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Selections from the Handbook Massage for Health by Mirka Knaster Mirka Knaster in her 40-page handbook Massage for Health, with Foreword by Shari Belafonte, Gaiam/Living Arts, 1988, accompanying the video Massage for Health featuring Shari Belafonte with Mirka Knaster and James Heartland, Gaiam/Living Arts, 1988, wrote as the Preface on page 6 the following: When I bought my first massage book about fifteen years ago (1973) and tried to practice on a friend, I never knew if I was really doing it right. No one stepped off the page to make the movements come alive for me. A couple of years passed and I took a workshop. That helped, but the experience was only for the day. When I got home, I found that I couldn’t remember all the instructions. Nor could I watch the teacher again. Eventually, I attended massage school to become a professional therapist and I went on to teach others how to massage. (She has been a massage therapist/instructor since 1978.) Years later, I realized there was a need for a way to bring massage to more people in other than a classroom setting. For the first time in history we have the technology to learn an ancient art in a new way. That’s why I was delighted when producer Steve Adams and Shari Belafonte asked me to work with them and James Heartland on the Massage for Health video. Finally, I can share – through movements on the screen and words in this handbook – the massage experience. Massage has opened many doors for me – getting to know the body and the language of touch, understanding myself and my relations with others, reaching into my heart and finding compassion, becoming sensitive to another’s pain and having a way to help relieve it. It has opened doors to people, places, and situations I could never have imagined possible. I invite you to open the first door by learning massage. Massage will do the rest. It will help you relax and combat stress, add pleasure to your relationships, improve your athletic activity, help you sleep restfully, enhance your sensuality, and much more. As you feel better, you’ll look better too. You’ll also be able to communicate nonverbally with greater sensitivity as you develop an inner awareness, an intuitive capacity through your hands. I wish I’d had Massage for Health when I first embarked on my massage odyssey. I would have been able to give a better massage a lot sooner. Enjoy. Furthermore, Mirka Knaster on page 11 properly credits the massage practitioners at the Esalen Institute for their contributions in combining the muscle therapy strokes of Swedish Massage with sensory-awareness techniques developed in the 1960s at Esalen to create a new form -- Esalen Massage: When we talk about massage, we generally mean Swedish or Swedish/Esalen style, the most well-known form of Western massage today and the one you learn in Massage for Health. Many people prefer it because while you’re enjoying therapeutic benefits, the gliding movements on lubricated skin also result in a pleasurable sensual experience. Developed by Peter Ling of Sweden in the nineteenth century, Swedish massage was later modified in California during the 1960s and 70s. Practitioners at the Esalen Institute felt that massage should be a more soothing experience and deal with more than the receiver’s physical state. By using greater sensitivity and your own intuition, you can more skillfully perceive the receiver’s needs and adapt the massage accordingly. These selections were made by Carl W. Nelson. |
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