Massage

Stay in touch with each other and give a massage! Some time ago I found that receiving and giving a massage is very nice and restful it also reduces stress, but normally I don't have stress at all.

On this page I will give you an introduction to massage and further on I will give you some links if you are interested to read on. I to the liberty to lend the graphics on this page from The New Book of Massage written by Lucy Lidell.

Ambiance

First of all you need to find someone to massage, a partner or friend is perfect of course. There are people that give their self a massage, but it never worked for me, since it is hard to relax if you massage yourself. If you found a partner the next thing to do is find a room and create a relaxed atmosphere, so dimmed light near a fire place or something is perfect. If you have no idea, this is an example of a relax atmosphere. As you can see on the picture you don't need a massage table, what you do need is a blanket a mattress and oil.

Before you start your massage make sure that your partner is laying comfortable.

How to touch

If you want a massage to be effective you have to concentrate, both the person giving the massage and the person receiving should concentrate on the feeling of the touch. Doing so lets you forget your other worries. Remember if you are tensed... this will be reflected in the person that you are massaging.

See the figure on the right, move your hands slowly across your legs making strokes in the direction of your feet. For about a minute focus on your palm of your hand as seen in 1. Then without removing your hands concentrate on the steps.

Apply oil

Before you start your massage, first check if your partner has any medical problems, which can be injuries, skin diseases etcetera. If you are not sure if you should massage, consult your general practitioner and do not massage the parts of the body involved in the injury.

Before you apply oil ask your partner to undress. Always respect the wishes of your partner, it is not necessary to be completely naked. If your partner is laying down, softly apply towels on the parts of the body that you will not massage right away.

You can use all sorts of massage oil for you massage, but you should always ask your partner if he/she has allergies for specific oils. Nut oils for example cannot be used on people who have nut allergy.

Personally I love the smell of lavender oil, but it can be expensive. If you have no oil at hand you can also use sun flower oil, which has no smell and it works very good at no expenses. You can also buy concentrated oil and mix that with a base oil. I have used sun flower oil in combination with lavender extract the most.

Apply oil first on your (warm-) hands and then apply it on your partner as can be seen in the strokes paragraph below. Always touch tender... if you move your hands away from your partners body do it slowly. It is just not that relaxing if you move abrupt.

Basic touches

There are a few basic touches that you can use all over the body. If you know this basics you can give a nice massage and move on further to other touches or massage forms. I will now give a summary of the touches.

You always need to start with warming your partners body, this is usually done with one of these strokes. Also if you find there is not enough oil, you apply some more oil with the long stroke touch.

Long stroke Move your hands down slowly to your partners body. Wait for a moment and then slowly move it across the trunk/limb, follow the lines of the body. Move your hands to the side and back upwards.

Circle stroke You can also move your hands making circles on your parners body. And then move upwards, creating a continuous movement in the form of the number eight.

• You can also use only your fingertips, that gives a very light and tingling effect.

Half deep tissue massage: Kneading Grab a full hand of tissue and press it together on one hand, while releasing the other. Works very fine on the legs.

Half deep tissue massage: Lifting Continuously make a lifting movement with your hands. This is very nice for the sides of the trunk.

Half deep tissue massage: Wringing
Wringing is a touch that can be done moving one hand in the opposite direction of the other. And reverse. Just see the arrows in the pictures above.

Deep tissue massage: Chopping Deep tissue massage can be done with flat hand, or as you can see in the picture with open hands. There are also some other techniques that I will not mention here.

Deep tissue massage: Knocking Deep tissue with fists can be very fine on the bottom. Do not use deep tissue massage on skinny/old people.

Go on and explore

I hope this gave you something to experiment, go on and explore with the touches I mentioned above. The best place to start your massage is the back. From there you can move down to the bottom and the legs and feet. Make your partner turn around and massage the other side of the legs and the arms, and the belly. After that you can choose to let your partner sit down and massage the shoulders, the neck and the head, including the face. Yes the face, lots of people always forget that there are lots of muscles in the face that show expressions throughout the day.

• If massaging the feet is to sensitive you may need to apply more pressure. 
• Respect your partners wishes, ask before massaging the bottom. And don't go to far up when massaging the inside upper legs. 

A lot mote information can be found in The New Book of Massage.

References

The New Book of Massage is translated in many languages including Dutch and French.
The New Book of Massage, Lucy Lidell
English version can be ordered at amazon.com.

Oosterse en Westerse massage,Lucy Lidell
The Dutch version can be ordered at bol.com (better description).