"seeing" with my hands/fingers

[gary m]

"seeing" with my hands/fingers

I have to say thank you to all of u! I am in the same boat. Im in my 2nd quarter of my 15month classes and before this time i had no experience with this what so ever! Its all so crazy to me. Right now i can feel if someone has some HUGE adhesions or it is very very tight. The fibers blow my mind! :shock: i just don't know how i will ever remember which fiber goes what way. This also goes with feeling other people's energy. What is that!? : Everyone says it will happen with time too. But i'm like the only one in my class who hasn't done anything with energy. Anything i can do about that??
Thanks!!! :grin:

 

[Bosco]

"seeing" with my hands/fingers

hisaacs - There's a great deal of energywork info on our site and loads of modalities from Reiki to Jin Shin Jyutsu both of which are not about manipulating tissues but simply laying the hands on specific areas & points. Many others work with the energy in a more active manner, such as Shiatsu/Shin Tai. You probably have plenty on your plate with your currant classes - but if you have students you're friendly with who have expertise in the energy field you may want to do a trade exchange to try out some of the modalities they are using.

This is the link for our Energy Work section if you'd like to review it: http://massageplanet.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21

 

[Bone Idle]

"seeing" with my hands/fingers

That was an excellent post, Riversinger!

It took me an amazingly long time to feel tissue. I'm a strong auditory learner. Even to this day, I'll catch myself listing sounds when describing tissue feel/change. Feeling tissue took time for me to integrate into my over analytical brain.

I think it took almost a year of massaging as many people as I could (neighbors, friends, family), paying an experienced MT to mentor me, studying the Trail Guide, playing with cornstarch, palpating the phonebook with hair strands in between pages, self massage, and receiving regular bodywork from an experienced therapist. I found broad cross fiber friction strokes helped me to pinpoint more detailed work that may be needed. The most helpful for me was the experience of touching many bodies while focused, grounded, present, and caring.

I smile when clients are amazed and shocked that I can feel where they have pain; especially in areas they don't realize contribute to their pain. They honestly think it's a mystery. I tell them that anyone who spends the time and practices it enough can do it. Do not be discouraged! You can develop skills that do not come naturally.

 

[? Nut Nut ?]

"seeing" with my hands/fingers

I have to say thank you to all of u! I am in the same boat. Im in my 2nd quarter of my 15month classes and before this time i had no experience with this what so ever! Its all so crazy to me. Right now i can feel if someone has some HUGE adhesions or it is very very tight. The fibers blow my mind! :shock: i just don't know how i will ever remember which fiber goes what way. This also goes with feeling other people's energy. What is that!? : Everyone says it will happen with time too. But i'm like the only one in my class who hasn't done anything with energy. Anything i can do about that??
Thanks!!! :grin:

LOTS of MTs never try to feel or work with "energy", so don't worry about it. The "energy" pathways described in different traditional practices often correlate to circulatory or nerve pathways, and it has been argued that they only lacked the terminology and knowledge of anatomy and physiology needed to accurately describe what they were actually working with. Others will swear that they are sensing/manipulating some sort of metaphysical "energy" and describe it in a variety of ways that can't be verified objectively.

It can be argued that everything we do is energy work, because our bodies are composed of particles that have positive and negative electromagnetic charges that permit us to interact with our surroundings - but those particles never actually touch (at an atomic level), so it's really our minute fields interacting with the minute fields of the matter around us. However, that argument is based on a simplified understanding of physics, and the "energy fields" involved are detectable, measurable, and too minute to be capable of the potentials and effects described by those who claim to work with metaphysical and non-measurable "energy".

Those who enjoy giving/receiving metaphysical "energy" work clearly feel that something is occurring and place value in it. If that's something you really want to pursue, fine. But if it's just not clicking for you, don't sweat it. It's not necessary to being a successful and effective massage therapist. For now, it's something you learn about it school, but as a professional you will decide what is important to your practice.

NOTE: I put "energy" in quotation marks because it means very different things depending on context. In physics, it has specific definitions and is by nature quantifiable. In esoteric practices, it has less-well-defined meanings and is by nature UNquantifiable by scientific standards. I feel it would be less confusing if the term used in esoteric practices was "spirit" or something else.

 

[Well la-di-da]

"seeing" with my hands/fingers

I feel stupid for admitting this and asking this question..... But here goes: How do I learn to "see" with my hands. To feel the knots, tender spots and that sort of thing? Unless the knots are huge I can't seem to find them. Is there something out there that can help make me more sensitive to this sort of thing? How can I be a good therapist if I can't "see" these kinds of things? I know it comes in time, but I'm getting frustrated. And beginning to question if it'll ever come! Help!

It helps me to visualize if I close my eyes while working. Also, a lot of light poking here and there won't locate any trigger points. Usage of a good trigger point chart helps; working on your own trigger points is absolutely essential--now don't think you haven't any, because everyone does. So, refer to the chart for location of TPs you can easily reach, and press in, varying pressure till it feels tender...you may need to go very deep in ordr to find it, then ease out till the pain is still noticeable but certainlky tolerable. Then hold the pressure for three deep breaths; if you are at the right depth in the tissue, you'll feel at least a lessening of the tenderness after three breaths. If not, then vary the pressure for another 3 breaths. you've got to know what one feels like on yourself and how it feels when it releases in order to find them on others.

With lots of practice, your fingers--even your elbow will soon easily find the TPs. Recognizing adhesions can be more difficult to master, because you as therapist can easily confuse them with a tp. BTW, not all TPs feel like a raised knot, sometimes they are slight depressions in the tissue--so above all else, communicate with the client!

In my school clinic comm with clients is a bit of a problem for me. I am 63, and wear hearing aids, and our tables are separate by a curtain and a couple of feet, so we have to communicate with clients in whispers. So I ask yes or no questions that they can answer with an upraised or downturned thumb-- not is the pressure okay, but rather "Do you want more pressure, or less pressure?"