No Hands Massage

[Wayne King]

Hi all

I am very interested in doing a 'no hands' massage course - and I read with interested the posts about this a while ago. However in some of the info from Gerry Pyves a student mentioned that although the course was wonderful they found it very hard on their knees. I have a damaged knee so this worried me a little - anyone able to elaborate on this?

 

[oqefluseibqigsenj]

Heya

My knees aren't great and yes some moves do put some strain on them. The emphasis on the course is to do what feels good for you, within your own comfort. Many of us have existing injuries and if youdo attend the course let your teacher know, they will support you as best as they can. There are ways to get around these sorts of things, in the chair and reflex course we learnt how to use a stool, thus getting rid of the knee problem. When working we put pillows under our knees, I always grab two quite thick pillows, works a treat. I've foundthat although I occasionally get problems if the pillows are too thin, however, as a rule I've found that my knees have improved considerably since learning.

Seriously, don't let it put you off, the things you'll learn and the treatments you'll receive will make it all so worth it.

 

[talefairy]

If you want to do a course in ‘hands-free’ massage which doesn’t involve spending time on your knees, you could consider [link=http://www.healthypages.net/forum/tm.asp?m=108004]Lomi Lomi Massage [/link]
There are two tutors who trained in the Hawaiian islands who currently run courses in the UK: Lizy Newton and Rosalie Samet.

Alan

 

[xxandyxxpandyxx]

Hi,
I am a No Hands Advanced Practitioner, and have found that I have replaced my former Hand/wrist RSI problems with a knee problem! My knees were fine until I had a full weekend doing back to back treatments and I have suffered ever since. I am considering dropping massage altogether now as problems seem to move to coincide with whatever I am doing lots of.
And I spent £2000 learning it!

 

[haris_el]

Sarah - Just peeked at your site - we've both been on the same set of courses! I can appreciate what you say about NHM and knee problems, I actually use a few pillows when I do the kneeling work. I think you were on my Practitioner and Advanced.. (brain cells cloudy), but not the Chair / Reflex. They looked at using little stools for many of the moves so that your knees can have a rest. It's a nice way of using the techniques without having to kneel down. I found that some of the moves were much easier for me that way (I have grotty knees).

Btw I love the gallery - you're the first person I've seen who does makeup who has included a portfolio, brilliant idea!

 

[damnyankeega]

Thanks Justine,

My Practitioner was in 2005 at Camden and the Advanced I took last September in Heathrow. There are so many of us there now, split into groups that it's very hard to remember everyone - but i would probably know you ifI saw you!

Stools are an interesting idea, I have a small camping one, so I think I may do some experimentation. I will also look into Lomi Lomi, my therapist had that in Australia and said that it was absolutely fantastic!

Thanks for your comments about my website gallery, I have found that it has really helped my wedding bookings this year, I have loads right up to October!

Best wishes
Sarah

 

[The Wolf of Truth]

Hi Sarah,

I'm an Advanced Practitioner of NHM - and its great to see so many of us on here now. I remember when I seemed to be the only one!!

May I ask are there any particular "strokes" that you are finding causing you a problem?

Thanks
Mat

 

[Charlotte Van der made]

Glad the stool idea interests you. It takes a lot of the strain away, believe me.

We were indeed on the same practitioner, I was with Melanie, can't remember if we were in the same group or not, but you stuck out, so possibly? Or maybe you just did some amazing work and walks?? Dont have any pics about, just average build, brown hair, normal.. hmm not very descriptive eh?

Actually, one of the girls sent us a file with all the pics of everyone on our advanced course, if you want a copy so you can see who everyone was (including details of any people you might want to keep in touch with), let me know your email and I'll forward them to you. Was a really cool idea.

I do find that I get some strain in my upper arms when I'm not falling right.. That seems to be my personal bugbear at the moment.

It's hard to explain the stool work. Basically you use the stools (have a look on the site to show you what the stools they use look like, they are custom craftworks too like their couches), then you kind of use them to secure you in place and for the strokes themselves, like the ones on the neck, you can use the stool to help you counmassageplanetalance. It's hard to describe, but if you want me to try I'll try and put it into words. Works really well for some of the foot work too, although for some strokes it's just not possible.

 

[Fireflies]

There's another chap out there who has developed and is teaching hands free massage - I attended a 2 day course with him last year. Darrian Pritchard is his name and he is the director of Dynamic Massage school in Cardiff (I think his web site is dynamicmassage). He teaches ways of saving hands for when you really need them - using various aspects of the arms instead, but incorporates your already learned techniques - so you're not into "forget all you already know and re-learn a new massage routine". We didn't do any knee irritating stuff - no kneeling certainly. Discussion among my local support group (aromatherapists) revealed more preference for Darrian's methods than Gerry's. Have a look into it anyway,