Monday, November 11, 2013

Tales From the (Massage) Table: Lessons In Hot Stone Massage

I recently bought myself some basalt stones to start incorporating hot stone massage into my practice.


A few important things to remember:

1: Rocks don't glide well when they're not oiled or anything.  (I should totally have seen that coming, I suppose.)

2: If you've already lubricated the person's back or the stones with oil or lotion, that's fine.  However, said stones will not stay put on the person's back if you let go of them (like in this picture):

They slide right off. You can pretend that is a new "chakra-enhancing automatic sliding hot stones" technique if you want, but I doubt they'll believe it.

3: If you decide to re-position the stones, and so pile these rather large stones all into one hand whilst getting a squirt of lotion with your other hand, DO NOT  -- I repeat -- DO NOT clutch those couple of large, slippery, hot stones in one hand DIRECTLY ABOVE YOUR CLIENT'S HEAD. Please remember that point.

[No clients or therapists were actually injured in today's massages. Just a little discombobulated.]