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I love explaining this one to people. It’s as usual, “non-commonsensical” as I have so many times begun describing a technique.

But again, if it were common sense, I wouldn’t need to show it to you, as by now you have some serious talents going.

Everyone, including professionals, massage the neck poorly in the seated position. This entry is one of the hardest one to explain, and It’ll take a while before I demonstrate the technique. Be patient.

First off, try this on yourself, and you will know what Im talking about:

By now, I should have won you over on doing the excercise that follows.

The reason that the muscles in the back of your neck and your Trapezius are tight is as follows: Those muscles never get to rest during the day, as they are always holding up the weight of your head.

To understand better, try the following: (you might have to read it twice)

1:  Reach your left arm across your chest, and grab on to your right Trapezius. Not unlike rubbing it on your own. Feel how tight it is.

2: Place your right forearm on the desk in front of you, so that the weight of your arm is supported by the table and your shoulder socket.

3: Keeping the muscles in your right arm relaxed, use your left hand to squeeze the relaxed Bicep of your right arm.

4: Notice the difference in tightness between your Bicep and your Trapezius. If you were relaxed, your Bicep, though much larger, will be softer.

Why is your bicep softer than your Trapezius?

The reason is pretty simple. Your Biceps get to rest most of the day, while your Trapezius is helping balance and carry the 8 pounds of head you have on top. And it only gets to rest when you sleep.

Now, try this next thing, and then you will understand why to not massage a tense muscle:

1: Flex your bicep, as much as possible. It should become very hard.(your right arm)

2: Now, massage your Bicep with your other hand.(your left hand)

3: Take note of how poorly you can relax a muscle that is flexed. There should be no therapeautic effect whatsoever from this.

Enough of this - lets learn how to massage someones neck.

So, here we go. This is what it should look like: The recipient sits straight, with the base of their neck directly above the base of their spine(previously, I havn’t cared if they had a slight slouch in their posture, but it matters for this one). After that, they let their head “fall” forward towards, as if they were asleep.

Technically now, the muscles in the back of their neck are relaxed, but they are in a lengthened position, which makes it hard to massage them. So, put the length of your left index finger against their forehead, and lift slightly. Now, their muscle should be relaxed, and you can massage their now relaxed muscles, in a way you have never been able to before.

Insert video.

Were not done quite yet. I could expound here about how you can massage with your thumb on one side of the spine, and your four fingers on the opposite, or how you could massage on only one side of the spine by “pinching” the muscle, and other variations.

But I won’t. By now, you can come up with variations on your own.

There is one more thing to negotiate, however.

So, we aren’t done yet. This requires a little more skill and understanding of human psychology. Confused about that statement? That just means you are still paying attention.

When touching someones neck, you have to be understanding of that it is a very personal place for pretty much everyone, and while the recipient can be relaxed about everything else, they might tighten up when you massage that spot. Professionally, I have gotten someone into a relaxed state after 50 minutes of massage, and they would still tense up when I try to move their heads around a little.

Start watch this video clip, and You will be good to go.

Insert video.

Preparing to do this to someone is fun, as most [non-yoga students] out there have a hard time letting go and relaxing.

Previous lesson: Leveraging your body. Next lesson: Aligning the body of the recipient.

Introduction to the TV massage series:

Technique # 1: Using your Thumbs and four fingers as a unit.
Technique # 2: Heel of hands and four fingers as a unit.
Technique # 3: Four fingers pushing downward.
Technique # 4: Using your knuckles.
Technique # 5: Using bony parts of your hand.

Introduction to the intermediate techniques.

Technique # 6: One hand on front of body.
Technique # 7: The thumbs-stretch technique.
Technique # 8: Leveraging your body.
Technique # 9: Both hands on one side of body.
Technique # 10: The cocktail party trick.

Introduction to the advanced techniques.

Technique # 11: Leveraging your body.
Technique # 12: Massaging the neck. Mmmm…
Technique # 13: Aligning the body of the recipient.
Technique # 14: The Navarronian death grip.
Technique # 15: Scalp Massage.