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Important warning!
It's almost impossible to seriously injure someone using massage. Almost. Use your common sense; if you don't like the look of something then for God's sake don't go near it. If they ask you to stop, stop. Err on the side of caution at all times.Please read this legal disclaimer before proceeding. Procedure beyond this point means that you have read and agreed to our terms.
There are two ways of approaching this:
If you're planning to train professionally then be warned at the outset: it's a lot harder than it looks. You do need to do a fair amount of book study, beyond the most basic qualifications you'll be dealing with human anatomy and physiology. Massage is still a very new therapy to a lot of people; it's unusual to find a graduate making a living from it after one year and very unusual to be making a living after five years.Massaging friends and family.
Massage is a fundamentally safe therapy but there are a number of occassions when you wouldn't be advised to use it. The technical name for a good reason not to massage is contraindication.
Before you go any further, have a look at the worksheet on contraindications .
Environment.
Massage should be quiet, relaxed, gentle. Find yourself a warm room. If you're the therapist then you'll probably need it to be too hot for your comfort. You'll be moving around, your client will be relaxed, near sleep. You'll find they're a lot more sensitive to cold than you are.
Waving your hand through the air gives a more accurate sense of how the temperature will feel to your client. Don't ask me how this works, but I call it the 'moving air test'. I've been using it for years and it's never let me down.
You'll need space to move around. You'll need to move around your client without tripping over or getting caught.
You'll need a firm surface to rest your client on. It needs to be strong enough to take the weight of your client plus any pressure you apply. You may know that your dining room table is strong enough, but if it wobbles or rocks there's no way your client's going to relax.
If you use the floor then the strain's going to be on you. You may find yourself with aching knees, or an aching lower back. Or you feet may go to sleep. If you must massage on the floor wear loose fitting clothing. Move around a lot; don't let the arteries in the back of your leg close of or you'll be dancing around the room in agony in five minutes time. Not very relaxing!
It may seem odd but don't use a bed. Not a conventional sprung mattress anyway. Futons are OK, but a sprung matress just has too much give in it; you'll bend the spine backwards, very uncomfortable and if they've got a bad back you could really hurt them. Don't use a sprung bed mattress.
On the other hand you are going to need some padding; no-one's going to be comfortable lying on the floor for an hour. Different clients need different levels of padding, a duvet folded double is enough for most people. A futon mattress is good, I've used a heavy duty (four season) sleeping bag before now.
Phew! OK we have a firm but pliant surface in a quiet, warm space and there's space for you to move around in comfort. We have the environment.