I finished warming up my hands as the client came in, laid down on the massage table, and loosened the collar of her robe.

"Hello," I said. "What can I do for you today?"

"I've had a wicked crick in my neck all weekend," she said. "Can you do something to loosen it up?"

"Sure, I'll get in there and see what I can do."

I started by pressing two fingers between her shoulder blades. "Is this close to the spot?"

"Higher."

I moved my fingers up the back of her neck. "Say when."

"Keep going ... closer ... there it is!" Her voice immediately smoothed out as she began to relax. "Yeeeaaah, right there."

I started applying pressure to the spot, massaging her neck muscles and gently manipulating the vertebrae. Something began to give.

"Oh, that's so good." She sounded half-asleep, she was so relaxed. Her breathing began to slow.

I started to lean over, putting more weight on the knots in her neck.

Suddenly, something gave way. A gap appeared in her neck.

Oops.

I leaned down to look at her face through the middle of the head rest. Her eyes were closed. She hadn't noticed yet.

I quickly made a little nest out of hot towels on the side table. Then I placed my fingers on either side of her head, started to massage her temples and jaw, and slowly lifted her head out of the headrest. If I had bumped the table, and her head dropped off of the headrest and bounced on the floor during a massage, I'd never hear the end of it.

I managed to get her head nestled face down into the little towel nest without jostling her too much, and then I went back to work on her neck. I did my best with the massage, but I was a little distracted the whole time.

How was I supposed to reattach her head without her noticing? Could I just tell her to keep her eyes closed while she sat up? Well, let's hope she really, really likes the massage, I guess...