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With a Friendly Touch
A handbook on basic massage technique, intended to help beginners learn to practice massage with their friends.
Massage is good. Massage feels good. Massage is good for you. Everyone should get massage regularly, preferably from someone who really knows their body. Therefore, everybody should know how to do massage for their friends.
This book will help you to give the kind of massage you would like to get. It's not intended to prepare you to take a test for a massage therapist's license – it’s more like a summer class to make up for what you should have gotten in Eighth Grade P.E.
The book describes the process of massage in a very detailed way, for the benefit of people who have never done massage before, but the author's hope is that as you practice and develop your own skills, you won’t adhere to the directions in a stereotyped fashion. So long as you do massage in a safe and ethical fashion, your own hands will teach you better than anyone else can.
The book refers to the person you are massaging as your “friend”. It could say “subject”, or “partner”, but “friend” is a good word. Your friend might be someone who is also learning to do massage, or a close friend or family member, or just someone who has expressed a desire for a backrub. Your friend might be your lover, your sister, a young child (massage for infants and children is an entire field of its own), an elderly relative, a neighbor who is recovering from a car accident. A friend is a friend – and what are friends for?
This book covers basic massage techniques in a step-by-step process, describing how to handle each part of the body (foot, neck, arms) separately. It also contains special notes on subjects ranging from ethical issues to the pros and cons of joint cracking. It warns against potentially dangerous mistakes which could endanger the person being massaged, or the person giving the massage.
More than anything else, this book is intended to nurture confidence and help people overcome shyness and self-doubt and learn to develop their natural talent for massage.
Massage is good. Massage feels good. Massage is good for you. Everyone should get massage regularly, preferably from someone who really knows their body. Therefore, everybody should know how to do massage for their friends.
This book will help you to give the kind of massage you would like to get. It's not intended to prepare you to take a test for a massage therapist's license – it’s more like a summer class to make up for what you should have gotten in Eighth Grade P.E.
The book describes the process of massage in a very detailed way, for the benefit of people who have never done massage before, but the author's hope is that as you practice and develop your own skills, you won’t adhere to the directions in a stereotyped fashion. So long as you do massage in a safe and ethical fashion, your own hands will teach you better than anyone else can.
The book refers to the person you are massaging as your “friend”. It could say “subject”, or “partner”, but “friend” is a good word. Your friend might be someone who is also learning to do massage, or a close friend or family member, or just someone who has expressed a desire for a backrub. Your friend might be your lover, your sister, a young child (massage for infants and children is an entire field of its own), an elderly relative, a neighbor who is recovering from a car accident. A friend is a friend – and what are friends for?
This book covers basic massage techniques in a step-by-step process, describing how to handle each part of the body (foot, neck, arms) separately. It also contains special notes on subjects ranging from ethical issues to the pros and cons of joint cracking. It warns against potentially dangerous mistakes which could endanger the person being massaged, or the person giving the massage.
More than anything else, this book is intended to nurture confidence and help people overcome shyness and self-doubt and learn to develop their natural talent for massage.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 6, 2011
About the author
John M. Burt
8 books8 followersBreathing since 1960, Navy veteran since 1981, married since 1984, massage therapist since 1985, holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology since 1985, father since 1988, published author since 1995.
Publications include "The Christmas Mutiny," "The Right Man," "[Hansel and [Gretel] Lost in the Bardo," "The Salmon Cage," "Frankie", "The Men Who Saved JFK" and "Rattler Lil".
Publications include "The Christmas Mutiny," "The Right Man," "[Hansel and [Gretel] Lost in the Bardo," "The Salmon Cage," "Frankie", "The Men Who Saved JFK" and "Rattler Lil".
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