never been demonstrated. Explorations of Subtle Energy It was acknowledged by the MRAW that much is speculated or claimed, but little is actually known, about subtle energy and its role in healing in general and therapeutic massage in particular. Nonetheless, some massage schools and modalities teach “energy balancing” of one sort or another, and some massage education includes instruction in awareness of energy resonance and/or exchange between practitioner and client. While there are no agreed upon instruments of measurement for such subtle energy, the MRAW recognized the importance of the development of this field for a complete understanding of the effects of therapeutic massage and bodywork. We believe subtle energy should be studied both as a dimension of the therapeutic encounter and as a purposeful aspect of treatment. 4. FUND STUDIES STEMMING FROM A WELLNESS PARADIGM Contemporary clinical research methodology and the questions it is designed to address have developed largely from within allopathic medicine, and thus, within a pathology-oriented framework. While therapeutic massage and bodywork is used to address such allopathically defined conditions, it is also, perhaps even more frequently, used for what clients and practitioners refer to as “wellness.” There are research questions that arise from a wellness paradigm that may not arise from a pathology paradigm and these, too, are important to pursue for an understanding of the effects of therapeutic massage. While wellness therapies may be the least “reimbursable” treatments at present, they may also be those most likely to ultimately change modern medicine and public health. The research needed includes qualitative studies aimed at eliciting operational definitions of heretofore vague terms (e.g. wellness, groundedness, centeredness, balance, etc.), descriptive studies, and “clinical” research. The following questions arose during MRAW discussions of these issues: • What is wellness? According to client reports, more than 25% of visits to massage therapists are made for wellness. We need to know how clients define wellness when they seek it, and how they know when it has been achieved. We need to know how massage therapists define wellness when they say they offer treatments designed to enhance it. • If we assume that the body is “self-healing” and that massage can somehow jumpstart that healing process, how does this happen? Are the effects we see such as weight gain in premature infants, enhanced immune function among HIV+ men, etc. indications of this? What does jump-start mean? 9 • What is the interaction of consciousness and wellness? Do massage therapists practicing “wellness massage” tend to make suggestive comments during treatment? Are silent treatments more or less effective than treatments that include such suggestions? Beyond “wellness,” once it is defined, there lies the potential to investigate the role of massage in achieving peak performance. Such studies could include athletes, musicians and other performers already exploring the issues of human potential and peak performance. The issues can also be explored in relation to enhanced performance in other roles such as defense personnel, air traffic controllers, people in or just before high performance task situations (e.g. students taking exams), medical interns, 911 operators, children showing difficulty at school, care givers of all kinds, and those at the end of life. 5. FUND STUDIES OF THE PROFESSION OF THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE Despite its status as a healing modality that has existed for thousands of years across many cultures, there has been little systematic investigation of massage as a profession, including issues of training, public perception, and the like. The MRAW recommended strongly that this situation be remedied, and made a few specific suggestions. The Search For Excellence Little is known about what makes a “superior” massage therapist. This sentence has two separate meanings, both of which are important. First it reflects the fact that there is no agreed upon definition or description of a “good” massage therapist. The agreed upon training standards are stated in terms of hours of training (generally 500 hours in the United States, 2500 hours in Ontario, 3200 hours in British Columbia) rather than areas of competence, although this is about to change. Secondly it reflects the reality that there has been no systematic evaluation of educational practices in the profession. We do not know how one best trains a good massage therapist, or even the extent to which excellence in this field can be taught or is the result of a gift. A range of studies could be designed to fill these gaps, from qualitative work to establish definitions of excellence in the field, to quantitative studies which ascertain whether such peer or client defined “excellence” corresponds to positive clinical results, to educational evaluation research geared to determining how both material and skills can be effectively transmitted. Furthermore, given the lack of uniformity in training in the United States today, it would be useful for the public to know how broad the range of skill or competence is among professional massage therapists who are trained at accredited institutions. How Massage Therapists Are Perceived By Themselves And Others During the meetings of the