- Hello massageners and massagelungs.
I'm Maria Natera and I've been challenged by Ian,
from Massage Love to make a video on tips
for a better massage.
So I'm gonna show you and share my tips.
And now we're challenging, Ian and I are challenging
Rebel, Alison from Rebel Massage to do her tips.
Okay, so tip number one for me is to be professional,
to be punctual, to be ready for your client
when they walk in the door.
Don't make them wait you know, 10, 15, 20 minutes.
Their time is just as valuable as yours
and for me the massage begins
on how you treat your client since the minute they walk in.
So always be punctual and be ready for your client.
Tip number two is listen, not just with your ears
but listen with your eyes and with your hands.
And what I mean by that is observe your client
as they're walking in.
You know, how are they walking?
Are they walking forward
like they have the whole world on their shoulders?
You know, you can observe that,
that's listening with your eyes.
And, you know, they might not tell you that their back hurt
or they might be limping
and they might forget to tell you their leg hurt.
So be listening with your eyes.
And listening with your hands.
When you're actually touching your client,
the body gives you feedback.
If it's too much pressure, they tense
or they might get ticklish.
Listen to the signals that the body is sending you.
Being sensitive to that,
I guarantee you will make you a better therapist.
So tip number three now,
is actually what I'm gonna talk about
the flow of the massage.
Tip number three is you wanna have a continuous flow
with your client, you don't wanna break contact.
As you can see I'm always wearing my belt here
so I can pump with this hand, rub it in
without breaking contact with her.
Just make your massage flow.
Make it flow.
If you're gonna go to another body part
like here I am on this shoulder,
and I'm gonna come to this while my hand is still over here
so I don't break flow with her.
I can do my stretching a little bit,
and just come back and then come back to this arm
so I'm constantly in contact with her
which is really important.
Also if you go to the leg, I can be here
and still be in touch with her.
And then undrape and move her hand, and then tuck it in,
and then go to her leg,
so then I continue with the flow.
And that's what I mean with the flow,
you know, is like you don't wanna break flow with her
or contact with your client.
So number four is I use effleurage for tract to begin
and to transition.
So I do three strokes of effleurage
and petrissage, I may go to my petrissage.
I may go to my stripping.
I do the stripping, whatever it is I'm doing with the arm.
And also at the end,
I go ahead and do effleurage again.
That's my transitional and stroke.
So when in doubt, do effleurage.
A lot of times I know we lose focus, I know I do.
Sometimes I might be thinking of somebody else
or something else
and I forget where I was at, so I go back to effleurage.
So when in doubt, do effleurage
and use effleurage as your transitional stroke.
Here I am again getting my oil,
now she's in the prom position,
and I can go ahead and just transition everything smooth.
Finish the strokes all the way.
Make sure that you are having the long strokes,
don't break contact with your client.
And once you're done with all of that,
to me it's very important to do the feathering strokes
or what I call nerve ending strokes.
And those are the ones when you're done,
it helps you reach closure with that body part
and with your client.
You can go ahead,
and right now am just doing like effleurage,
but once I'm done with my effleurage
and my long-strokes where I don't break contact with them
then now I wanna do my nerve ending strokes
or feathering strokes.
And these are light where you're barely touching,
where you can use the back of your fingernails.
This is what I call the kitty scratches,
or the tips of your fingers, the carwash.
So you just do whatever it is for you
that you're doing really, really soft.
And these are mainly to reach closure with your client,
to let them know that you're done,
and to relax the nervous system.
So that's tip number five.
Tip number six is if you have a client
that's coming in in the morning
and they have the whole day ahead of them,
you wanna do a more energetic massage.
You wanna be just a little bit faster,
if they need to get their energy out.
This is also like before an event,
if they're gonna have a sports event,
you go just a little bit faster, okay?
So also, if you have somebody that's coming in
at the end of the week, Friday evening,
and they just really need to relax and unwind
then you slow it down.
Then your strokes are longer and slower
to calm down your client, to help them relax.
But if they're coming in right before an event
you can go a little bit faster,
and you know shorter strokes
to really get their blood circulating, okay?
So that's tip number six.
And I'm gonna give you an extra one, tip number seven.
Just to challenge you guys.
Tip number seven is remember, the massage is not about you.
The massage is about your client
and what your client needs that day.
So make sure that you're in a good place
and that you've taken care of your needs
before you come in to work with your client,
because now that whole time you're with your client
it's about what they need.
Not about how much pressure you know
or what different techniques you know,
it's about what your client needs.
So I hope these tips really help you
to incorporate them into your massage practice
and consider subscribing to my YouTube channel,
and follow me on Instagram where I post almost every day
to give you tips on how to become a better therapist.
'Till the next time, create a good day.