Learning Self Massage

Doesn’t a self-massage sound nice? You don’t have to pay money for a professional massage, nor do you have to beg your husband or wife to rub your back after a long day at work. Understanding some simple techniques will help your muscles to feel relaxed and eased of tension whenever you want.

Take a Course

Check around your local area to see if there are any classes available in this unique field. You can certainly read some tips online. However, one of the best ways to learn any new strategy is by doing it while having professionals at your side to guide you in the proper techniques and to critique your form.

Morning and Evening

Reader’s Digest’s article entitled “” offers tips for feeling good when you wake up and before you head off to bed. Working from the top of your arms and legs to the bottom, use your fists to “thump” out the kinks from sleeping or from the stresses of the day. Now take this movement to your torso. You must take caution if you engage in this activity, as the article states that people who take any sort of blood thinner could wind up with bruising. However, if you aren’t on any such medications, these practices help to energize you for the day and calm you down at night.

Rubbing: Eating and Exercising

“Learn the Art of Self-Massage” also suggests that people should give themselves a nice rub after eating and before and after exercising. After eating any meal, rub your stomach in a counter clockwise fashion with one or both of your palms. Doing so helps to amp up digestion. Massaging before exercise helps to increase blood flow to the body, and massaging after exercise aids in the recovery process for the muscles. The article suggests using a fist pummeling motion in the legs and arms before exercise, and rubbing with the palm or fists in the direction of the heart after exercise are two strategies for engaging in self-massage.

Using Tools

Self-massage does not just involve using the hands; you can use some tools to help. Reader’s Digest says that a tennis ball can be rubbed around different parts of the body to relieve stress and tension. Another idea that the popular magazine provides is to put some golf balls in a shoe box. Now you have the perfect foot massage device! While you probably don’t want to remove your shoes if you’re teaching in front of a classroom of students, this can be a perfect midday massage tool if you’re on a lunch break or if you work in an office or room by yourself.

See how easy self massage can be? You don’t need to spend lots of money, and you don’t need to waste a lot of time learning the techniques. A lot of these methods can be used pretty much wherever you are, and some of them are quite discrete. Self-massage provides relaxation and a method of reducing stress during often hectic workdays and errand-filled weekends.

Dana Le Roy writes about massage, finance &