Basics of Swedish Massage

Video Transcript

"Hi, if you've ever wondered what the basic techniques for a Swedish or traditional massager, I'm going to show you what they are. I'm Sundae with Natural Sundae. Now the first technique that's generally taught and learned in a massage school is Effleurage and it's a gliding stroke. It's a French term that means to glide. And it's usually the first one perform because it helps the client to relax before you get any deeper into the tissue. So here's the first technique, it's Effleurage, just a gliding stroke on either side of the spine, it feels really really good and it's really a nice way to relax. The second technique is called Petrissage and of course it's also a French term and it means to knead or lift. And you're going to use your hands in a motion like this to where you can really get the tissue up and between your hands. You're definitely increasing circulation, making that tissue nice and soft and pliable, just like a big ball of dough. Now the third technique is called Friction. Now this is actually compression with circular movements. Friction is just moving across the muscle fibers. The muscles in your back, run up and down. So the great way to affect them and to spread the tissue is to use friction. Circular friction, you can use your palm, you can use your forearm, but it's a really nice way to affect the muscles. You're just going to use circular friction across the fiber of that muscle, right here. The next term is called Vibration. And it's actually self-explanatory. Your hands are going to vibrate and really wake up the nerves and tissues under that hand and under that skin, right here. So what you're going to do is you're just going to compress and then use some trembling actions. This is really saying, "wake up", "wake up", you're going to get some blood flow to that area. You're just going to vibrate, just like that. Now the last basic technique of Swedish massage is called Tapotement or Percussion and it's kind of self-explanatory, explanatory, it's a percussive motion. You're going to use alternate hands and you're just going to hack, like this. There's three kinds to do, you can do. You can hack and you want to make sure your wrists are really relax and your fingers are really relax. You can hack like that or you can put your hands in little cups and cup like that or you can fist, fist-beat them. And actually, after you have use Tapotement for a couple of minutes, you can really see the red start to surface on their, on their back and that means that you've definitely increased the tissue surface circulation in that tissue. So there are really five effective ways and techniques to use in the Swedish massage. I'm Sundae with Natural Sundae."