Working and Living Massage Therapy

Having a mum who is a trained massage therapist would be my idea of heaven.  Being a mum who is a massage therapist gives me great satisfaction that not only can I help other people, I can also help my own family and children. Since I first started training in Indian head massage back in 2014 my 4 children have all benefitted from massage. From Head massage to Back, hands and feet, I use massage almost on a daily basis and almost without even realising it. You can find a local therapist and introduce massage as part of your wellbeing, but you do not have to be massage therapist to feel the benefits of massage. Human beings are by nature touch orientated, we feel safe, comforted, supported and loved with touch. From a simple pat on the back, a hand holding a hand, to unconsciously soothing our sleeping children wth a hand on their backs, curling their hair. Massage makes us feel good, it helps to release feel good endorphins, it calms down our nervous system and in the case of one of my daughters massage really does have an impact on her fight or flight symptoms. For some people massage can also be a treatment that fills in the void of missing out on human contact wether through a bereavement, illness, disability or just through fate. For my girls, massage is a time to bond, calm and relax. the most common massage move I use is effleurage. This is a lighter, soothing massage move with big unhurried movements which I find work's best especially with children. Through my work I have found that children do not respond well to deep, hurried movements which they can find both scary and painful. with the effleurage move I tend to find that its an easy one to be mimicked by children and mums and dads often find themselves being given a massage by their child. This is always my favourite part and in its own way shows how much of an impression massage can have on a child with their willingness to naturally share in the touch. In my general treatments I use effleurage to introduce touch to a client and warm up the muscles prior to deeper massage moves. again I always start with this move to introduce massage to an adult. This is important to new clients or a client who hasn't had a massage before and therefore is unsure of what to expect. Massage is in my opinion like starting a sports activity, muscles need to be stretched and warmed up before they can be worked properly. Heavy deep movements at the start of the massage, before you have warmed up the muscles would not only make the client uncomfortable, it would be uncomfortable for the client, it can restrict circulation. Tense, painful muscles are a lot harder to work on.
There are many different types of massage:
. Swedish / Holistic massage
.Reflexology - Feet
.Indian Head Massage
.Reiki
.Aromatherapy
​ My own children have had Reiki and Reflexology and both have loved the treatments. With reflexology my youngest lays watching on her iPad and actually sits still for the treatment. Its amazing and its also one of the least invasive of treatments for children as all they have to do is take of their shoes and socks - this is defiantly something I am looking at training in next.
Another treatment that I love is Story Massage.
Story massage is an amazing blend of stories / songs / rhymes or even when your desperate a shopping list. you learn 10 massage moves that are so simple and easy to master that I've had children as young as 2 years old pick up the moves and use story massage on mummies or teddies. My teenagers even now will write a story and put a massage to it..... Did I mention it can be used anywhere? literally in queues, at the cinema, in the car on the bus, at bedtime, at school time, on a rainy day, on the beach. 

Find out more on story massage next time - follow the blog xx leanne xx