Massage Sloth @[email protected]
309K subscribers - no pronouns :c
Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
I made a video for āŖ@MassageTherapeutics915ā¬! It's about supporting yourself AND supporting the client as you work. All this "arm resting on your leg, leg resting against the table, cupping the wrist" stuff will feel like a lot at first, but eventually you'll find that it's something you can ease into. You'll feel quite lazy as you work (which means that you're doing it right), and to the client, it feels like a force of nature. Let me know what you think, and go show MarĆa some love! Oh, and expect more like this soon. It turns out it's really easy to make a video when your class is on their lunch break and you've got a room full of people willing to help š¤·āāļø
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This video is about COMMUNICATION with massage clients more than anything! I'm so impressed, and I'd love for you to check this channel out.
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A new channel to keep an eye on! Well-explained, well-paced, and full of visual aids. Subscribe and hit that bell!
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Check this massage tutorial out. This is a great exploration of the upper traps, and it shows an approach that's different from mine (which is worthwhile for me as well!). I love all the unfurling she does of the traps, and all the seeking of nooks and crannies where those spots of exquisite tenderness like to hide. Keep in mind that this might be too much for some clients (the same can be said for my approach), and to consider titrating your dose of trigger point work. What the heck do I mean by that? In medicine, titration is where you start with a small dose, see how the patient responds, and then adjust up as needed. You might make this just a few minutes of trigger point exploration and see how your client responds.
This specific work can be effective for clients who didn't respond to broader work, and it can have a different effect on their body and mind! Have a look at this channel, try some more specific work, and always let your contact be guided by communication.
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Just stumbled across this new massage tutorial channel, and I'd like you to give it a look. It's a different approach than mine (different body mechanics, plenty of oil and deep stripping), but I love the way he clues us in to his thought process the entire time: Why he uses his hands in a certain orientation, what muscles he's targeting, how he determines his pressure, etc. As I watch, I find myself getting excited about working more thoroughly with the legs!
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At the age of 41, I have discovered my meaning in life. My purpose. My eventual legacy. I... am a scapula salesman.
This bad boy can hold so much significance for common pain and dysfunction. Anterior shoulder pain? My first thought is subscapularis. Upper back pain? Sure the pecs are pulling, but the rotator cuff muscles are the rope. Tingling and numbness when you try to sleep? All four of those rotators are keeping the head of the humerus tight in its socket, pec minor is mashing the whole shoulder girdle tight to the body, and I just know that subscap is up to something. That's not even touching on the epic, multifunctional, posture-producing balancing act between rhomboids, traps, serratus anterior, levator scapulae, and the rotators.
So, massage therapists: What can I do to get you into some direct scapula work today? Imagine yourself cruising along the spine of the scapula, dipping into the supraspinous fossa above and following infraspinatus below. You could even pinch the spine of the scapula, digging into both muscles at the same time, interacting with the broad insertion of trapezius, all while giving the whole thing a rocking, mobilizing shake. You could bully the lateral border to directly address the teres, and even swoop some thumbs into the axilla to compress subscapularis. And have you seen the 3-dimensional surface of the infraspinous fossa? It's a thing of beauty, my friends, and it's worth every second of exploration with grouped fingertips.
Today, when you're working with the upper back and mostly drawing inside the lines, working with rhomboids and trapezius and only glancing past the lateral torso, I want you to take a detour. I want you to see yourself on a long, luxurious vacation in scapula country. There's a whole world of meaningful, powerful tissue to explore.
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My book is out today! You can order it (and read a long sample) here: www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSV9JNY Itās about massage, communication, treating pain (and dealing with it yourself), and beating burnout. If that seems kind of broadā¦ it is! This book is everything I know about being a massage therapist, with a special focus on living a life of quiet satisfaction.
Who is this book for? Itās for new massage therapists who are still trying to find their place in the massage world. Do you need to work for someone and give up 75% of your income for the first 5 years, or can you skip to the part where youāre paid what youāre worth? Is wrist pain and thumb pain a necessary part of the process, or can you skip that too? Why is pain so mysterious, and why arenāt you producing all those massage miracles that you see the gurus talk about?
Itās for long-time massage therapists too. Maybe youāre feeling stuck working for a terrible boss, or stuck in a routine that isnāt working for you. Weāll talk about how to branch out as a bodyworker and take those first steps toward a sustainable, satisfying business. Weāll face burnout head-on, putting out the little fires created by a chaotic work environment as well as tackling the big heavy blanket of disillusionment. You can recapture the magic of massage, and it can be easy and freeing!
Itās for my fellow anxious types and introverts. Massage is weird, and it can be a lot to handle when you get easily overwhelmed by thoughts of intimacy and difficult conversations. Weāll work through it together. Weāll talk about setting and enforcing boundaries, and what happens when they get fuzzy. Iāll walk you through an ideal first appointment with a new client, from the moment they walk in to easy re-booking. Weāll talk about creeper-proofing your practice, as well as simple, low-stress ways to rid your schedule of clients who are a poor fit.
If youāre a massage therapist or student, I think youāll find something worthwhile here.
Thanks to everyone who buys it, whether you read it on your phone or in paperback form or projected on a movie theater screen (I like to imagine that at least one person reads books that way)! I also greatly appreciate any shares, word-of-mouth, lending to friends, holding book clubs, etc. I think this book has the potential to make the massage world a happier place, and I'm grateful to anyone who spreads the word! More videos are coming soon, but for now I think I'll do some brief hibernation. šš“
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I've spent the last year going slightly mad, and also watching lots of vocal coaching on YouTube. Over that time I've been using self-massage to keep my throat happy and healthy, which I talk about in today's video. Mostly this is an excuse to get back into gear with an easy video, but I'd love feedback from singers!
For massage therapists: If you've got singers, public speakers, Twitch streamers, or other professionals who give their vocal cords frequent high-intensity workouts, just realize that you don't need to target any muscles specifically, and that work in the area doesn't need to be a direct confrontation. By engaging the superficial fascia on and around the anterior neck and putting it into traction, you're sending powerful stretch signals to the spinal cord, both from the fascia, and from the embedded muscles. Just by dragging skin up along the track of the SCMs, you're putting the extrinsic laryngeal muscles under traction. By going slowly here, you can send a signal that these muscles can reduce their tone ā and in doing so, you can give your clients a better internal feel for these muscles. They might even use that awareness to prevent strain in the future!
Realize that you will have different leverage than your clients while working with this area, so experiment with different angles, and with working unilaterally. Having your client turn their head to the said, situating yourself near their arm, and gently dragging a broad palm down toward their sternum can be an excellent angle of approach, for instance. You can also drag toward yourself while seated at their head. As always, especially when working with the anterior neck, err on the side of being too gentle, and make sure to stay in constant communication regarding their comfort. Some clients will find broad contacts, or contacts too close to the midline, to be anxiety-provoking, so be prepared to alter your strategy.
Thanks to everyone who has been so patient as I've mostly taken the last year off! I know it wasn't a vacation, but still. I'm planning on releasing a sleep meditation (!) in the coming week or two, and then getting back to our regularly scheduled massage tutorials. If you need a tutorial fix, please check in with Maria Natera at āŖ@MassageTherapeutics915ā¬ , and also Allison Denney at āŖ@RebelMassageā¬ . Both kick incredible amounts of butt. Oh, and if you know of other worthwhile massage tutorials, please feel free to leave them in the comments below!
P.S. The voice coach I've been enjoying most is āŖ@chrisliepeā¬ . I'm finally learning how to scream and growl (in a musical sort of way), and it makes me so happy.
P.P.S. I've been doing a lot of singing lately while watching āŖ@daniellejallardā¬ on Twitch. Did you know there's all sorts of live music on there?!
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Hi! It's me, Ian! I'm going to have a new video up this month, and then hopefully every month after that. Until then, I seem to be warming up on TikTok? If you'd like to see such a thing (and maybe ask me some massage-related questions to help me think of videos to make), give this a click: vm.tiktok.com/ZMeoyvtK1/ You can also feel free to leave video ideas here! Help me get my brain back into gear after a long, weird year :) Here's a picture of a flower I took on a walk a few days ago:
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I haven't talked about the business part of massage on here in a while and... did you know that you can get lots of clients just by spending some money on advertising? I'm not saying this because I get a cut (I don't), or because I like the ad companies (ditto). I'm talking about this because I want you to break free of the massage franchises and get most of that 80 bucks per hour. You deserve it! You're the one doing the work!
Start here: massagesloth.com/how-to-use-facebook-boosting-to-gā¦ It's a blog post I wrote about how to advertise on Facebook. It's a few years old, but it still works (at least for me, every time I've started over in a new place), and the general principles can be applied whether you're pumping money into a business page on Facebook (more on that here: massagesloth.com/how-to-use-a-facebook-page-to-buiā¦ or using Google ads for your blog post, or whatever. Find your ideal audience, limit your reach to your local area, and find the best bang for your buck.
Why did I write posts with all of my advertising secrets? Why am I helping *you* get clients rather than keeping them all for myself? Because it doesn't fucking matter! There are tons of clients, TONS of people who could use massage in their lives! I'd much rather we all prosper than sit on my secrets like a dragon on a pile of treasure. But that's a rant for another time.
We're in an age of uncertaintyā¢. If you're able to have an open business, and if you're looking for clients, I encourage you to find those clients where they are. That might mean making massage demo videos on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube, it might mean sending out weekly newsletters, or even the old tips about leaving business cards and flyers around your area. In any case, please realize that our potential client base is huge, that massage would be an excellent addition to many people's lives, and that we are not competing. We're in this together. As massage therapists, and with our clients. Let's all help each other weather this storm and find ways to connect.
Please feel free to leave your tips for getting your business humming in the comments below. Be generous and reveal those secrets! In the end, we'll all prosper by helping each other.
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For massage therapists and students who want effective (and easy!) techniques and strategies for dealing with pain. While the main focus is on myofascial release, you'll also see trigger point therapy, structural integration, and good old Swedish.
Massage effectively. Massage lazy. Be the sloth.