Art of Massage

A great massage is a work of art, it is a beautiful painting.  Like art there are elements and principals of massage.  The direction of each movement, the shape of our hands, the lighting of the room, and the intensity of our pressure are all factors in how wonderful a massage will feel. 

A massage should feel like a fairy tale.  It is a place for people to explore their dreams as they fall into a deep, healing sleep.  Like a great book a massage explores the world of pleasure, peace, and tranquility.  Every technique is purposeful, rewarding and leads to another heavenly sensation.  It is more than a series of random pokes, prods, and squeezes, it is the ultimate exploration of our humanity. 

Harmony is represented by the overall composition of a massage; it reflects how each element and principle has been applied. It is the totality of the session’s clinical and intuitive applications use to achieve a desired result. Harmony is determined by Pattern, Rhythm, Balance, Variety, and Emphasis & Space.

Harmony, Story of Lines and Shapes, and Materiality & Texture, Value

Patterns are important throughout a massage; they encourage a soothing psychological effect by promoting a logical narrative the client may follow.  They are a series of repeating techniques, micro-formulas, tactics, and strategies.

Rhythm is achieved through the repetition of movements that follow a predictable beat or pattern.

As humans we are attracted to bilateral symmetry.  We want to see and feel balance and equilibrium.  Like an artist, massage therapists should strive to create sessions that are balanced.  A balanced session feels stable, helps the client feel comfortable, and encourages completeness. An unbalanced massage instills an unstable, or incomplete sensations.  Sometimes sessions will be unbalanced due to the requests of a client.  Massages with a focus, or with an emphasis on specific areas will be unbalanced, and this is ok.  It is more important to meet a client’s expectations by following their personal boundaries than it is to achieve balance.

Variety is the combination of unity and contrast.  It is used to break up the client’s perception of the techniques used throughout a massage. A massage that possesses too much unity may feel boring, while one with too much contrast may feel random and chaotic. When contrast is paired with unity it creates variety. 

Positive space are the areas being massaged.  Negative space are areas that will remain untouched.  Some massage therapists lack the ability to honor the personal boundaries set by the client.  This occurs when a client requests only specific areas to be addressed, but the therapist refused to accommodate the request by massaging outside of the client’s designated fences. If a client asks to only have their arms massaged, the rest of the body must remain untouched.  Artists and massage therapists have a difficult time refraining from filling negative space.  When we look at our canvas, we often feel like it is incomplete if the entire surface has not been touched.  Respect the integrity of our trade of our trade by valuing the importance of negative space.

Space represents the perspective and proportion in relation to shapes and objects.  Positive space is the area that has observable content, while negative space does not.

In massage positive space are the area being massaged.  Negative space are areas that will remain untouched.  Some massage therapists lack the ability to honor the personal boundaries set by the client.  This occurs when a client requests only specific areas to be addressed, but the therapist refused to accommodate the request by massaging outside of the client’s designated fences.

If a client asks to only have their arms massaged, the rest of the body must remain untouched.  Artists and massage therapists have a difficult time with negative space, because they often believe every area should be addressed.

How well does the therapist tell a story in their massage using movements that encourage trust, foreshadowing, and rewarding predictability?  The movement of a massage defines the pace and speed of each technique, micro-formula, tactic, and strategy.

In massage the line helps us create a story.  We must paint lines on our client’s body with our mind’s eye.  Think of it like the narrative of a story, the line is the storyline of the massage adventure.  It may be used to plot a course of action and encourage trust and comfort with your client.

A shape creates a two-dimensional plane.  It is comprised of one or more lines of various lengths.  Shapes can be defined by emotional associations when a viewer sees them.  Simplistic shapes like circles, triangles, and squares often imply a symbolic significance, while shapes with acute angles may be perceived as dangerous.  Curvilinear shapes are often interpreted as chaotic and adaptable, while rectilinear encourage stability, and dependability.

Sometimes people only want specific areas of their body addressed.  If we draw a line in our mind’s eye, we can create a fence to ensure we stay within the areas they want massaged.  One of the most common complaints the public makes is “I asked them to only massage X, but they massaged Z.”

As licensed professionals we must have the ability to listen, and ethically adhere to the personal boundaries set by our client, and our scope of practice.  We are guests visiting their personal palace, we need to respect their wishes by massaging the area we have been granted permission to touch.  When we give a line shape, we can create a fence that demonstrates our capacity to listen and follow instruction.  When we do this, it fosters trust.

Many clients want to lay on the table and let you do your thing.  They want to feel your story and be lulled into a deep satisfying sleep.  To achieve their expectations, we must write a story for them. 
We must set the stage, ensure we are writing the genre they want to experience, use a comforting voice, and captivate their spirit.  Every scene must have significance, and each sentence should flow into the next.  The story should be easy to follow, your techniques should foreshadow twists and turns, and ultimately the end of the story should end with them in a state of peace and harmony.

If we perform each massage with the intent of telling a story, every session will feel spectacular.  When our client knows we have a story to tell, they will feel comfortable, safe, and secure.

This represents a therapist’s ability to effectively use tools and lubricants to enhance the quality of a massage.  This includes a therapist’s awareness of the texture and tactile sensation of every tool and lubricant used throughout a session. Materiality may also be defined by Form, and Value.

Form: In massage Form represent the shape of your hand, the client’s anatomical structures, and the tools utilized throughout a service.  Many massage therapists apply their techniques utilizing a robotic and orderly approach.  They fail to imagine how the shape of their hand may feel for the client.  The application of your techniques may be drastically altered based on the positioning of your hand, body, or client position.

Value (pressure quality): In art value reflects the tint of an art piece from light to dark.  In massage it is the practitioner’s ability to apply pressure in meaningful and appropriate way.  It accounts for the therapist’s understanding of the philosophy of pressure application, and the importance of magnitude.

This is used to determine the surface quality of artwork.  In art the texture can be tactile, or visual.  Tactile means its real surface, and visual is its implied texture.

Texture is important in the application of massage.  It is experienced via the consistency and smoothness of our lubricants, the softness of our hands, the sheets, and blankets.  Changing up lubricants in a session creates variety and helps the client remain actively engaged with the story we are attempting to tell.

Form is the volume of height, width, and depth of a three-dimensional object.  It typically refers to physical works of art like sculptures.

In massage it may represent the shape of your hand, the client’s anatomical structures, and the tools utilized throughout a service.  Many massage therapists apply their techniques utilizing a robotic and orderly approach.  They fail to imagine how the shape of their hand may feel for the client.  The application of your techniques may be drastically altered based on how you position your hand.  Pair up with another massage therapist and explore how a specific technique feels based on how you hold your hand.  Then change the shape of your hand and compare the two.

Hues, chroma, and value are used to determine the elements of color.  Hue is the primary color, value is how light or dark it is, and chroma is the intensity of the color.  Chroma is a tool used to distinguish between strong and weak colors as seen on the color wheel.

The importance of color in relation to a massage service is witnessed in areas unrelated to its application.  It is the fluff to the crunch.  Examples of color include the color of the products used in the service, the lubricant bottles, the therapist’s attire, the décor, branding colors, and the color of the light used in the treatment room.
The colors used in a spa influence how the client experience their journey.  Remain aware of the colors used to ensure the client’s environment promotes their parasympathetic nervous system and encourages them to associate your practice with ethical and professional services.

Value is determined by the perceivable darkness of tones.  It is often synonymous with luminosity and may be measures in units of electromagnetic radiation.  The difference in value is measured by contrast, this is the range from white to black.
In massage this element manifests through the application of light and its influence on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.  It should be our goal to set the lighting to a value that encourages a restful and sleep encouraging atmosphere.