Home | Blog | About Me | Become a Massage Therapist | Websites for Massage Therapists| |
|
|
Church Massage Groupby 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: Michael Murphy of Esalen: A Reminiscence Esalen Institute Presents Esalen Massage – VHS and DVD FormatsSelections 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
|
|
