This is the question I probably get asked most often when I tell people I offer NO HANDS® Massage. They are confused at the idea I won't be using my hands. Well, my hands are still useful. They are needed to get the massage balm out of the bottle. I can't remove them from my wrists so they inevitably still come into contact with your body. But they are not the main instruments in my massage.
"So what do you use, your elbows?" comes the next question. No. I rarely use my elbows. I use what I, as a NO HANDS Massage therapist, call my Soft Fronts. Hold your fist up. Go on... Now clench your hand. Then use your other hand to touch the fleshy part of your forearm. How does it feel? Then release your fist and let your hand go floppy. How does the fleshy part of your forearm feel now? Yes, it is soft and squidgy, isn't it? Previously it had felt quite firm, I'll bet. So that is the Soft Front. In the picture above can you see that Gerry Pyves (the Founder of the NO HANDS Massage approach) is using his Soft Front to massage his client? It's massage, but not as we know it!
This new massage works because I use my Soft Fronts and my body weight. Between my Soft Front and my body weight I can provide a gentle, comfortable, soothing massage that can be as light as a feather or feel as deep as if I am reaching right into your bones! Without any pain! Yes, I don't cause you pain when I massage you. What's the point in that? If you're expecting it to be painful you are far less likely to relax. If you are tense, everything feels more painful and muscles will not be receptive to massage either. It's far better that you can release and allow the massage in.
The speed is another important aspect of your massage which needs to be identified prior to you getting onto my table. Do you want it to be slow and nurturing, or perhaps faster and more invigorating? How do you want to feel after the massage? This is also hugely important and I will ask you to consider this question every time I see you. Doing so helps you to identify the positive images you will focus on as I am working. I will remind you to breathe deeply, in your own rhythm as you focus on how you want to feel and in doing so you will be far more likely to have the outcome you expect.
You have the added safety factor in that you can use our 'Ouch Contract' at any time. If anything I do is painful, uncomfortable or requires adjustment you just need to tell me. If I'm going faster, slower, lighter or deeper than you anticipated and you need me to change, I will listen. I won't be interrupting you on the table with questions because who wants to have to think when they are drifting off into a dream like state? If I don't hear from you I carry on with my massage without distracting you.
Doesn't that sound like a little bit of heaven?
There's also a huge amount of science showing that your brain will be releasing hormones such as Oxytocin (the feel good hormone), Endorphins (pain relieving hormones) and Serotonin (a neurotransmitter necessary in many functions of the body). As NO HANDS Massage involves much more skin to skin contact than traditional massage it seems reasonable to me to think that it will involve the release of much more of those wonderful hormones.
However, the benefits are not limited to you, my client on the table. I also receive these benefits and more! As well as receiving everything that skin to skin brings the whole reason NO HANDS Massage exists is to prevent therapists from the kinds of injury that traditional massage often results in. I didn't wait to suffer from Repetitive Strain Injury in my wrists or back ache, which could lead me to having to reduce the number of massages I can do in a day or even retire early. Within a year of gaining my ITEC Complementary Therapy qualification in 2011 I had signed up to Transforming Touch to begin my NO HANDS Massage journey and have never looked back. I find that the mindset of my NO HANDS Massage 'family' is very similar to that of the 'Wise Hippo Pod' and my doula sisters. So don't ask me to offer you an 'ordinary' massage. I won't settle for anything less than NO HANDS Massage.
If you are reading this as a massage therapist you can find out more about Transforming Touch here. There are a variety of training courses around the UK now.
Qualified in Aromatherapy I can incorporate essential oils into your massage and I will work with women in pregnancy. Have a browse through my Body Work pages to find out more and then book a session so that you can "Just Feel it" for yourself!
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