Want to make your massage client “feel taller,” all while delivering some feel-good meditative contact? Check out my new tutorial video:
Really, these are all just simple table stretches; the trick is in their delivery. They feel good done briefly, but interesting stuff starts happening when you slow down and let your hands do some listening. I find these to be opportunities to connect with my client, and they’re excellent ways of opening or closing a massage!
In fact, let’s talk more about how to end a massage. What do you do to let your clients know that the session has reached its end? This can be verbal or non-verbal. Looking forward to your thoughts!
New massage tutorial video! This one’s on how to work with fully clothed clients:
This can seem a little intimidating if you always work with oil, or if you don’t have much experience with chair massage. The trick is to embrace the traction rather than trying to replicate the glide of your usual technique. What advantages do you have now that your hands stick like glue?
I see this as an opportunity to really sink into myofascial release. Because you can displace superficial tissue without sliding off, you can try new angles and really sit with them. For instance, try engaging the erector spinae tissue and dragging it out laterally, then staying put for a while. Have the client breathe as you feel the consistency of the tissue under your hands and wait for it to soften. This can have effects on the back that longitudinal strokes can’t quite achieve!
When considering how to spend your hour, this is where you can mimic your Swedish-inspired approach. Budget your time similarly, and let your approach be just as slow and all-encompassing. Even without being able to glide, you can still tell the story of the body and how it’s interconnected.
Thanks to everyone who’s been waiting patiently while I get back into this. If you’ve sent me a message during the last few months, it’s pretty likely that I was unable to respond, so please feel free to resend it if you’d like my thoughts on something. It’s good to be back!
Does your massage client have rib pain? Would you like to work with the thoracic region more thoroughly? Here’s how I go about it.
Something that I hope to demonstrate with this video is an approach that was years in the making—instead of working on specific muscles, or stripping longitudinally or transversely, I’ve started to embrace the torso as a whole. By hooking in and dragging the thoracic region in different directions, purposely changing the shape of the client’s body, I’m able to work with the many muscles that criss-cross the region while acknowledging the holistic three-dimensionality of the upper body.
Let me restate that in a way that’s less weird: I’ve found clinical value in working more broadly with the thoracic muscles. I used to isolate them, stripping and compressing muscles that I thought were responsible for low back pain, or chest pain. By broadening my approach and moving beyond origin and insertion, I find that my clients get a better sense of how their torso is put together, and they tend to stand up with tangible results: Being able to breathe easier and stand taller. Even if these are temporary (and they are), that change demonstrates that such things are possible. It lets the client know that touch and movement are capable of making them more comfortable in their own body.
Let me know what you think, and I’d love to hear your strategies for working with the torso as a whole!
It can be hard to work with a massage client’s limbs if they’re trying to help you move them, or if they’re unconsciously holding them in place. Here are a few strategies for dealing with this phenomenon:
I think that communication is key, which brings me to an important point: The word “relax.” This is something that I’ve been commanded to do on more than one occasion as a massage client, and… there’s nothing relaxing about it. It can actually make me feel a little indignant, because I thought I was relaxed!
Instead, I like to focus on the body part, and acknowledge that tension is often unconscious. “See if you can let this shoulder be loose. You might not even know that your muscles here are contracting, and that’s normal.” If it’s impeding your massage, you can try having them consciously contract those muscles before releasing them, allowing your hands to sink in as they do. “Did you feel those muscles let go?” Over time, you can help your clients become more aware of their own chronic contraction.
Let me know what you think! Do you have any tips for working with helping and holding?
This week I have a deep tissue massage technique video for you:
This is about using a “mother hand”: A broad and comforting hand applied while doing other techniques.
But that’s easy for me to say. For new massage therapists, having two hands doing two different tasks can be quite the juggling act. I remember how taxing it was to keep my feet moving, my posture not-terrible, and my hands conforming to the surface of the body, all while anticipating what my next move would be.
As I mention in the video, this is something that takes time. There’s an interesting phenomenon called automatization, wherein the cerebellum recognizes frequently repeated tasks over the course of many repetitions, and slowly takes over those tasks from the cerebral cortex. This is what allows you to tie your shoes while humming the theme song from Game of Thrones: the automaticity of the behaviors reduces the amount of attention needed.
So, practice makes perfect, and it also reduces the cognitive burden of that activity! I promise to talk more about actual massage next time.
Until then, let me know what you think! Do you do something like this as you work? If you give this a try, let me know how it goes!