Basics of Giving a Massage

Series Summary

Massage therapy is a practice with a multiplicity of benefits. Whether it’s a quick rubdown or a full-body treatment, the human touch has practical applications for promoting both physical and emotional well-being. Massage is performed with the use of motion, pressure, tension and vibration on certain areas of the body such as painful or stressed muscles and joints. This allows a release of tension and a return to a homeostatic condition. Beyond general stress relief, massage encourages physical and emotional healing by improving circulation. In this free video series, a massage therapist provides tips for massage therapy techniques, preparation, equipment and becoming a massage therapist. Learn the basics of giving a massage before moving on to chair massage techniques, hot stone massages and treating fibromyalgia. Next, discover how to make a massage table, how to pack a massage table and how to incorporate aroma therapy into massage. All bases are covered with the tips in this free massage therapy video series!

Video Transcript

"Have you ever wondered about the basics of giving a massage at home? I'm Sundae with Natural Sundae, and I'm going to tell you just a few easy, very simple basic things to remember when you're giving a massage. Now, the first thing you want to remember is to really set a nice, relaxing atmosphere and you can do this a couple of ways. You can light some candles, and dim the lights, you can also play some really soft music, and have the client just relax and try to loosen up every part of their body and take some deep breaths. That will really set the tone for a nice massage. Now, the second thing you want to do, you have your client on the table and you just want to prepare them for the massage, help them relax, cause a lot of people these days are really stressed out and they need help. You don't want them tense on the table like that, so just kind of start by rocking the client with your hands on the lower back, just real gently get them to relax, there you go. Then we're going to uncover the back, just like that, and when you give a massage, you want to start with the back, this is the most relaxing part of the body. And, it's the biggest surface area, so you're really going to be able to work a lot of that body by taking care of that back first, and it's really relaxing, it sets the tone for the rest of the massage. Now, what you're going to do when you start a massage, is you're going to work superficial to deep, which means you're going to start gently and then as your client loosens up and the muscles allow you to get in there and work, then you can start working deeper, so you want to work superficial to deep, which means gently and then later you can add more pressure, when they're ready for it. And, you want to start using gentle, gliding, uninterrupted, relaxing strokes, all the way down the back, and of course, once the back is relaxed, then you can move onto the arms, the hands, of course, the legs, and the feet. But, one really important thing to remember when you're giving your massage, no matter where you are on the part of the body, you want to make sure you've always got one hand on the client. You have to remember the client is face down and they can't see where you are and if you take your hands off completely and you're walking around, kind of makes people feel nervous, they always want to know where you are. So, if I'm done with the back and I need to walk over here, I'll always keep one hand on them, replace it with this hand and then walk around the table. Next thing you want to remember is to ask them to breath deeply. Sometimes when you're working and things get going a little bit too deep for the client, they may start to tense up, well, that's really going to mess up the massage, they're not going to accept your touch so, just keep them relaxed with nice gentle movements and then you're going to want to turn them over, and of course, do all of those movements on the front of the body. So, those were just some very basics on giving a massage. I'm Sundae, with Natural Sundae, take care."