When giving a massage, keep relaxed. Let your body weight, not your muscles, provide the pressure. Repeat each stroke several times, especially where you sense tension. If you use oil, warm it first in your hands.
Have the subject lie faceup on a firm, padded surface, such as the floor or a table. First stroke the person’s face gently with your fingertips, moving from the center outward and ending with a circular motion at the temples. Massage along the cheeks and jawbones. Use a firm press-release action along the upper ridge of the eye sockets. With your fingertips, massage the scalp hard enough to move the skin.
Then cradle the subject’s head as you work on the neck muscles with your fingers. Give special attention to the big bulges at the base of the skull.
Caution: Avoid rigorously massaging the front of the neck.
Gently lay the head down and, with a hand on each shoulder, push downward toward the feet. Knead the muscles along the tops of the shoulders.
Place your hands palms down, with heels resting just below the collarbone, thumbs touching. Begin a gliding stroke downward, applying medium pressure to the chest and less to the stomach. Then pull firmly up one side at a time: place your hands, fingers down, on the subject’s side and pull the flesh upward, alternating hands and squeezing the flesh as you go, along the entire side. Work the top of the chest with your fingertips.
Grasp the subject’s wrist with both hands and apply a firm gliding stroke toward the armpit; continue your top hand over the shoulder. With both hands, pull firmly back down the sides of the arm and over the fingers. Then, drain the subject’s forearm: with the subject’s elbow bent and resting on the surface, encircle the wrist with your hands and slide them downward. Return, applying no pressure. From the same bent-elbow position, massage the inside of the arm with your thumbs. Place the subject’s hand on your shoulder and apply the same techniques to the upper arm. Finally, wring the arm: grasp it in both hands and rotate your hands vigorously back and forth along the entire length.
Knead the palm of the hand with your knuckles. Work the back, then the front, of the hand with your thumbs. Gently twist each finger, bending it backward and forward as you knead it from the base to the tip.
Use the same gliding stroke for the legs. Pull the inside of the thigh; drain the back of the leg. Then, with your hands supporting the knee, trace the furrow around the kneecap with your thumbs. Drum lightly on the cap with your fingertips; then work circles on either side of the bone. Wring the legs, as you did the arms, and work the feet as you did the hands, applying extra pressure to the heels.
Have the subject turn over onto his stomach, with his head to one side. Knead the buttocks; then twist the knuckles of your index fingers into the hollows on either side. Vibrate the entire area with the heel of your hand.
Use a long, gliding stroke down the back, then work your thumbs up the furrows on either side of the spine. On the return, dig the tips of your index and middle fingers deeply into these furrows. Pull the sides of the torso. Knead the upper back muscles; then rub your palms rapidly over the back.
Finish by raking the body with your fingertips; drum the muscles with the outer edges of your hands. Twist and stretch each limb to its limit, but be careful to test the limit so that you don’t go too far. Feather the body with light fingertip strokes.
Caution: Never apply too much pressure to the lower back, and never apply direct pressure to the spine.