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V Improves circulation
ms Promotes the healing of tissues
ra. Increases healthy functioning of the skin
ko Engenders profound relaxation
1.0 Offers emotional reassurance
so' Improves appearance
I d like to take these points one at a time and let you get comfortable with them.
Helps relieve muscular spasm and tension
As you can see in Figure 1-1, there is a definite physical difference between
muscles that are relaxed and happy and muscles that are tensed up due to
stress, overuse, injury, and more.
Figure 1-1:
The limp
rope is your
muscle. The
knotted rope
is your
muscle on
stress.
But there's more to it than that, believe it or not. Regardless of how
wickedly clever my rope analogy is, the human body is much more com-
plex. In fact, it's so complex that nobody has completely figured it out yet,
even though countless researchers have spent a lifetime trying to do so. A
whole bunch of really interesting things about the body have been discov-
ered, however, along with how it responds to various types of stimuli,
including massage.
For example, one of the most direct effects of massage is to help loosen the
tension we experience as knots, kinks, and spasms in our muscles. This is
achieved in a number of ways:
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Part I: Discovering Massage for Greater Health and Happiness
3 The application of pressure creates awareness that there is indeed ten-
sion in a particular area, and the person receiving the massage can then
begin to consciously release that tension.
3 Through the application of friction to the area, a thermodynamic effect
takes place, warming and softening the tight, haid tissue.
3 By stimulating trigger points, the local nerves are soothed, allowing a
release of contractions.
Raises immune efficiency
Did you know that there is a vast system of vessels running through your
body, roughly parallel to your circulatory system, and that this system is
filled with a fluid that is responsible for carrying away and eliminating many
of the organisms, bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic bad guys that
might otherwise attack you? Yes, it's true. This is the lymph system, otherwise
known as the Canadian Mounties of your body.
Your lymph system has nodes at various strategically located areas through-
out your body, and these nodes have the job of capturing the invaders and
processing them before eventual expulsion through your excretory system.
Now, you may be wondering, how the heck does this lymph fluid get pumped
through your body anyway? Funny you should ask. I've devised a test to dis-
cern your knowledge on that very subject.
Holy anatomy quiz, Batman!
That's right, but it's just a one-question quiz, so don't let your anxiety levels
rise too high over it. Here we go:
Question: How does the body pump the critically important lymph fluid
through its lymph vessels, keeping your inner ocean clean and healthy?
a. The heart pumps the lymph, just like it pumps the blood.
b. The centrifugal force from riding various carnival rides is the best way
to get the lymph fluid moving.
c. Fear caused by sudden, unexpected physical proximity to vampires or
werewolves causes the lymph vessels to contract, circulating the fluid.
d. Movement, muscular contraction, and massage therapy are the ways
lymph fluid is most effectively moved through the body because the
lymph system has no pump of its own, such as the heart.
Right! The answer is d. By helping your body circulate this lymph fluid, mas-
sage aids in the elimination of noxious invaders (toxins) from your body.
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Chapter 1: Not Just a Rub: How Massage Can Improve Your Life
Our neglected muscles
Even though you have over 600 muscles that chronic pain? If no further operations are war-
take up.approximately 60 percent of your body ranted, and continued physical therapy doesn't
weight, they sometimes get neglected, espe- seem to help, there are only two choices as far
cially when it comes to your average physician. as most physicians are concerned:
For example, many times after serious trauma, 3 Prescribe drugs
such as a car accident, physicians perform
3 Counsel stoicism
appropriate procedures to save the life of the
injured.person and to repair any gross damage. That's right, the only two choices are to either
Then physical therapists take over to help mask the pain or learn to live with it In the mas-
restore as much use and feeling to the affected sage model, though, something restorative can
areas as possible. What happens, though, when be done with that 60 percent of your body
that person returns to his physician or physical known as soft tissue to bring about relief.
therapist six months later complaining of
There are other factors at play, too, in massage's effectiveness as an immune
booster. As reported in LIFE magazine (August 97), studies in orphanages
have shown that infants and children deprived of touch experience stunted
growth, both emotionally and physically. Further study showed that touch
promotes the release of human growth hormone (HGH), which is essential to
our development. If a child is not touched sufficiently, his or her develop-
ment will be stunted, and susceptibility to disease will be Increased, with
potentially catastrophic results. Many of the untouched children in orphan-
ages have died for lack of simple contact.
Improcles circulation
This is the reason that the cigar-smoking octogenarians who frequented old-
fashioned health spas used to give for receiving massage: "It's good for the
circulation!" they'd say. And they were right.
Students in massage school are taught to always massage in the direction
of circulation, toward the heart, whenever they're applying enough pres-
sure to move the blood underneath the skin. The reason for this is that
your veins have little one-way valves in them that keep blood from going
back in the wrong direction. So obviously it's not a good idea to push the
blood back against these valves, potentially harming them. In fact, when
these valves don't work properly on their own, the blood seeps backward
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Part I: Discovering Massage for Greater Health and Happiness
and pools up, causing the appearance of varicose veins, which are a con-
traindication for massage, but I'm skipping ahead to Chapter 10 already.
Sorry about that.
You have the idea: Some massage movements physically push the blood
around in its vessels and can therefore, when done properly, push it in the
right direction, improving circulation.
Massage also draws more blood to the surface of the body and into areas of
relatively poorer circulation, thus bringing with it much-needed oxygen and
other nutrients for the tissues.
Promotes the healing of tissues
This benefit is primarily a result of the previous two. By helping to bring
nutrient-rich blood into areas that are recovering from any type of problem,
and by helping to cleanse these same areas of toxins (by stimulating the
lymph system), massage promotes quicker healing.
Also, certain types of massage stretch and soften tissues in traumatized
areas, helping them regain natural elasticity and strength faster.
But beware: You definitely don't want to rush straight in and massage your
cousin John's swollen knee after his recent surgery unless you've been
trained in bona-fide massage classes and know what you're doing.
Increases healthy functioning of the skin
The skin is where massage has its most pronounced effects. In fact, I've
devoted the whole of Chapter 3 to it. So let me just say here that massage
includes several actions that leave the skin silky, vibrant, and fully function-
ing in both directions. By that I mean it promotes the shedding of dead cells
while also encouraging the absorption of moisture, nutrients, vitamins, and
other vital elements, especially when the massage is given with the aid of
creams, oils, and lotions created for just that purpose.
In this sense, massage helps the skin "breathe." Just as our lungs breathe
both in and out, inhaling and exhaling, healthy skin must breathe in both
directions, too, and massage can help with that.
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Offers emotional reassurance
In a famous experiment conducted by some truly sadistic researchers, some
unfortunate little monkeys were brought up In cages with surrogate mothers.
Each monkey had two mothers In the cage with him. One was a rag doll and
the other was a hard wire shell. The uncomfortable wire mother had a nipple
with real milk coming out, but the rag doll mother had no nipples and no
milk. The researchers shocked the monkeys, then they sat back with smug-
researcher-expressions on their faces to see what would happen. In every
case, when they were desperate for comfort and safety, the monkeys scam-
pered straight over to rag-doll-mommy, regardless of the fact that she had
never provided any other kind of food or sustenance beyond the fact of being
soft and cuddly.
This brings us to an Important realization as far as humans are concerned,
too: Almost every person alive, when shocked, would rather squeeze a rag
doll than a hard wire shell with a nipple attached. This bit of information, I've
found, makes a fascinating ice-breaker at cocktail parties.
Extrapolating from this data, the researchers were able to conclude, with a
good degree of confidence, that tactile sensations are the most Important fac-
tors involved with emotional comforting.
Massage, by offering a sustained, intentional, caring form of tactile stimula-
tion, is one of the best ways to impart emotional reassurance, and emotional
reassurance just may be the number one need of humans in the twenty-first
century. We modern urban dwellers are all a bunch of shocked monkeys
searching for Mom, basically. And massage is the ultimate rag doll.
Engenders profound relaxation
Dr. Robert Benson of Harvard wrote in The Relaxation Response that by
repeating certain breathing arid concentration exercises, people could greatly
reduce their levels of stress. Massage, by its very nature, induces a similar
response. It's a mini-vacation that you can take right there inside your own
body. No need to buy expensive plane tickets or submit yourself to the has-
sles of taxi rides and hotel rooms. Just close your eyes and let someone else
send you to your own virtual Tahiti.
If you receive a massage and don't relax, it's the same thing as going to Tahiti
and not enjoying the scenery, the warmth, the water, or the colorful little
umbrellas In the cocktails. In other words, it's up to you. Nobody can force
you to relax while receiving a massage, just as no one can force you to enjoy
the South Pacific, but you'd have to be kind of crazy not to.
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Improves appearance
The combination of all the preceding benefits leaves Just about anybody who
receives them looking better than they did before they started, and in that
way, massage can improve the appearance of even the most stubbornly unat-
tractive person. You know the type: the man with the big crease down the
middle of his forehead, or the woman with her mouth pulled taut like she just
chewed an entire lemon. Most of what we deem unattractive is simply poor
attitude, and the people with the strangest looking faces and bodies can still
be very attractive, especially if they are ...
3 Tension-free
3 Healthy
3 Rushed with the rosy glow of good circulation
3 Quickly recovering from any painful .conditions
3 Covered with silky "breathing" skin
3 Confident and emotionally assured
3 Profoundly relaxed
Who can resist a person like this?
The Massage Menu
There are literally hundreds of types of massage practiced around the world,
many of them with wonderfully evocative names like tui-na and lomi /omi.
This is not the section in which I'm going to explain each of those massage
modalities to you, however (a fairly extensive explanation of several major
styles is the focus of one section In Chapter 5). Instead, what I'm doing here
is explaining the generic types of massage, broken down into categories
based on the observable effects they can have in your own life.
Think of this section like the menu in a restaurant. Each category (breakfast,
lunch, dinner) consists of distinctly different dishes, and yet the foods used
to prepare the dishes can be the same. So the same eggs used to make your
omelet at breakfast can be used in your egg salad at lunch or your dessert
after dinner. It's the same with the following categories of massage. Any par-
ticular massage technique can be used to create various effects.
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When you head into Chez Massage, you can order a-la-carte or request a pre-
arranged sampling of offerings, like on a prix-fixe menu. The following do not
present a completely exhaustive list, but they cover all the main entrees and
several side dishes as well:
Relaxation massage
This category may be the most familiar to those of you who have not delved
into the world of massage before. It's the type of massage you see on TV. For
example, in one of the older James Bond movies, Sean Connery poses as a
massage therapist in a European spa and rubs some information out of one
his enemies (a beautiful Russian enemy, of course). The impromptumaneu-
vers he made up at that point consisted of simple, straightforward rubbing
and sliding. A trained massage therapist delivers quite a bit more effective-
ness than Sean did, but in essence, the purpose of the relaxation massage is,
duh, to relax. This is particularly helpful in these Instances:
3 For stress relief, when the daily grind is just too much and the simple act
of lying down and having someone pay solicitous attention to you for an
hour is enough to make a big difference.
3 For pampering, which is fine, as long as you don't feel guilty about it.
Sports massage
Just ask the world-class athletes who travel with their own personal massage
therapists. They'll tell you what a difference a massage can make. Many
Olympians and high-level players in all sports are true believers, but they are
not the only ones who use massage as part of their training. Even amateur
athletes and weekend warriors incorporate it whenever they can, specifically,
pre-event, post-event, and for ongoing training.
Rehabilitative massage
This type of massage helps the body repair Itself. Many people have found
that it was the key factor in helping them heal quickly and get back to normal
activity levels as soon as possible after injuries and after surgery.
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Doctors are people, too
You may notice that on several occasions in this Miriam Wetzel, Ph.D., director of curriculum
book, I allude to physicians as people who are development at Harvard Medical School, says
notquite up to speed with reality when it comes that therapeutic massage is pan of the school's
to the very provable value of massage therapy. training. "I would like tosee the medical com-
In fact, I've already said something to that effect munity recognize that there is a difference
in this chapter. between therapeutic massage and something
that's just relaxing," she says.
So I just want to make something clear before
you getthe wrong idea: I think doctors are great In France, where my co-author Michel Van
I respect and admire doctors and consider Walden received his training, physicians look at
several to be friends. Sure, there are some jerk massage in a wholly different light. "What we
doctors just like there are jerk massage do is respected as part•of the medical model all
therapists, but all-in•all, physicians are some of across Europe," says Michel. "Physicians there
the most responsible, educated, humane, have no qualms about referring particular cases
helpful humans on the planet, doing all kinds of to massage therapists. In fact, the word we use
good work. in France for massage therapist is kinesiother-
apeut, which really signifies a combination of
When you hear me say anything less than com-
massage therapist, physical therapist, and holis-
plimentary about physicians or allopathic
tic practitioner who utilizes a number of healing
medicine, it's not the people themselves I'm
tools, such as aromatherapy and herbology.
referringto so much as the system we've cre-
There are 25,000 of them in France, which is an
ated in which they work. Unfortunately, our
area the size of Texas. Most of them havetheir
present situation does not allow for doctors to
own clinics, andthey are very highly regarded
spend the time with each individual patient that
by physicians and patients alike."
they'd probably like to. At the same time, many
of them are realizing the value of massage and Some of us in the alternative health world have
have even begun including it in their practices. given doctors a bum wrap.for too long. I say let's
In fact, a September 1998 survey of medical move forward toward an integrative medicine
schools published in the Journal of the that includes their expertise and ours together.
American Medical ASsociation (JAMA) This is alreadyhappening aswitnessed by the
revealed that 64 percent of medical schools quickly growing number of health clinics and
offer courses in complementary medicine, hospitals with practitioners from many disci-
including massage, which is the most popular plines: M.D.s, acupuncturists, massage
alternative modalitytaught therapists, nutritionists, herbalists, and others.
Esthetic massage
We all want to look as good as we can, and massage can help. Through a com-
bination of several of the benefits mentioned earlier in this chapter, massage
softens your skin and gives you a healthy glow. It is also used to improve the
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appearance of certain skin irregularities such as cellulite, with varying degrees
of efficacy. People include massage in their beauty regimen for its ability to
promote a youthful appearance and as an auxiliary treatment to enhance the
effects of other beautifying procedures, such as plastic surgery and facials.
Energy-balancing massage
If massage were a map of the world, energy-balancing would be China. Yes,
that's how big it is. Because energy is invisible, it's easy to dismiss it as unim-
portant, as far as our bodies go. But for a moment, imagine your body
without energy. That's right: limp as a cooked noodle, flat as a pancake, blah
as all get-out. Many of the massage styles I go over in Chapter 5 are based on
an understanding of the body's energy systems, focusing on how to balance
and enhance our inner invisible energy. These techniques can basically be
categorized as either ancient systems, such as acupressure, or modern sys-
tems, such as cranio-sacral work.
Massage for increased awareness
Most of us inhabit our bodies without giving it much thought. We walk
around in them and sit around in them and lie around in them, all on auto-
matic pilot, relying upon the old patterns and habits we picked up in
childhood. Sometimes, we're negatively influenced by injuries and other trau-
mas that turn these unconscious habits into potentially debilitating
conditions. We feel "stuck" in certain postures and can't get out. A massage
can help you become aware of how you're holding onto certain patterns of
tension and thus let you break them, and it can help you gain self-confidence
through releasing old, negative body Images.
Spiritually oriented massage
Depending on your frame of mind, any massage can be a spiritual experience,
regardless of whether you receive it in an ancient Asian temple or the treat-
ment room of your local health club. All you need are two people focused on
awareness, breathing, releasing, and compassion. This spiritual aspect of
massage can be used in the following ways:
li 3 For meditation, when the sensitive sharing that takes place between two
people in a good massage leads you to quiet your mind and remember
some of the more important things in life.
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3 By ministers, nuns, and other clergy members who use this "laying on of
hands" as a means to express compassion and in some cases to invoke
healing.
3 By practitioners of Eastern traditions such as Taoism and Buddhism.
Buddhist monks in Thailand, for example, often learn the art of massage
and practice it in their temples.
Massage (or emotional growth
Allowing yourself to be touched with caring, therapeutic intentions takes a
high degree of maturity. Several types of massage have been developed to
access inner psychological issues and bring them to light. This is especially
true In specific cases of past emotional trauma involving abuse and negative
body-image caused by being overweight or handicapped.
Massage (or sensual pleasure
This type of massage can be performed by any two consenting adults who
have a relationship of respect and trust between them. It's especially useful
for long-term couples seeking new and exciting activities to spice up their
lives and for short-term couples looking for ways to slow themselves down
and enjoy the moment rather than rush through to you-know-what.
Massage (or non-humans
Believe it or not, there are special courses offered to teach people how to
massage animals. As anyone who's ever scratched behind the ear of an
appreciative pet can tell you, they love it. Certain animals in particular have
been the lucky recipients of massage:
3 Horses, especially race and show horses that are each worth more than
the gross national product of the average third-world country
3 Dogs and cats and other "people with fur" that we live with on an
intimate basis
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A Brief History of Touch
O OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO • • • 0 •0•0 0 • • 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 • 0 0
In This Chapter
r> The development of massage therapy around the world
D Massage in today's world
p Where massage is going
O 0 0 0•0 000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000
his chapter is supposed to extol the virtues of certain Greek physicians
ho developed massage a couple thousand years ago, and then it's sup-
posed to move on to the beginning of the twentieth century and talk about a
certain Swedish man who was the father of modern western massage. And
then the chapter should chronicle the ... Z7.777777ZZ.
Was that the sound of your head smacking the table? Are you already getting
so bored that you're about to fling this book against the nearest wall in des-
peration? "Why can't he tell me something fascinating and different?" you're
about to scream.
Okay, I can hear the psychic echoes of your potential screams, so this chap-
ter is going to be a teeny bit different than the history chapters In most
massage books, the ones that treat the chronology of massage like the dry
academic stuff you find in history texts. What could be more unlike the
vibrant flesh-and-bones reality of a subject as physical as massage?
Dramatic Moments in Massage History
For your benefit and edification, I'm going to recreate dramatic scenes from
various important massage moments throughout history. Much of what fol-
lows has been garnished with a large dose of creative license, but rest
assured that the information Is based upon historical fact. Only the boring
parts have been deleted to protect the innocent reader.
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24 Part I: Discovering Massage for Greater Health and Happiness
Shaman Bob — hands-on heater
Thousands of years ago, beneath the primeval rainforest canopies of the vast
Amazon Jungle in what is now part of Brazil, an old shaman squatted down by
a river, twisting the leaves and stems of a hardy vine between his worn fin-
gers. The shaman's name was unintelligible to modern ears, so we'll call him
Bob. His fingers were working the powerful ayuhasca vine, which gave his
people visions that helped them to heal. Bob boiled the leaves and stems of
the vine in water with other plants, making a thick syrupy tea that he brought
with him back into the village.
It was night. The rainforest canopy above was filled with the screeching
sounds of life. Arranging the members of the tribe in a circle around a fire he
had built, Bob gave them each sips of the tea, and they began to twirl and
dance and sing traditional songs. Some of them, the ones who needed healing
the most, fell into a trance, and Bob approached them.
As the others watched, Bob appeared to literally reach into each person's
body with his fingers. Then his fingers would flutter up toward the dark sky
above the fire. He would touch them, brush them off, shake their limbs, stay-
ing in almost constant contact, and everyone could see (with the help of the
ayuhasca) what Bob always saw — blurry spots where each person's body
was weak, demons of darkness clinging to a shoulder.
Although Bob used powerful herbs and jungle plants, his primary tool was
touch. The difference between a casual touch from another tribe member and
an intentional, focused touch from Bob was sometimes the difference
between life and death. His touch healed, and everyone knew It.
The Tao of massage
The enigmatic Chinese word, Tao, confuses many people. For one thing, why
is the word spelled T-a-o when it's pronounced Dow? And for another thing,
what's it supposed to mean anyway? Does it have anything to do with the
New York Stock Exchange?
Many of you have heard of the Tao ofP ooh or the Tao of Physics or the Tao of
Flower Arranging, and if you ever read one of those far-out books on Eastern
philosophy published in the 1970s — the kind printed on organic-oatmeal
type paper—you probably remember the phrase, "The Tao that can be
spoken of is not the true Tao." So then, how are you supposed to talk about
it?
Regardless of the fact that you apparently can't talk about the Tao, you can
still talk about massage, which is exactly what an early Chinese Taoist did
around 5,000 years ago. He wrote a book called the Con Fou of Tao-Tse (Cun
Fooh of Dow Zee) that described the use of medicinal plants, exercises, and a
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Chapter 2: A Brief History of Touch
Great Greeks go nude
Imagine the Greek sun burning in a clear, blue waiting each time another Adonis comes run-
sky. Below, in the outdoor gymnazein, dozens of ning up with a torn Achilles tendon or sore lower
naked athletes are exercising, each of them so back. The natural thing, of course, is to offer
tanned and muscled and healthy that they look massage, along with other herbs and remedies.
like, well, Greek gods. Why naked, you ask/ The Supposedly, Asclepius became so proficient at
word gymnasium itself comes from the Greek this healing that he could even raise the dead.
gymnazein, which means "to exercise naked," As a reward, Zeus struck him down with a thun-
from gymnos, naked. Those fun-loving Greeks, I derbolt and killed him.
tell ya.
This tale brings us to one of the very earliest
At any rate, the sun's beating down, all these philosophical lessons tied to the practice of
naked Greeks are running around outdoing massage: If you like to massage naked Greek
each other in feats of fitness, and old Asclepius athletes, try to keep it a secret.
is over there in the trainer's corner, ready and
system of massage for the treatment of disease. Because it was one of the
first books ever written on any subject, the Con Fou really goes to show you
just how ancient and important this whole subject of massage is after all.
A Greek man with a mission
Asclepius (as-ideetpee-uhs), son of Apollo, the Greek god of healing, may
have been an actual Greek man who lived around 1200 B.C., but just as likely
he was a mythological figment of the Greek imagination. At any rate, he was
credited with being the first to combine exercise with massage. He also
founded the world's first gymnasium.
The Middle Ages
Nobody massaged anybody else (or was even allowed to touch much) during
the Middle Ages, which almost wiped out western civilization. Luckily, a few
hardy souls decided, despite vigorous opposition, to sneak off and touch
each other in barns, stables, and other hidden places whenever possible,
thus assuring the continuation of the human race and allowing people a
•
chance to practice rudimentary massage techniques at the same time.
Needless to say, the Middle Ages were not a good time to be a professional
massage therapist, and many of them suffered extreme deprivations. In fact,
some say that a famous book by Victor Hugo, and the Broadway musical
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The Hypocritical oath
You may wonder why doctors have to take a to not seduce women (or men► in the house-
hypocritical oath after they finish medical holds he visits as a physician, and to abstain
school and before they begin practicing. After from mischief of all kinds.
all, you trust your physician with your life; why
Hippocrates also spoke about massage move-
would you want him or her to be a hypocrite?
ments, saying that "hard rubbing binds, much
The answer is simple. They're not taking a hyp- rubbing.causes parts to waste, and moderate
ocritical oath, but rather a Hippocratic Oath, rubbing makes them grow." He recommended
which means that it was first uttered by none. massage for many conditions.
other than thatgreat Greek physician himself,
So, the man who penned the words that physi-
Hippocrates (460-380 B.C.). In the very first line
cians around the world utter to this day was a
of this oath, Hippocrates swears by Apollo and
believer in massage. Go figure.
Asclepius to uphold the virtues of his healing art,
based upon it, are actually plagiarized versions of an original story about the
lives of these wretched medieval massage practitioners. Sadly, the original
manuscript has been lost, and the true origins of Les Massagerables will for-
ever remain a mystery.
The Swedish scenario
In most places you go In the western world today, when you ask for a mas-
sage, you'll receive one form or another of Swedish massage. And so, you may
ask, why is it called Swedish massage? Here are some of the typical answers
people have given to that question:
3 People In Sweden were the only ones liberal enough to allow massage to
be named after them.
3 The Swedish director Ingmar Bergman liked to receive massage after a
hard day on the movie set, and so they named the technique after him.
3 Nobody knows why it's called Swedish massage, but everyone agrees it
sounds better than Lithuanian massage or Uruguayan massage.
Actually, Swedish massage is named after a Swedish physiologist and fencing
master by the name of Per Henrik Ling (1776-1839), who developed a system of
Medical Gymnastics that Included the moves we now use in basic massage. He
eventually became known as the father of physical therapy. The fact that his
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Chapter 2: A Brief History of Touch
original system embraced massage is Interesting because physical therapists in
the modem world have to a large degree ostracized massage from their reper-
toire, and there is sometimes discord between them and massage therapists.
Decline of massage in the
twentieth century
Due to the infighting amongst massage practitioners, and the sudden, power-
ful influence of technology in the medical world, massage faded from favor
during the early and mid-1900s. Also, the earlier popularity Of massage
induced some people to try to make a profit from it illicitly. Around the turn
of the century, several schools in Great Britain, for example, were turning out
poorly trained practitioners, some of whom ended up acting as prostitutes,
which was a big downfall for massage. Since the days of Hippocrates, and
even further back into the ancient history of China and India, massage had
been accepted as a healthy pastime by a sizeable number of people. Now,
things were different.
Massaging Cain and Abel
Perhaps the discord in the massage world can "No way, it's mine: replied George, adjusting
be traced back to the pair of American brothers his identical bowler cap.
who were responsible for bringing massage to
"Mine?
the United States from Sweden — Charles and
George Taylor. The Taylor brothers shared sim- "Mine."
ilar interests, obviously; they both became
And thus started a problem that has persisted to
doctors, both went to Europe to learn these new
this day, with various massage innovators and
techniques, and they both wanted to spend their
practitioners teaching that their way is the best
lives helping other people. But, as so often
way. George and Charles Taylor werethe Cain
seems to happen when people go on a quest to
and Abel of the modern massage world. And,
help others,They just couldn't seem to get along
even though massage as a whole is a glorious
themselves.
way to help people feel better on many levels, it
Coming back to New York in the 1850s, they has been broken up into sects, with the propo-
opened a clinic together, but within a year they nents of certain techniques loudly proclaiming
dissolved it and went their own ways. theirs as the best. This book, I hope, will help
you cut through•all that so that you can gain an
"It's MYtechnique for helping other people feel
appreciation for massage as a whole.
better," said Charles, adjusting.his bowler hat
atop his head.
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Freud and massage
Sigmund Freud, the inventor of modern psycho- able to know what was really working, talking
analysis, used massage with his patients. Early or touching. But he was greatly in favor of it from
on, when Freud wanted to calm and reassure the start. In the modern world, many psycholo-
his clients that he was on their side, he used gists are rediscovering the power of massage
massage.maneuvers primarily on their hands. and incorporating it into their practice with
Unfortunately, Freud left massage behind as he body-centered psychotherapy and somatic
further developed his psychoanalytic tech- therapies.
niques, perhaps out of a fear that he wouldn't be
Throughout the mid-1900s, many massage therapists in the U.S. worked in a
YMCA or a Turkish bath house and weren't expected to do much more than
pummel their victims (er, clients) with some extraordinarily vigorous maneu-
vers, usually meant to purge the recipient of excess alcohol and fatty acids
ingested the night before. in fact, some spa towns, such as Hot Springs,
Arkansas, had massage facilities that were open on Sunday mornings espe-
cially for this purpose. The upstanding men of the community came in early
to have the effects of Saturday night's revelry pounded and sweated out of
them by hardy massage practitioners.
Hippies save massage from extinction
Overall, things weren't going so well for massage in the United States. And
the same was true, for the most part, in Europe. Only people with hangovers
wanted massage. Of course, on a worldwide level, massage in many areas still
retained the same untainted prestige it had enjoyed for centuries. But even in
the most remote areas there was a clamoring for things new — vibrating mas-
sagers instead of actual massages, for instance — and as technological
revolution swept the planet, it left people high and dry as far as contact goes.
The human species was literally getting out of touch.
As always, when society swings too far In one direction, a mounting momen-
tum tends to bring it back toward equilibrium. Somewhere in the 1960s,
people began to tire of the soulless sway of machines and technology In their
lives, and they started to react against it. These revolutionaries were called
hippies, or flower children, and they spread out from San Francisco to cover
much of the world, toting with them tie-dyed T-shirts, prayer beads, big black
vinyl discs called albums, and home made massage tables.
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Chapter 2: A Brief History of Touch
Keep in touch, Lorraine
The hippie movement brought people back into came to the remote spot on the winding high-
touch with themselves, as exemplified by the way south of Big Sur in California that so many
story of Lorraine, who, in 1968, couldn't decide people had told her about
exactly what to do with her life and so went off
The place was called the Esalen-Institute, andit
in search of something new in California, like so
was a mecca for consciousness-raising work-
many of her generation.
shops, research into alternative health, superb
"I need to get in touch with myself," intoned massages and massage instruction, and just
Lorraine to anyone who asked her what she plain brining out. People from all over the world
was doing. Perhaps she didn't realize how pre- came to Esalen to get back in touch, literally,
cise her choice of words truly was. with themselves and with life. Lorraine moved
in, stayed for five years, and by the time she left
Heading her faded yellow VW Bug west, with
she had found her calling in life and becamea
"Go-Ask Alice" playing over and over again.on
massage therapist
the eight-track tape deck mounted under the
dash, Lorraine kept driving and driving until she
Massage Today
Through the years, massage has had a serious, multiple-personality disorder,
kind of like Sybil. Every time you look at it, you're never sure exactly what
you're going to see. A Greek physician massaging athletes? A Swedish physio-
therapist creating movements to help ease common suffering? A shaman
purging evil spirits? A spiritual seeker sending healing vibrations through her
fingers during an Esalen style massage at a spectacular seaside retreat?
So many choices
Massage is enjoying such a large renaissance right now, in fact, that at times
the market may appear glutted with too many massage therapists. An alterna-
tive newspaper In Asheville, North Carolina, for instance, printed a cartoon
summarizing the plight of that city's abundance of highly trained, under-
employed massage therapists. The cartoon showed an out-of-work therapist
standing at a corner holding up a sign: "Will massage for food."
So where does that leave you as you head out the door today, tomorrow, or
next week to go seeking your own massage experiences? Well, you certainly
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have a lot more choices, which I clarify in Chapter 9. You also have a lot more
massage therapists to choose from — somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000
new massage therapists in the U.S. each year, for example. And France, which
is not a huge country, has over 35,000 practicing kines, short for kinesiothera-
peut, their term for massage/physical therapist. These practitioners are
popular, partly because insurance has covered their services since 1974;
people in France are used to receiving massage as part of their healthcare.
Although you do have more choices than ever, l think the assumption that
we're getting anywhere near a critical mass of massage practitioners in the
world is mistaken. There are just too many people around these days to mas-
sage — over six billion of them as of August 1999 — and the population
continues to expand rapidly.
What you can expect in terms of massage in the year 2000 and beyond is an
ever-increasing number of choices, kind of like you find in those designer
coffee shops. Whereas before the choice used to be simple — regular or
decal? — now you're faced with an overwhelming array of mochas and
frappes and lattes and on and on. This phenomenon has been termed the
Starbuckizing of massage.
Touch research
To keep up with all the rapid changes and to document the effectiveness of
massage in the midst of all these changes, somebody had to start some seri-
ous research into the matter, and that's Just what they do at the Touch
Research Institute.
If you happen to live in South Florida, and you were to stroll down to the
local medical center, you probably wouldn't be too surprised to find some
scientific studies being conducted in one of the buildings there. But you may
be surprised to find that, instead of an operating room or a clinic, these stud-
ies are being conducted in softly lit chambers with flute music playing in the
background. And the subjects, instead of undergoing cutting-edge medical
technologies, are receiving the age-old techniques of massage therapy.
The Touch Research Institute was founded in Miami in 1992 to study the
effects of touch on human beings. Whereas the senses of smell, hearing,
sight, and taste all have had their institutes and studies for decades, poor
little orphan touch was neglected until the 1990s.
Perhaps touch was neglected because it is just so obvious. When you think
about it, nothing is not touch; your body is a large antenna feeling everything
as it happens to you. The other senses all involve touch in one way or
another, too; molecules of various kinds hit you in the taste buds, the optical
nerves, the ear drums, and the nasal passages, which set off the sensations
that make the senses work.
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Chapter 2: A Brief History of Touch
A massage pilgrimage to Esalen
The pioneering work done at Esalen helped may want t0 make a trip tothis massage-mecca
keep massage alive and well after its decline in yourself. Wherever you are in the world, if you
the early and mid-1900s. Esalen, located in Big are a massage lover, making your own massage
Sur, a couple hours south of San Francisco, was pilgrimage to Esalen will benefit your spiritl
founded by Michael Murphy in 1962,.and some
Esalen's location itself is spectacular, perched
of the best massage teachers and researchers
upon steep cliffs overhanging the Pacific
in the world have taught and worked there. The
Ocean, where hot springs flow from the moun-
result of their efforts has been a shifting of the
tainside directly into a series of pools adjacent
entire paradigm upon which massage is built
to the massage area. (fisalen's Web site is at
No longer simply a remedial form of "gymnas-
www.esalen.org.)
tics" to restore movement and ease pain,
massage has become a wayto increase aware- Nudity alert Beware, Esalen is clothing
ness and sometimes even:eccess the spirit. optional, and nudity is common. Think otit as a .
great way to get used to viewing the grand mas-
If you're passionate about learning what mas-
terpiece of the human body.
sage can be on this spirit-enhancing level, you
In 1998, two new Touch Research Institutes opened, one in the Philippines
and one in France, which points toward a globalization of studies on mas-
sage. How can they get away with testing massage like that, you ask? How can
people just lie around feeling good and then call it research? First of all, they
don't call it massage, but rather Tactile Kinesthetic Stimulation, which, trans-
lated, means "massage that someone can receive a medical research grant
for." And the studies include extensive psychological tests, blood analysis,
double-blind tests (tests in which neither the participants nor the
researchers know which subjects have a particular disease or condition and
which don't), and a large amount of paperwork. So It's not just a big vacation.
Some of the studies that have been done at the Touch Research Institute
include the following groups:
3 HIV patients: Serotonin and killer T-cells increased due to the massage.
3 Premature infants: Massaged Infants gained weight more quickly and
left the hospital an average of six days earlier than non-massaged
infants, at an average savings of $3,000.
3 Depressed teenage mothers: Massage helped them gain self-confidence
and provided a way for them to connect with their Infants.
3 Children with post-traumatic shock syndrome after hurricane
Andrew: Massage offered psychological reassurance that the world
could be a safe place again.
3 Cancer patients: Researchers are still gathering data about how mas-
sage can help with this disease.
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Part I: Discovering Massage for Greater Health and Happiness
The Future of Massage
Many people are familiar with John Nalsbitt's book Megatrends, which dis-
cusses the problems people face as society heads into an increasingly
technological world. Naisbitt says that as people get more high-tech, they
have to become equally high-touch as well. Massage, of course, is one obvious
answer to this dilemma.
Following are examples of some high-touch trends that show every sign of
continuing into the future as massage integrates more and more into soci-
ety's high-tech lifestyle:
3 Diplomacy: Massage therapists already travel around the world as
ambassadors of compassion. This trend will continue as hands-on tech-
niques evolve and cross-cultural communication develops further.
3 Performance: More and more performers, athletes, and high-profile indi-
viduals will discover the value and relevance of massage. Every
professional sports team, for example, will have massage therapists on
staff (many do already), creating a trickle-down effect as fans and the
general public become increasingly aware of massage through the
team's example.
3 Affordability: As the world gradually shifts from a manufacturing-based
economy to an information- and services-based economy, the demand
for massage will continue to grow. Employers and insurance companies
will be increasingly willing to pay for massage services, which will benefit
the bottom line by reducing absenteeism, stress-related injury, and so on.
3 Increased sophistication: Massage techniques (some of which have
been around for centuries) will become more and more sophisticated as
practitioners from various schools cross-train and add new skills to
their repertoires.
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