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Cupping Therapy 101: How it Works, What Benefits it Brings

2015-06-25T20:29:57-04:00June 25th, 2015|

Quick: Picture students partaking in a class at a massage training school. You likely envision people using their thumbs, fingers, and elbows to press into muscles. Or perhaps, if you’ve ever experienced Thai Massage, you might see the therapists-in-training using their full bodies on clients, pulling and pressing while in yoga-like postures. For most massage modalities, this understanding of pressing into tissue to relieve pain and tension is correct. Cupping is an exception.

While most manual therapies use downward pressure to alleviate muscle adhesions, cupping uses suction to pull tissues up. As an analogy, think of a dirty rug. […]

Massage Therapy Modalities: Structural Bodywork

2015-06-11T20:27:07-04:00June 11th, 2015|

In our series on massage modalities, we’ve covered Thai massage, trigger point therapy, and Tui Na. Today we’re looking at a different form of massage: Structural Bodywork. At its crux, structural bodywork explores and offsets imbalances within the body.

The mother of structural bodywork is Ida Rolf. Ida Rolf was a biochemist, yoga teacher, manual therapist, and sensorimotor educator who had a holistic vision of health. Her focus as a healer was to improve overall biochemical functioning, rather than treating certain systems. Rolf’s creation, Structural Integration, improves health by improving the human body’s structure in relation to gravity.
Within this […]

Client Populations: Working with Elderly Patients


2015-05-14T20:20:57-04:00May 14th, 2015|

Massage careers can take practitioners all over the world, to all manner of settings. However, when envisioning a post-massage certification career path, the common image is that of a healthy middle-aged person receiving a basic Swedish massage. Reality is much larger in scope. In this series we will be discussing how to work with different client populations- in all ages and stages of life. We kick things off with a discussion of geriatric massage, including its challenges, effective techniques, and benefits.

Challenges Massaging Elderly Clients

Elderly clients can often be intimidating to massage, due to their unique health conditions and physical needs. Older […]

How to Center Yourself Before Giving a Massage

2015-05-07T20:18:51-04:00May 7th, 2015|

Think back to when you were first dreaming of a career in massage. Perhaps you were contemplating getting a massage certificate, or eagerly flipping through pamphlets from massage schools in NYC or Oregon, dreaming of your future. One question that you may have asked yourself during this process—and a question massage therapists may ask throughout their career—is what constitutes the ideal massage?  Is it the perfect shiatsu technique, or being up-to-date on the latest trends? The ideal massage is not merely about a certain technique; it is rather grounded in how you show up in the space when giving a massage.

The […]

Tui Na: Introduction to this Modality

2015-04-24T22:49:06-04:00April 24th, 2015|

West coast massage schools including East West College offer instruction in a variety of massage modalities. To give our readers insight into different types of massage, we have written on trigger point therapy, cranio-sacral therapy, and Thai massage. Today we’re looking into Tui Na, a Chinese form of manipulative therapy.

Introducing Tui Na: Ancient Chinese Massage Therapy

Tui Na features some manual methods found Western massage styles, but adds acupressure to remove blockages in muscles and energy pathways (called Meridians in Chinese medicine). This massage approach dates back thousands of years to ancient China. It may be used in tandem with acupuncture and […]

Fun Facts About the Human Hand

2015-04-17T22:46:38-04:00April 17th, 2015|

Anyone who has ever given or received a massage can appreciate the importance of hands in massage therapy. Those attending massage schools, in Portland or elsewhere, can easily recognize that hands are the massage therapist’s most useful tool to convey healing and connection to the client. Our hands can transmit a variety of emotions. They can be used to love and nurture, to heal, and much more.

Indeed, University of California Berkeley research conducted under Dr. Dacher Keltner has found that humans can convey emotions through touch alone more than half the time. Kelter’s experiment separated participants by […]

Spring Cleaning: Tips for Keeping a Sparkling Clean Massage Space

2015-04-10T22:45:21-04:00April 10th, 2015|

Creating a clean and clear massage space might not be the first thing you learned in massage therapy training, but it is a vital aspect of your practice. Clients are subconsciously affected by your massage space. While they may not realize it, a clean, organized, peaceful room free of distractions goes a long way toward putting your clients in a relaxed state. Having a spotless treatment room should rank high on your list of priorities.
Feeling stuck on where to start? Add regular tidying to your appointment book, begin a quarterly deep cleaning practice, and follow these spring-cleaning tips!

De-clutter.

• Start in the […]

Why Breathing is so Important During Massage

2015-04-03T22:44:20-04:00April 3rd, 2015|

Deep breathing supports and enhances the goals of massage therapy as taught in massage training school. Often called abdominal breathing or belly breathing, deep breathing promotes blood flow, increases the effectiveness of the lymphatic system, and supports organ detoxification. Moreover, abdominal breathing lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, and can be used at any time to decrease stress and tension. Deep breathing promotes physical relaxation, the goal of every massage client.

Implementing Deep Breathing into Massage Therapy

Teaching and modeling deep breathing for massage clients can benefit them on and off the table, potentially leading to a life of less pain and […]

Massage Therapy Modalities: Trigger Point Therapy

2015-03-27T21:45:14-04:00March 27th, 2015|

Muscle pain is one of the most common medical complaints, whether it’s chronic low back pain, or sore muscles from working in the garden. In fact, according to a recent AMTA survey, 30% of respondents have used massage therapy for pain relief. When working with clients who experience pain, it’s helpful to have many different strategies for helping them recover. Trigger point work is often an effective way of decreasing or eliminating pain. Our massage school in Portland, Oregon offers trigger point therapy as an elective course in our 800-hour massage therapy program. In this blog, we’re introducing […]

When Receiving Massage: Do’s and Dont’s

2015-03-06T21:42:46-05:00March 6th, 2015|

Have you ever daydreamed about an upcoming massage only to be let down by how it turned out? Or perhaps you’ve never had a professional massage and you’re nervous about what to do during your first session. Even those who have received dozens of massages at our Oregon school of massage can learn something new about how to maximize the effects of a massage session. Read on to discover our pointers on what to do and what not to do when receiving a massage.

DO take care of your basic needs. Allow yourself a light snack before your massage and be sure […]

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