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This one isn’t complex at all. But in my interviews with couples that massaged each other regularly, most had never done this particular one. The interesting about this ‘trick’ is that it is something you might not come up with on your own.

Its obvious what it is, but what’s so good about it? 

The idea is that you will join your thumbs together, as well as your index fingers, not much different from holding a sandwich in your hands. Minus the sandwich, and adding the proximity of your fingers. You massage the recipient with your thumbs on the back of the trapezius, and the index fingers on the front.

Something like this:

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This is a common professional technique, Daniel-San. 

The joining of the thumbs is a very common professional massage technique, as it decreases the amount of applied pressure on one point, making deep tissue manipulation possible on someone who is too sensitive for massage with one thumb. I’d compare it to how those guys in India sit on nails. 100 nails is OK, since it distributes their weight. 1 nail is not. 

So, feel free to use both thumbs together in the future, when the pressure from your one thumb is too much for the recipient. Or use it when you want to massage DEEP into the muscle without hurting the recipient. Usually, you can penetrate almost twice as deep when you are doing this, which in certain instances allow you to manipulate and detoxify tissues which otherwise dont get touched enough.

Pinching and slipping off the muscle.

Another technique, not exclusive to this variant, I like to call the “pinch and slip” technique. If the Trapezius is a rope, I want you to grip it beyond its thickest point, so that you are holding on to most of it. Then, you can squeeze it hard(pinching) and slowly let your hands pull in an upward direction. If done right(video below) you will “slip” off the muscle body, and only have skin in your hands. It doesn’t hurt excessively, but its not either about feeling good. Its just another variant on to massage the body with.

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Try this right now on your forearm:(scroll down before starting so that you can read all of the text)Place your dormant hand and forearm flush on the table in front of you. Then, use your index finger and thumb of the opposite hand to grab on to the muscle on the top of the forearm, close to the elbow. Then, slowly increase your pressure by squeezing. You can rub the muscle between your thumb and index fingers like money, as I explained in a previous technique, or you could continue to [slowly] increase the pressure. Eventually, the muscle will be squeezed out of your grip, and you will ’slip’ off it, only holding skin.

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Do this tonight!

Even if you don’t have time to massage each other properly tonight, make certain to at least try this on your partner. It is an interesting thing, as it feels strange(actually, even stranger on the Trapezius than on the forearm), and it is visually appealing.

Think this is cool? Try the next and final intermediate technique. *It’s a cocktail party trick you can use forever! 

Previous lesson: Leveraging your body. Next lesson: The cocktail party trick.

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.