The basic ART of massage Part 1

Morning all,

I’m in pain.

Nope, actually, "pain" is quite a minor, mellow word indeed….to describe the utter tortures thru which my right foot is now joyfully (NOT!) enduring.

You see, last Friday’s beloved karate class had us doing some utterly magnificent sit-down-stand-up release-front-kick sit-down again exercises.  These are truly superb for building up your leg and thigh muscles; I really get into them quite ferociously. 

Alas, we had a target towards which we aimed – our partners were holding an oval hitting pad.  Now, normally I will always remember that it’s a physical impossibility for me to curl my right toes back (the joints are practically frozen) and carefully compensate for that.  For some strange, inexplicable reason, I completely ignored that blatant fact of life and landed several precisely-delivered front kicks, resulting in (what currently feels like) several cracked phlanges on my foot. 

In hindsight, it’s amazing I can be so blase about this; most people would have hied themselves off to the Emergency Room but yours truly, heck no – I view it very scientifically indeed. 

Joy!  Not!  I was vaguely fine on Saturday, doing great on Sunday, had a normal day yesterday…but for some strange reason, last night my bones must have fossilized within my skin and my foot is currently trying out for the 2008 Most Excruciatingly Painful Appendage of the Year Award.

These things happen.  ‘course, they only do seem to happen to me (which is one reason why I’ve been awake now since 2am).  But I realized this morning I needed to do some major acupressure and massage on me poor sorry bones, which brings me to the point of this post!

Massage rocks!

I’m really big on healing oneself and one’s family and one’s friends etc. with the power of touch.   Done well, it can really rejuvenate the entire body….and help keep your inner spirit firing on all 4 cylinders.

Many people think that you need to buy special massage oil to really execute a relaxing rubdown, but nothing is further from the truth!   Certainly, you can use your typical hand lotion or massage oil….but in a pinch, you can simply heat up some olive oil, add a few drops of your favorite fragrance, and voila: you have a great-smelling aromatherapy massage oil right in your own kitchen.  Select aromatherapy blends that I often create incorporate:

• Damask Rose
• Sandalwood
• Spruce Pine

Coconut oil also works well, as does creating an infusion of 1:4 Aquaflor/olive oil mixture (you can heat that in a microwave and then store it in baby food jars). 

One of the challenges I’ve noticed people have when learning massage is they, well, hurry.   Yes, you can incorporate fast strokes after you’ve warmed up the person’s body, but when beginning a massage on your partner, you want to slowly awaken their skin to anticipate the joys to come!

I learned a lot about sports massage back in college when I participated in Jiu-jitsu; after practice we’d all rub each other down with Tiger Balm (starkly different than massage oil, I will admit.    ).  It was a great introduction to more, ahem, sensuous applications of the practice.

There are many sites online where you can find free massage tips!  They include:

• Massage Free
• Massage Therapy Tips
• Romantic Massage Tips

And if you need recipes for massage oil, consider:

• Aromatherapy Recipes using Essential oils for MASSAGE
• Making Bath and/or Massage Oils
• Massage Oil Recipes
• Rose Oil & Petal Treatment

Now, the above is all very well and good for relaxing, but what about healing? 

Glad you asked!  I’ll tackle that in Part II. 

Enjoy,

Barbara Ling

ps – speaking about massage, have you seen:

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