Massage
Elizabeth and myself had different rhythms. I had a frantic desire to create and collaborate while had a really nice chill vibe. How could we mix these two energies? I thought perhaps massage could do that. By massaging Elizabeth, she could be transported into relaxation and I could work on developing my own style. Below is a rough draft which I had been refining over the 1 year of our journey.
Below is what I did when massaging the upper trapezius muscle. My goal was to eventually expand to all muscle groups.
Ambiance
Candles, incense
breathing
Sit facing each other being tender and caring
Music/Sounds
Stretching
Real trapezius soreness is probably caused by something throughout the day, so addressing that is the best strategy. For me, much of it was coming from working out and a unique characteristic of my body is that it is very stiff in the back and legs.
The stretching is a preventative measure.
I had trapezius spasms and nothing helped including going to the physical therapist.
The breakthrough happened when I started to stretch and I realized that my tight legs which caused my tight back and my tight pecs all were leading to the trapezius spasms.
I used to hate stretching and I felt like I was wasting time. But eventually it became a way for me to do mindfulness meditation. It allowed for me to make a 1on1 relationship with my muscles and concentrate on breathing and sensation. It took me a year to be able to do these things.
Take deep breaths and with each cycle of inhaling and exhaling, inch a bit deeper into the stretch. If it hurts stop, if your muscles feel like spasming, then stop.
Do stretches of the back and hamstrings,
Slowly inch more, taking a breath with each deeper stretch
Tuck chin in
Make a fundamental connection between body and mind
Body Warming
Put on heating pad and put river rock on top
This was a river rock that we collected together
Scratch hair/head
Push down and encourage breathing
Warm hands
Skin Worship
Use paint roller (connects to our home depot first date)
Gentle drag fingers across skin
Gently drag nails across the skin (scratching)
Use the acupressure roller that I bought in India (connects to my heritage)
Tenderizing with the Massage Multitool
The story of the Massage Multitool represents our journey, it was brainstormed on our first date and I made it from a dogwood branch that Elizabeth cut in her yard.
Myofascial Stretching
Start with some myofacial stretching, hold for up to a minute [3]
Pinch wiggle is good
Pinching the traps on the neck is good too
Stretch pecs on the bed
Deadbody trap relaxation
Elizabeth pretends to be a deadbody, focusing her mind on completely de-tensing her muscles as I jiggle and rotate her arms to ensure she has done that.
Mix and apply oil
Put oil into the vessel of the Massage Multitool and put in drops of pomegranate oil.
The pomegranate oil connects to our previous ceremonies
Cover all skin
Trapezius Massage
- On stomach
Start lightly
Follow muscle and gently rub and then get harder
Soft knuckles method of rotating fists down the neck
Synchronized both hands [4]
Flat palms starting together near the neck and sweeping down and then have a continuous motion back to the neck. [4]
Go low and forearms and then glide with elbows behind shoulder blades [4].
Hold the muscle to release trigger points [3]
Typically you first find the hard spots, the trigger points, and keep holding them until the mild discomfort disappears.
After compression you can do linear fiber movements (parallel to the muscle) in addition the perpendicular compression to the muscle [3]
As muscles warm up, try to uncurl the muscle [3]
Go up the neck, pick up the muscle [3]
Go down the spinal cord, each vertebra [3]
Do both hands up and down and push on body
Gently pull hair for myofascial stretch [2]
Go around the shoulder blade
- On Side
Put your hand under her arm and massage the shoulder blade and traps into neck. Also pull for myofacial stretch [2]
Pull arms back and do that stretch
Unload traps on the side and massage
Flip onto back and massage…try pulling on head .
- On Back
Hold and pull head
Gently rock it
Hold head and move it away from trapezius and then massage starting from shoulder blades and run up the neck [2]
Grab full muscle
Move head towards trapezius and lift it up from the front and push underneath to reach the trigger points for the Levator Scapulae [1].
Climb up her neck making small circles
Push into each bone in her spine, rocking the head into the fingers
There are many small muscles around the neck [2]
Rock head by massaging the suboccipitals [2]
Pull hair for myofacial stretch
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfza80Fn9u8
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX18BCxtjZQ