The World's Best Massage Techniques The Complete Illustrated Guide: Innovative Bodywork Practices From Around the Globe for Pleasure, Relaxation, and Pain Relief

by Victoria Jordan Stone

Massage is one of the oldest healing modalities in the world and even modern science is proving its incredible power to soothe anxiety, boost immunity, and alleviate pain. The World’s Best Massage Techniques presents the most effective massage and bodywork techniques from around the world—many of which have been used for thousands of years—to soothe stress and tension, alleviate discomfort, and give pleasure. This beautiful hands-on guide teaches you how to skillfully apply a wide variety of massage and bodywork techniques from other cultures for relaxation, stress relief, and wellness.



— Swedish Massage: Kneading strokes lengthen tense muscles

— Hot Stone Massage: Heated, flowing movements penetrate tight knots

— Thai Yoga Massage: Assisted stretches bring the body into alignment

— Reflexology: Focused pressure activates energy meridians

— Lomi Lomi: Sensuous strokes calm the body and mind

— Tantsu: Close, body-to-body contact creates intimacy

— Polarity: Gentle rocking movements loosen muscles and joints

— Shiatsu: Small compressions reduce pain and aid injury recovery



Color photography and step-by-step layout make techniques understandable and immediately applicable. With The World’s Best Massage Techniques you can use the world’s most exciting bodywork techniques in your own home.

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that the heavily gendered language was unnecessary. I was told by this book to read through the glossary first, which I obeyed and did. The word "partner" was defined as the person receiving the massage. Then, all of the first chapter immediately gendered the partner. It may be seen as a nitpick, but it bothered me. I also did not like the way the book was set up. It opens telling you to go read the glossary, which is incredibly long, when I would think the wiser thing to do when there are so many terms to define would be to define them in the book as you go along. By the time you're done reading the glossary, you have to flip back and forth anyway to refresh yourself because there are so many terms. I also did not like the way the photos were placed in relation to the text. For example, there would be photos and text on both pages and the right text would go with the far left photo and the left text would go with the right photo.

I feel it is unfair for me to rate this lower like I originally was planning to, as I mainly picked this book up to learn more about Swedish massage and metaphorically dip my toes into hot stone massage. I didn't have an interest in other forms of massage, so I didn't read about them. It just seemed that, from what I did read, there was so much information that it became collaged on the pages in a messy way. I've read informative books before that didn't feel hard to read, so there's definitely something to be said about the way this book is set up.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter 4 (Reflexology) can be skipped completely. Otherwise, there are many good sequences in here. Just ignore the pseudoscientific nonsense, particularly bad in chapters 7 and 8.