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This month, I'm including an article I've had a request to repeat - how to massage friends and family for more than five minutes - for all of you giving a relaxing massage to friends and family during the summer months. I’ve also included tips for self-massage for fingers and hands for those of you doing lots of masasge, and I've included more information on Watsu, a form of massage done in a pool.

Enjoy!

- heather wibbels (615.294-6672)

Many times we come home with tired necks, sore backs, or hands and feet that just need a break. Offering a massage to a spouse, friend or family member to work those sore and tired areas gives your spouse a break, relieves their achiness, and relaxes them. All of these things make the people in your life much more pleasant to be around – especially after they’ve had a difficult day at work. However, how do you massage someone for more than five minutes without your own hands or arms starting to hurt? There are some easy ways to do this – methods and strategies I use every day.

1. Use Lotion. Massaging hands or feet without lotion is much more difficult on the giver than using some lotion on the skin. The extra friction of working skin to skin (or through clothes) without lotion means that the giver must use more pressure to push the fingers across the skin. Just using lotion or oil can extend the amount of time you’re able to work. Lotion evaporates more quickly than oil, so be prepared to reapply lotion while massaging. However, try not to over-lubricate the skin; it makes it hard to control your pressure and your hand. You’ll slide all over the place!

2. While using your hands, push with your legs or body, not with your hands and arms. The key to keeping your hands and arms pain-free is to stand or kneel so that you get pressure not from pushing down with your arms, but by locking your arms and pushing into the receiver's body using the weight of your body. Stand in a lunge and use pressure from your back foot to press into the body – without applying force with your arms. If you’re working on the floor, kneel so that your torso can lean over the body, and use the weight of your torso to translate into pressure while your hands are on the body.

To experiment, have the receiver lay face down on a cushion or blanket on the floor. Kneel next to the body and put your hands on the back. Push down while sitting on your heels, just with the strength of your hands and arms, without moving your torso over the receiver. Pause, then lean over the receiver’s torso and lock your arms. Let your body weight press your arms into the back. Ask your receiver if they can tell a difference.

3. Start lighter, then work deeper. Many people think massage has to start out deep and work even deeper. But, unless you practice massage every day, you will injure yourself giving massage. You have to warm your body and hands up slowly, just as the receiver’s body has to get used to your touch. Start the massage using lighter strokes, kneading or compressing the area lightly, and making sure you get lotion or oil on the whole surface you’re working. If you’ve gotten a massage from me, you’ll notice I do the same thing – warming up the area before going in deeper to do specific work. If you go into a muscle too deep too quickly, the muscle will lock up in an attempt to defend itself, and won’t let you in to work on it – no matter how deep you go. You’ll only be eliciting a pain response without getting any muscle relaxation.

After warming the area up, move slowly to working specific areas with deeper pressure. Check in with the receiver frequently to see how the pressure feels to them. If they’re wincing or pulling their body away from you, that’s a clue you’re going in too deep. To get deeper pressure, push with your legs and torso, and go slower. The body perceives slower paced strokes as deeper than the same pressure moving faster.

4. Use the Palm of your Hand. Rather than put a lot of pressure on your fingers, use the palm of your hands or a soft fist to work on the receiver. Using the palm distributes the pressure you apply to your whole hand, rather than just your fingers or thumbs. If you press down with the palm of your hand with the pressure focused on the heel of the hand, it will feel deep. If you press down with the palm of your hand and the pressure focused on the center of the palm or the base of the fingers, it will feel lighter to the receiver.

5. Don’t Overuse your Thumbs. Your thumbs are wondrous, flexible and talented digits. However, your thumbs are probably the most fragile part of the hand when performing massage. It’s easy to overuse the thumbs when you want to put deep pressure on a small place on the body. Putting the body weight behind your as described in tip #2 lets you put a lot of pressure through the tip of your thumb, but it also demands a lot of the thumbs’ joints. Stabilize the thumb by holding the thumb joint with your other hand, keeping the joint from bending back too far.

6. Don’t Massage Directly on Bone. This tip is for the comfort of the receiver. Massaging directly on bone can be very painful. Massaging directly on the vertebrae (rather than on the muscles beside and between them) does not feel good. When you’re giving a massage, make sure you feel a little cushion between the bone and the skin – this will be the muscle. Ask your receiver to tell you if you work in a place that is painful, or if your work feels too deep

7. Ask them to breathe. Doing lighter touch on someone when you’ve directed them to take 5 or 10 deep breaths is very relaxing and it isn’t much work for the giver. Pace your strokes or pressure with their deep breaths and the massage will be very relaxing – both to their mind and their muscles. You can start and end by having them do a number of deep breaths while you do general, lighter work on them.

It does take time to build up endurance of the body, hands, and arms to do a 30-minute or 60-minute massage. However, most people can easily do 10-15 minutes if they follow the tips above, go slow, and start with lighter pressure. When I taught a class of basic neck and shoulder massage using these tips, people in the class were able to do 30-40 minutes of massage on one another without hurting themselves, and the receivers were very relaxed by the time they left. Share these tips with your friends and family, so that you can all enjoy massage from one another – without hurting your hands.

More on Massage: Watsu
Aquatic Bodywork

How would you like to a get a massage in a pool? Watsu (WATer shiatSU), a form of aquatic bodywork, combines Swedish massage, Zen shiatsu and other movement therapies to treat the body in a weightless environment. Because it takes place in warm, body-temperature water, and the therapist is supporting the body and moving the body, an element of trust and connection forms between the client and the therapist.

Invented by Harold Dull in Middletown California in the early eighties, Dull sought to combine Zen shiatsu with water work. He developed the technique and began to train therapists at the School of Shiatsu and Massage in Harbin Hot Springs.

During a session, the therapist cradles the client in his/her arms to support the head and the legs. Though the support and buoyancy of being in the water, a deep sense of relaxation ensues. As the therapist rocks and moves through the water with the client, the therapist stretches, massages and applies acupressure to his/her body. In many cases, the client reaches a very deep state of relaxation and tranquility. Sometimes, therapies like Cranio-Sacral Therapy or other Myofascial modalities are included during the water work.

For more information, see the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association website:
WABA