Church Massage Group
by Carl W.
Nelson
At
the request of the church’s adult religious education committee chairperson, I
am the cofounder of and have been the sole instructor for the massage group at a
liberal Protestant church, teaching Esalen massage with a strong Trager
influence.
Yoga and Tai Chi classes had been already in place at this church.
Our announcement for the monthly church newsletter is as follows:
Everyone in the church community is welcome to participate in our ongoing
massage group that meets on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from
1:00 to 3:30 pm or until later, if desired. The instructor beginning in February
1977 was trained in Esalen Massage and Trager Work (originated by Milton Trager,
M.D.) at the legendary Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.
Learn about the powers and pleasures of your body: how to integrate bodywork
into your life for optimal health and vitality. Practice giving and receive a
massage. No prior experience is necessary. Learn the easiest way to reach the
meditative relaxed state. The movements lull the recipient into a dreamy altered
state of consciousness and even into a mystical state.
Wear
loose-fitting, comfortable clothing, and also preferably bring a swimsuit and
bathrobe. Bring a foam pad, quilt, coverlet, or sleeping bag to provide
cushioning for the folding banquet table, a sheet, three small pillows, two
medium towels, and a large towel. If you don’t have some of these items, come
anyway.
A
donation of $5.00 by each participating attendee for each session is suggested
for the church’s adult religious education program.
The other cofounder, who is the group’s publicist and coordinator, and
is also a member of the church’s adult religious education committee, and I
provide our services for free.
The church has folding banquet tables (30” width x 72” length x 29” to
30” height), a great many older ones with faux wood-grained finished plywood or
particle-board tabletops, and several new lightweight Lifetime Products ones
with white blow-molded polyethylene plastic tabletops. The latter tables priced
at about $45.00 each are available at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Staples, Costco, and
Wal-Mart. Table height adjustability in 2” increments is provided by the use of
sturdy wood or molded plastic bed risers packaged in fours available at Bed Bath
& Beyond.
Correct table height is of utmost importance for the massage giver to enable a
proper stress-free massage to be comfortably given. Insufficient table height
will result in lower back pain for the massage giver. In too high a table, the
massage giver won’t get the leverage needed and will soon become tired. The
correct table height should about equal the massage giver’s crotch height from
the floor. However, it is better to err from the optimum by being higher rather
than lower.
Every time we meet my policy is to select a newcomer to serve as my demo, and
every time there has been at least one newcomer. My demos have ranged from a
child of ten to those in their nineties.
The 45-minute demo is a complete body massage entailing twenty or so strokes or
movements selected for ease of learning and effectiveness, especially for those
who are new to massage. The long, lengthening strokes are various combinations
of six to ten shorter movements done for the recipient lying on the table when
facing up and then again when facing down.
Standing, I start, with the recipient lying on the table facing up, with gentle
Trager
rhythmic rocking and rolling of the head
from side to side using the fingertips of both hands at the occipital ridge, and
also ask rhetorically,
“How should it be? What is softer? What is freer? What could be lighter?”
This has the effect of melting any resistance the recipient might have. Three
other Trager moves are selected for the torso where both hands are slowly moved
from the shoulder to the hip and hip to shoulder (repeating, if desired) with
gentle light-touch push, pull, or push-pull
rhythmic
rocking of the body. For push both hands are on the same side where one is
standing, for pull both hands are on the opposite side, for push-pull one hand
is on one side and the other hand is on the other side. For the recipient lying
on the table when facing down, the torso is also easily rocked by just one hand
placed firmly on the sacrum, freeing the other hand to do a different move or
stroke. For the arms I prefer the Trager arm-swinging motion which effectively
engages the shoulder. The legs from feet to hips back and forth are rocked in a
similar manner as for the torso. No oil or lotion is required for these or any
Trager movements.
The Esalen massage strokes, most of which require oil, are selected from the
classic The Massage Book by George Downing and Anne Kent Rush. The
beautifully simple line drawings by Anne Kent Rush illustrating the text seem to
step off the page and are far more effective in conveying meaning than are still
photographs. In my demo sessions about two-thirds of the time pertain to Esalen
strokes and one-third to Trager moves.
After my demo I
visit every table to observe how folks are doing. In general I find they are
working too hard. I then have the giver place her/his hands on my hands to show
how the movement can be done with much less effort. Next I place my hands on the
giver’s hands for the stroke. For illustration only of the Trager moves I
purposely withdraw my contact with the recipient as soon as possible to show
that the body moves by itself without my remaining in contact. Ordinarily I
remain in contact but there is no pressure applied during this phase of the
movement. Trager work is truly very nearly effortless.
At this time I also show the 85-minute Esalen Institute Presents Esalen
Massage DVD, followed by the 2-hour 20-minute The Art of Essential Touch
with Ellen Watson, Volume 1 DVD 2-disc set, on a 34” Widescreen HDTV. I, too,
strongly advocate that each member purchase these DVDs. They are great training
tools to have for practicing at home.
For our church massage group I have authored the following essays as handouts:
Touch
Points from Esalen
Michael Murphy of
Esalen: A Reminiscence
Learning
Esalen Massage
Massage Oils
Selections from the Handbook Massage for Health
by Mirka Knaster
A Selection from “Massage and
Recovery of the Soul” by Don Hanlon Johnson
Deane Juhan – Job’s Body: A Handbook for
Bodywork
