Like everyone of my topics, I try to draw from my everyday life and past experiences. My husband currently has a headache. I don't use my normal methods of healing with him because he knows I would feel his pain, and he's made me promise to not help him. You can read about those healing methods here.
However one method of pain relief I've practiced since I was a little girl is healing massage. I can remember myself at 5 yrs old being asked to do a massage. Generally, my prize was a sweet something or a dollar or two to buy my own sweets. At one point in my life I wanted to become a masseuse. My school counselor discouraged me though because, "they don't make much money." At the time I wasn't very strong willed and dropped the issue after my talk with the counselor. Then life got in the way when I did look into schools that offered courses in massage and I was not able to pursue that dream.
However, I probably wouldn't have married young without massage therapy. Lance lived with us from the time I was 14 till we moved out of my mothers house when I was 18. I gave massages to him frequently and they were innocent at first. Lets just say a certain teen had seduction on her mind and massage was my weapon of choice. ;) Now I didn't start this at 14. Dh had some other girlfriends. I wanted to rip their hair out every time they came around for a couple of years. I was just waiting to get older so he would notice me. ;) When he started to feel pain from his many years of bodily abuse, I would focus on making the pain go away. Little did I know at the time I was doing energy work already!
But on to adding healing into massage. The way I heal is to send energy through my hands into the muscles of my "patient". This involves focus of the mind and ability to manipulate energy, and a basic knowledge of muscles and ligaments. If someone has a headache, you focus more on massaging the shoulders, neck, and their skull right behind the ears. Massaging arms and hands can also be relaxing. This is especially helpful for a tension headache. As with any energy work, you should be grounding before doing the healing. Otherwise your own energy may become drained.
The one biggest mistake I see people make when giving a massage is the amount of pressure they use with their hands. Either it's too little pressure or too much. Different areas of the body also require different amounts of pressure. For example, the lower back may need more pressure but to use the same amount of pressure on the shoulders may be painful.
I usually work from the base of the spine up in small circles. Starting on one side of the spine and working outward. Repeat on the opposite side starting at the base of the spine outward. Then move up and repeating. You can do circles, pressure along the spine, or petrissage, which means muscles are lightly grabbed and lifted. This last one is often useful for my husbands trouble area, which is his lower back. His spine curves inward a little too much so extra attention and pressure is needed for this area. Know what area needs to be targeted more. The challenge with energy work and massage is focusing on giving a good massage plus sending energy through your hands. If multitasking is difficult for you this may be a challenge.
See Top 10 Massage Techniques for more info on giving a great massage. Once you've mastered how to give a good massage and energy work separately, combining them to work together should be easy.
However one method of pain relief I've practiced since I was a little girl is healing massage. I can remember myself at 5 yrs old being asked to do a massage. Generally, my prize was a sweet something or a dollar or two to buy my own sweets. At one point in my life I wanted to become a masseuse. My school counselor discouraged me though because, "they don't make much money." At the time I wasn't very strong willed and dropped the issue after my talk with the counselor. Then life got in the way when I did look into schools that offered courses in massage and I was not able to pursue that dream.
However, I probably wouldn't have married young without massage therapy. Lance lived with us from the time I was 14 till we moved out of my mothers house when I was 18. I gave massages to him frequently and they were innocent at first. Lets just say a certain teen had seduction on her mind and massage was my weapon of choice. ;) Now I didn't start this at 14. Dh had some other girlfriends. I wanted to rip their hair out every time they came around for a couple of years. I was just waiting to get older so he would notice me. ;) When he started to feel pain from his many years of bodily abuse, I would focus on making the pain go away. Little did I know at the time I was doing energy work already!
But on to adding healing into massage. The way I heal is to send energy through my hands into the muscles of my "patient". This involves focus of the mind and ability to manipulate energy, and a basic knowledge of muscles and ligaments. If someone has a headache, you focus more on massaging the shoulders, neck, and their skull right behind the ears. Massaging arms and hands can also be relaxing. This is especially helpful for a tension headache. As with any energy work, you should be grounding before doing the healing. Otherwise your own energy may become drained.
The one biggest mistake I see people make when giving a massage is the amount of pressure they use with their hands. Either it's too little pressure or too much. Different areas of the body also require different amounts of pressure. For example, the lower back may need more pressure but to use the same amount of pressure on the shoulders may be painful.
I usually work from the base of the spine up in small circles. Starting on one side of the spine and working outward. Repeat on the opposite side starting at the base of the spine outward. Then move up and repeating. You can do circles, pressure along the spine, or petrissage, which means muscles are lightly grabbed and lifted. This last one is often useful for my husbands trouble area, which is his lower back. His spine curves inward a little too much so extra attention and pressure is needed for this area. Know what area needs to be targeted more. The challenge with energy work and massage is focusing on giving a good massage plus sending energy through your hands. If multitasking is difficult for you this may be a challenge.
See Top 10 Massage Techniques for more info on giving a great massage. Once you've mastered how to give a good massage and energy work separately, combining them to work together should be easy.
