to hear about your rituals – pop them in the comments below! More information on me here!