hello miss entrepreneurs today i'm going to be  bringing you abdominal massage i did a survey  

on instagram and i was really surprised at the  response i asked about how many people include  

abdominal massage in the routine and how many  don't and the responses were great i thank you  

guys for that however i did learn a lot i learned  that the majority don't they ask the client  

so today i really want to talk about some of the  best benefits of abdominal massage i'm going to  

uh talk to you about how to approach clients how  it affects the nervous system the lymphatic system  

the muscular system and the digestive system so i  want you to keep in mind that we're not one-sided  

you know somebody mentioned that the front is you  know connected to the back which it is we all know  

that weak abdominal sometimes causes you  low back pain so if your abdominals are weak  

it can also refer into the back another thing that  we must you know understand that's very important  

is that the lymphatic system we have a lot of  lymph nodes in our abdominal area so it absorbs  

it helps to push the lymph back into our diet  into our cardiovascular system and don't forget  

the pairs patches are in the small intestine so  you have an effect on that with breathing too you  

know the diaphragm is you know a muscle right here  along the uh costals right underneath the ribcage  

so we also can affect that that's very  important because we affect the nervous system  

breathing is so important for  relaxation cranial nerve number 10  

the vagus nerve comes out from in front of  your ears and it wraps around your heart  

your lungs and your stomach that is a  parasympathetic nerve which means rest  

and digest so we affect that too we can stimulate  the vagus nerve then you get your client to relax  

we also um work on so many muscles the  rectus abdominus the internal obliques  

the we kind of you know work on the diaphragm we  can work on the intercostals people that have been  

coughing especially nowadays you know with uh  with the winter season with a cold and the flu  

it uh they cough in it their intercostals hurt so  it's very important for you to work these muscles  

out we can affect the ql you know i'm going  to show you some techniques on how to work  

you know all the way from the ql back the psoas  the lats the serratus anterior my favorite muscle  

so we do affect the muscular system those are just  the benefits right there that i'm giving you not  

even counting the digestive system so now let's  talk about the digestive system let's talk about  

how it helps with bloating with digestion  with people that are constipated i'm going  

to show you a couple of techniques to help  people that are constipated and also you know  

just to show you why it's so important for  you to incorporate it into your massage  

i know that you know for all the years that i've  been teaching i teach it as part of the routine  

a lot of the comments that were left in  the instagram said well i asked my client  

if they want me to do abdominal massage and  this is how i would like to introduce to you  

you know maybe this is how you can approach it  because this is how i've taught it you make it  

part of your routine from the first day that your  client comes in when your client comes in you've  

done the medical history you've talked to them and  you give them a rundown use takes you one minute  

to say i'm going to be working your head your neck  your shoulders your arms your legs your back and  

your abdomen it's part of the routine if you ask  them like would you like for me to give you an  

abdominal massage then they're going to say well  why are they asking me for that they didn't ask me  

for my to they didn't need my permission to  massage the legs they didn't need my permission  

you know so it you make it kind of weird it gets  kind of weird when you ask the client permission  

to work the abdominals if you just incorporate  it it'll be part of it from day one because it  

is just a body part it's an important body part  especially if you explain to them and teach them  

why it's important now if they tell you you know  what i don't want you to work my abdomen today  

that's a different story they might even tell you  uh you know what my low back i've got some issues  

i really don't think that you know you should  work on it give the client the option to tell you  

no after you've given them the  whole body run down on day one  

it's so important like i said you  address so many so many issues with it so  

i'm going to show you another thing that i want  to talk about is the draping you know the female  

you automatically drape them and males don't ask  them would you like to be for me to drape you  

because that that's that again that's kind of  strange males do not usually like to be draped  

they're you know they're going to be exposed down  to their waist and that's okay and also you must  

have the legs relaxed so it's best if they put  their feet flat on the table or with a big enough  

pillow where the abdominals are relaxed i've seen  massages abdominal massage where the legs are flat  

you do not want to do that because you want to  make sure and relax the abdominals so you can get  

to the large intestine so let's get to it i'll  show you some techniques right now okay so now  

i'm going to show you some of the first techniques  as you can see we drew miriam did an amazing job  

as usual we've got the liver right here on the  right upper quadrant the stomach and these are  

some of the obliques and we've got the ascending  transverse and descending colon and then the  

small intestine is in the middle of that so i'm  going to show you the first thing you want to do  

is introduce your hands gently you don't want to  start working right away so you might want to just  

warm up your hands a little bit and put it at the  at the level of their navel and just hold it there  

and maybe do just a little bit of like waves right  there just gently start getting stuff moving there  

i'm going to show you the very basic technique  that's called the sun and the moon i'm sure all  

of you learned that in school and that  is where you just go around in a circle

and you're standing on the you know right  at the table in a horse stance facing  

opposite so this is the sun moon technique all  you're doing is in a gentle introducing touch to  

your clients especially if they're in pain they've  had pain so you want to just do the sun and moon  

circular clockwise motion and let me explain to  you why because you've got your ascending colon  

your transverse colon and your descending colon  people that are constipated you usually feel it  

on their left side which is the descending colon  you might be able to feel little tightness or  

bumps along the way so be careful so far we're  just doing the sun and moon circular motion

and if somebody is you know they tell you they  have been constipated then you might want to  

just do this technique where you take two fingers  and you may hold right underneath the rib cage  

and with two fingers just kind of drag two  inch at a time an inch or two inches at a time  

down and this will really get the large  intestine the descending colon like i said  

when people are constipated they usually  feel it on the left side and you can  

feel it too so just very gently all the way down  an inch or two inches at a time just gliding down

and on this side you would go up two  inches or one inch at a time just

and then transverse

and you you still take the two fingers and  you might only do circles little circles  

all the way around and remember it's  always in a clockwork clockwise motion  

you've got the gallbladder right here this green  one right here this is your gallbladder so be  

careful not to use too much pressure there  and go the transverse colon all i'm doing is  

i'm lifting the hand and then putting the two  fingers and then going in a circular motion

so lifting

and doing small little circles all the way  down i actually feel something right there

so this is more specific where you can  actually feel underneath your finger  

the pads don't use your fingernails  use the pads of your fingers all the  

way down little circles all the way around  in a circular motion in a clockwise motion  

this might be a very sensitive area for people  that are constipated so go easy go light remember  

on the right side you have your vermiform appendix  and you don't want to put too much pressure here  

if they're constipated or anything like that  there's no need for you to put pressure here  

right you know on the on the right side  where the appendix is at so again we're  

going to use the sun moon technique  just to kind of continue transitioning

this is just real gentle real soft and now i'm  going to do the ocean waves which is some ringing  

i'm going all the way across the abdomen again i'm  in a horse stance just going all the way across  

on her left side just doing some ringing  

some ocean waves well i'm here now  i'm going to do some petrissage

yeah that feels good she likes that yeah  you know i really when you get this done  

you just feel so good after you feel like  clean almost usually people pass gas don't  

don't be afraid if they pass gas it's  good or they might get up and have you  

to use the bathroom so all of that is good  so you're doing here some just some kneading  

you know or some siboing and if you can  see i'm even getting the obliques from here  

now i'm not just affecting the digestive system  but also the obliques you know so let's talk  

about even the uh the raking i'm going to go  here and rake in between the intercostals here  

and you always want to make sure and have it  tucked in here by the armpits right around here  

you want to tuck it in and also right here at the  asis you want to tuck it in especially if they're  

you know they're wearing uh under clothes and  you just tuck it in right there but the raking

you just make a rake with your fingers and  go in between the intercostals you're getting  

the serratus anterior you're getting the lat if  you go all the way back you're getting the lat  

the quadratus lumborum and coming down here  to the external obliques all around the  

iliac crest right here so this is a great  one to just really get things moving here

you're working on the muscles

and of course you're going to do both sides you  know you're going to switch to the other side  

and do both sides another one that you can do if  your table's slow enough and you're tall enough  

i'm going to put my hands right in the  middle of her back and just lift up

go to the middle and lift up

and then the muscles start relaxing  and they start you know moving around  

this can also create some  movement for the abdominals

don't forget that if you have weak abdominals  it will give you some pain in the back another  

oh let's talk about the lymphatic system we have  a lot of lymph nodes in our abdominal cavity and  

the pairs patches are right here in the middle so  every time that we're even even a gentle sun and  

move technique will get the lymphatic system going  which will move the lymph back up to the draining  

up here under the subclavian you know under the  clavicle to the subclavian veins to drain it back  

into our cardiovascular system so it affects the  lymphatic system and let's talk now about the um  

the nervous system the vagus nerve the vagus nerve  as i told you in the introduction it comes down  

and it wraps around our heart our  lungs and our digestive system so  

any time that you can affect the vagus nerve which  is for rest and digest it's a parasympathetic  

nerve this is fantastic so one of the  things that you can do is go right along  

the ribcage right here i didn't want to put  too much oil because i didn't want to mess up  

the paint so now i'm going to talk about the  diaphragm the diaphragm goes across right here  

all the way across this is for breathing breathing  deep breathing and and don't offend your clients  

don't make them feel bad if they don't know how to  breathe with their belly most of us really breathe  

up here you know we don't engage our belly and  it's really best if you do if you watch a baby  

breathing they engage their belly they haven't  learned bad ways of breathing so you want to  

make sure and ask your client to breathe she's  breathing with her belly now and ask him to take a  

deep breath and on the exhale you're going to work  the diaphragm so take a deep breath and you're  

going to get your fingers right here right under  the rib cage and then on the exhale you go out

okay again take a deep breath and  on the exhale perfect you want to  

come down the diaphragm right here all around  the ribcage if people have asthma or they've  

been coughing you've got to work the intercostal  muscles really very specifically here where you  

just take your finger pads and work each of the  intercostals another one for the diaphragm is when  

you're going to go right below the rib cage  watch out for the xiphoid process the sci-fi  

process is the pointy part of your sternum so  that's a landmark you're going to make a triangle  

from the cypher process to the asis across to the  other asis and then back up here so make sure that  

that you're not putting too much pressure on the  cypher process but one of the things that you can  

do is ask your client to take a deep breath and on  the exhale you're gonna pull down right here along  

the the rib cage right here that feels  good and this is for the diaphragm you're  

kind of releasing the diaphragm okay  take a deep breath again and exhale

and just pull down right here along  

the ribcage and of course on this  side take a deep breath and exhale

and be careful the liver is right  here you're also stimulating  

not just the diaphragm which goes across here  the diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle which is  

right here like a dome so you want to make  sure and pull it down but also be careful  

with the liver don't don't go too deep or on  this side is the gallbladder too so you can do  

coming down from the sci-fi  process coming down the ribcage

you can do the intercostals you can  do the raking down with a you know  

with the two fingers or this  way the sun and moon technique

and also you want to start right  here and then go up and out  

you can also do it with your thumbs up and out  up to the cyphoid process right below it and out

up and out

and then the kneading and then the kneading  from the side and if you want to go to the  

opposite side you know you don't want to lose  contact with your client so you can go from here  

to the shoulder to the other shoulder and then  go to all the way around to the other side so

you want to end with giving them a little bit  of energy and just a little bit of rocking again

and if they if they have problems with digestion  then you might want to spend a little bit more  

time doing more of the sun and moon and then  more of the two finger you know one inch two  

inch stripping down so i hope that helps you that  you learned that it affects the nervous system the  

lymphatic system the digestive system and the  muscular system so i hope that this gives you  

enough information that you can help your clients  feel better and that you incorporate it from the  

very beginning that you incorporate it into your  massage so until the next time create a great day

you