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Not for the feint of heart, there are a lot of [painful] things you can do to a muscle that is good for it, but include hurt that most people are not willing to subscribe to. *Rolfing versus Swedish massage is a good example.

Yes, this technique hurts, but is a great way to open up the trapezius muscle.

Remember the rope metafor? It’s like that, but better.

If “better” means “more pain”, that is. Writing other techniques, I have likened the trapezius to a rope, with muscle fibers being the same as those of a rope. There are many techniques, such as *(INSERT TV TECHNIQUE HERE), and the*rubbing money technique, where I make reference to undoing adhesions in our muscles.

This is one of them, and a fun one at that. Did I mention it hurts a little?

Now, what were the previous advanced techniques again?

Interactive for the recipient!

Without further ado, start off like in technique # 9, massaging with both hands on the same side of the body. By now, I really don’t need to explain anything all that too much.

This is how this technique works:

1: With your thumbs joined, and your index fingers joined, squeeze the trapezius VERY hard(as hard as you can, for most people)

2: The RECIPIENT should now AS SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE raise their shoulder towards their ear, tilting their hear a little towards the side being worked on towards the end of that motion.

3: Again, AS SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE, the recipient should lower their shoulder back down to the neutral position.

INSERT VIDEO

OK. What does that do?

Grossly oversimplified, the different fibers attatch on different spots. When the length of the muscle is changed(by the recipients *contraction), but you are firmly securing the part of the muscle you are squeezing, The fibers are torn apart from each other in a crazy fashion. Which is good.

Quick note on technique: It’s the meaty part of your fingers and thumbs that should be in contact with the recipient, not your fingernails. Using the pointy part of your fingers would result in your fingernails cutting into their skin.

So, it hurts a lot. Certainly there are things to consider…

So, the first time you do this, only do it once on each side. As you get used to it, you can do it several times, always gripping a slightly different spot on the muscle. If you didn’t read it already, the *Rolfing versus Swedish massage is a great article to put this into context.

Previous lesson: Aligning the body of the recipient. Next lesson: Scalp massage.

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.