How to Instantly Improve at Massage

Communicate

Communicate throughout the massage. Before you start make sure your friend is sitting or lying comfortable, is warm enough. The amount of clothing being worn is dependent on how comfortable you both are with it (although thick jumpers can be difficult to massage through) and make sure that boundaries are set at the beginning to prevent awkwardness. Next, ask whether there are any particular areas of tension. Often the shoulders and neck hold a lot of tension, also between the shoulder blades and at the base of the back.

During the massage, ask whether they are okay. Use the amount of pressure they are comfortable with. Some people like a heavy massage to quickly remove muscles knots but some people are sensitive or prefer a gentler massage. Get them to say “left a bit, right a bit” until you find a muscle knot so you can be most effective.

Make it Flow

While massaging to relax the other person optimally, try to keep your hand in constant contact. This means that even when you move from one area, such as the shoulders to the lower back. This means that your friend always knows where your hands are going and they wont have any surprises which would make them tense up.  Another good technique is to try to match your breathing to theirs, if you manage to do this (don’t make it obvious) then you can gradually slow your breathing and they should subconsciously slow theirs, relaxing them.

There are my top six pointers to instantly improve. Obviously they may take a little time to put into practise, but I promise you that if you do these things, your friends, family and other halves will thank you!