relationship become something of a safe haven for the Client, a space away from the pressures and uncertainties of the outside world. With her eyes covered, the Client feels like she is in her “own bubble”. This “bubble” grows to include the Therapist, and a number of exchanges are infused with an ‘us against the world’ mentality: Client: yeh (1.0) people are just mean Therapist: yeah hhh heh Client: they’re just they’re so mean Therapist: yeah yeah you’d think they’d be er nicer [this time of year and Client: [yeah] 2.2: Comfort Physical warmth is frequently cited by both participants as a source of comfort. The Therapist regularly checks the ambient temperature, heats the table with an electric blanket, and warms the draping towels before use. Her persona is similarly warm. The Client describes the Therapist as “bubbly”, “dependable”, “down-to-earth”, and “someone that [she] would be friends with”. The Therapist’s ability to present herself as simultaneously humble and professionally capable seems to be central in creating these impressions. The Therapist also helps the Client to feel that she is not being personally judged, such as in this moment early in the relationship: Client: I’m Indian, so I sweat and it smells like butter chicken [on my arms, so] Therapist: [that’s alright darling] Therapist: That’s fine you know then I’ll I’ll just feel like I’m at the local restaurant In this instance, the Therapist’s use of humour diffuses the Client’s concerns and her use of the Her commentary on this moment reveals her choice to shift the focus away from herself. Therapist: She’s asking me how I’m doing and […] I’ve just neatly changed the subject there. I’ve just flipped it back, to let her relax and talk about herself more, and keep the focus on her… In this way, maintaining professional boundaries reinforces the Client’s primacy as the target of therapeutic attention but also allows the Therapist to feel safe. 1.2: Performance of roles The performance of roles serves as a framework for safe treatment, within which lies room for negotiation and personalization. The roles bring consistency, structure, and familiarity, which help to contain the vulnerability that both participants can feel. The Client and Therapist know they each have a role to play. The Client is generally deferent and passive, allows the Therapist to direct proceedings, and provides information upon request. The Therapist utilizes elements of stagecraft in portraying her role: she is neatly groomed, carries a clipboard, displays her framed qualifications, and wears a uniform with embroidered logo. These cast a deliberate impression on the Client, defining a fixed, stable identity for the Therapist. The Client’s responses to the Therapist’s performance change across treatments. Her early impressions of the Therapist, while overwhelmingly positive, bear signs of uncertainty: Client:…she just genuinely cared about me. That’s how I felt anyways. If she didn’t she was good at pretending to, but I think she did. By Session 3, the Client’s uncertainty remains, but she speaks of it in a more resigned tone, suggesting awareness that this performance of roles can help relationships to thrive: Client:…she must have so many clients, so she must be really good at pretending to care, but if she is pretending to care, she’s really good at it, if that makes sense. Like an audience member at a play, the Client’s suspension of disbelief is in service of a higher purpose. She comes to tolerate and even appreciate the uncertainty of the relationship, which may help her to reframe her attitude to uncertainty, a central goal of many forms of psychotherapy. 1.3: Power The relationship in MT has parallels with a caregiver-infant relationship because, like a parent, the Therapist must anticipate the Client’s needs and avoid doing harm. And like a child, the Client’s power is CLARK: PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP IN MT 26 International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork—Volume 12, Number 3, September 2019 an assessment that it “felt really good.” In this way, the Client’s experience of pleasure is mediated by the Therapist’s ability to communicate care through touch. Theme 3: Merging Through the Therapist’s facilitation of a pleasurable experience for the Client, a kind of metaphorical merging occurs, whereby the two entities meet and, despite retaining their essential forms, blur and breach the boundaries that separate them. This merging contains numerous elements from psychotherapy, including transference and countertransference,(17) loving interaction,(18) attunement,(19) and relatedness,(20) but the addition of the physical dimension seems to demand a more concrete term. It is important also to distinguish ‘merging’ from psychotherapeutic terms that may sound similar—such as ‘fusion’, ‘enmeshment’, even ‘attachment’—but carry many different connotations in this context. 3.1: Contact At the start of each treatment, before undraping the Client and before any massage occurs, the Therapist deliberately places two firm hands on the Client’s back and, as much as possible, keeps one hand on the Client throughout the treatment. As well as reassuring the Client of the Therapist’s whereabouts while face-down, this serves the more poetic function of temporarily merging two individual entities together, albeit symbolically. It is as if the Client disconnects from her motoric brain and the Therapist