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My
training is in shiatsu, thai massage, and
Hawaiian lomilomi. I have never even seen
Swedish massage until I attended the massage
school (to get licensed in Hawaii) and later
worked in a spa. I went to shiatsu school In
New York City with many students of Swedish
Institute, because their program did not teach
them how to move properly and they came over to
learn that. I dabbled into rolfing on my own
and was rolfed. The first time I practiced
western techniques is during Waslaski's
orthopedic massage class.
First,
let's describe them all these techniques. Full
description is in another article. In short,
shiatsu works by balancing the energetic
meridians, by pressure and stretching. Usually
hands, thumbs, elbows are used to press in in
certain spots, and the spots follow along
certain lines. Thai massage works by stretching
and pressing the meridians, it is
"assisted yoga" and looks quite
acrobatic. In both cases, the client is
clothed. There is a whole science behind the
meridians, for example acupuncturists use the
same teachings. Lomilomi can have many forms,
some use oil and some don't. Some lomi looks
like chiropractic adjustments. The form that I
know is oil over bare skin. It looks like
flowing sweeping motions from the trunk to the
extremities, with stretching, and all over. All
Oriental massages start from, or at least
address, the abdomen. Shiatsu calls it "ampuku",
lomi calls it "opu huli".
Swedish
massage is oil over bare skin, and consists in
kneading, pulling, rubbing, towards the
heart. I have not seen Swedish massage
with any stretching, and/or abdominal work. I
suspect there must be some; that most
therapists just took Swedish 101 and never
learned any advanced techniques.
A
Western practice that is amazingly effective is
osteopathy. Osteopathy SHOULD be a form of
bodywork practiced by medical doctors. So, it
is much more than just massage therapy and
bodywork, one needs to be an MD, and I am
mentioning it here just for completeness.
European osteopaths are amazing bodyworkers and
can work with anything - muscles, connective
tissue, organs, spine, ... American osteopaths
often have no special hands-on skills and are
just like regular MDs, or maybe can adjust the
spine like chiropractors. Too bad!
So,
having experienced it all, what are the
impressions?
The
first impression that strikes me is movement.
Oriental massage is like a dance, like tai-chi
in motion. It is done in an incredibly fluid,
graceful way. The therapist experiences great
health benefits. My shiatsu teacher says that
an average Swedish massage therapist lasts only
3 years on average, because of poor body
mechanics while working, and misuse of hands. I
can totally see that! I took a 3-day medical
Swedish massage class and my hands were
hurting, for the first time ever. The hand
moves that such therapy requires are brutal on
the therapist, to plainly put it. For example,
petrissage (kneading) is a torture. I cannot
see anyone doing that for 8 hrs per day and
staying healthy. Also, the proper body
mechanics, the movement while massaging, is
mostly absent. Swedish massage is quite
stationary, for both client and therapist. So,
when I see images of Western therapists in
pants with belts, I cringe. My entire training
was done in a martial arts outfit, so that we
could move freely. Not being able to move, not
being able to stretch the client, to me, is
plain nonsense. Just massaging the muscles and
not stretching the client is not good enough.
All joints have to be stretched for better
circulation.
A
huge problem with Western massage is the
massage table. Swedish massage is from Sweden,
where it is below 50F (or 15C) for most of the
year, and typically below freezing. Northern
European climates are rough.... Since cold air
is heavy, it falls to the ground. People solved
that problem by raising everything off from the
floor. So, they invented tables, beds, chairs,
... Which is fine - for Sweden. Come to
tropical Thailand, or Japan, or Hawaii, the
floor is the most comfortable and logical place
to be. Sitting in chairs leads to tight neck,
lower back ache, stiff joints, and all kinds of
problems. If it saves you from catching cold,
it is worth it. But in warm climates, it is NOT
worth it. Oriental massages are done on a
futon, on the floor.
Westerners
can cringe about the floor idea, because
Westerners walk in their homes with their shoes
on and think of floor as dirty. However,
Orientals take their shoes off and keep the
floor clean, and sit on it. In Japan, the whole
life is on the floor: sleeping, eating,
sitting. The tables are low so that one can sit
on the floor and use the table.
Unfortunately,
the whole world is infected with the Western
idea of living so most USA clients will
associate massage with a massage table. Ouch
for the therapist, sorry to the client. This is
where the education is necessary.
Shiatsu,
thai massage and original lomi is done on a
futon, Working on the floor is wonderful
for the therapist AND the client, because it is
easy to use body weight. No muscle strain....
The therapist has their own workout while
working on the client. The client can be
stretched much more. So, the client is more
comfortable. A futon is big enough to move the
arms and hands all over. I love it. Clients
love it.
Massage
table is a contraption conducive to getting low
back pain. It makes maneuvering around the
client and stretching them difficult. In short,
the therapist can barely use their body weight
and must use muscle force. Ouch. Also, massage
tables are narrow, and anyone but a very small
person can never fit their hands totally and
must keep them on the table. Also, it is not
possible to spread the hands around and stretch
them, they would hang off the table and cause
pain.
Massage
table is useful only in several cases:
-
the
client is muscular and MUCH bigger than me.
For example, over 6 feet and or over 200
lbs. A big athlete needs a lot of pressure
to even feel the massage, and it is easier
to give it to them when they are on the
floor and I can use my full body
weight.
-
the
client is somehow incapacitated and cannot
go down on the floor - e.g. low back pain,
obesity, old age, severe arthritis,
etc.
-
the
client has terrible time with their neck on
the floor, i.e. cannot keep it sideways for
too long, and really needs the face cradle
provided by tables. Usually a pillow under
the chest helps with this, but then the
pillow can interfere with working on the
back and it is better not to have it; but
then their neck hurts. (From the face
cradle, their sinuses can get clogged, their
breasts can hurt, or their abdomen, but that
is another problem.)
-
the
client has mental block to anything
unfamiliar and maybe it is better to use
their discomfort level for the healing and
not use it up on grumbling about "the
floor thing."
I
prefer to have both table and futon, explain
them both, and ask people what they would like.
Some Westerners will try the futon and find it
good. Some will try it and opt back for the
table the next time. Orientals usually choose
the floor.
In
terms of techniques, there are some fundamental
differences. Shiatsu and thai massage work with
the electrical system of the body, just like an
acupuncturist would, as well as joints. Lomilomi focuses more on
muscles and joints. Swedish massage, seems to me, focuses
on the lymphatic system and some muscles. Some
lighter western modalities, like myofascial
release, and some heavy duty ones, like
rolfing, focus on the releasing and melting the
connective tissue.
In
my experience, all those techniques sort of
overlap... For example, if I connect the
"dots" on a shiatsu meridian, I get a
lomi stroke...
Western
modalities have some techniques, like rolfing,
which can be pretty brutal on the hands and
require really knowing what you are doing or
else. Those techniques can be very effective
and work very quickly, no doubt, but are risky.
My shiatsu and lomi teachers have practiced
full time for more than 30 years, all day long.
I do know a rolfer who practiced for 30 years,
but he worked only a few hours every day - he
could, because a rolfing session always cost
double than "regular" massage,
probably because of hand overuse.
I
must say that I have to use lomilomi and some
rolfing techniques to really change the tissue
besides the spine. Nothing works like shiatsu
to straighten the spine, because one can press
between the vertebrae. In more
"meaty" parts, like ... tights, or
forearms, or neck, Shiatsu can relax the
tissue, but it doesn't fundamentally change it,
at my level of skill. Lomi is useful over skin
to melt the tissue and then stretch it
out.
In
lomilomi, tissues are worked from the trunk to
the external. In Swedish massage, that is a
heresy, because veins have valves that let
blood only go back, so if you press forward, it
is possible to damage the valves, so panics my
medical massage teacher. Hogwash, says my
lomilomi teacher. He says that in Eastern
treatments, we work towards the extremities in
order to bring fresh blood supply there. Well,
lomilomi works, no question about it, and
nobody is complaining about bursting veins. So
much for that.
Some
Western modalities are pretty cool and unique,
like craniosacral therapy. It works with the
sack that the brain and the spine are in, and
the fluid inside the sack. It is very gentle
and extremely effective technique. It is good
as the last polish, when all other tissues have
been released.
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