The beginnings...Swedish massage

Each day, I walked up the long road to the school, enjoying the view of the Red Rocks and the cool fresh air.  I had been in Mexico, near the ocean, where it was much warmer.  It was February, and the weather in Sedona was a bit cooler than I had been accustomed to.  I was enjoying, yet adjusting.  As a class, we started to learn about Swedish massage first, while simultaneously beginning the anatomy and physiology lessons.  


Below is a definition of Swedish Massage  (quoted from an unknown source):


"The term "Swedish Massage" refers to a variety of techniques specifically designed to relax muscles by applying pressure to them against deeper muscles and bones, and rubbing in the same direction as the flow of blood returning to the heart. This form of massage was created at the turn of the century by Henry Peter Ling in Sweden. It involves the use of kneading, stroking, friction, tapping, and vibration and may provide relief from stiffness, numbness, pain, constipation, and other health problems. 

The main purpose of Swedish massage is to increase the oxygen flow in the blood and release toxins from the muscles. Other possible benefits include stimulation of circulation, an increase in muscle tone, and a balance of the musculo-skeletal systems. Swedish massage shortens recovery time from muscular strain by flushing the tissues of lactic acid, uric acid, and other metabolic wastes. It increases circulation without increasing heart load.
The usual sequence in which a Swedish massage strokes are conducted are Effleurage, Petrissage, Friction, Vibration, Percussion, and finally passive and active movements (bending and stretching)."
                  
As a group, we were learning how to be respectful of touching people we hardly knew, and to make sure that in our learning we were being supportive of each other, our learning processes and differences.  Due to some class dynamics, the process was not always easy with personal situations interrupting the learning process.  It was all new, overwhelming and exciting, simultaneously.  I hadn't been a part of a group in this way for some time, so gauging how I wanted to participate and the depth of how much I wanted to share of myself was an ongoing process.  From the beginning, I realized that I needed to establish boundaries since we were all at different emotional levels, and with a small group such as this, it could be easy to return to some co-dependent tendencies.  I wanted to remain balanced and supportive, but not to get enmeshed in any dysfunction or personal issues that needed to remain outside of the classroom.

We were learning the different strokes, having plenty of opportunities to practice each of them, and eventually putting all of the strokes together to provide a flowing massage.  I can only speak for myself, but it was not as easy as it looked when the teacher did it.  I was a bit frustrated that I couldn't handle the body with such ease and fluidity as the instructor...however, I can be quite hard on myself if I don't perform well immediately....A personal lesson to be revisited many times in my life, yet, it felt good to be challenging myself with something new. I still can remember the day that it these strokes clicked and it was a relief.

After two weeks, we grasped the different strokes involved in Swedish massage, and were beginning to give quality feedback that would assist us in making adjustments to our strokes.  As we started to learn other modalities I realized the benefit of learning Swedish first - these were the basic strokes of many modalities and could be incorporated into other other techniques to actually make the massage experience more fluid.

To assist in my learning, I started to write 'massage recipes', which meant that I recorded all the strokes for each body part, which supported my learning process and memory, and, reduced my anxiety of having to remember everything for each modality.  We were using, Trail Guides to the Body for our anatomy text, which I studied relentlessly.  It is a great book which provides wonderful visuals which I needed since I am a visual learner.
  
After these two weeks, I felt like we had made progress as a group, getting to know each other, forming trust and friendships.  The Swedish massage instructor included opportunities for meditations and interpersonal growth, and times when we could share our feelings about what we were experiencing.  We had managed to get through the initial hands-on lessons of the massage program and we were to begin learning another modality, Trigger Point Therapy, also known as Neuromuscular Therapy.