Learning to Rub People The Right Way on Long Island Hi again! So you still think you wanna be a Massage Therapist. Good for you! What do you think you'd like to specialize in? Sports Massage? Geriatric Massage? Infant Massage? Medical Massage? Therapeutic Massage? Amma? European/Swedish? Tragger? Trigger Point? The list goes on and on. Sound confusing? It's not. There are two very basic types: Swedish (more recently called European), and Oriental. The Oriental types are based on the Acupuncture energy meridians and points, and Swedish is based on the body's muscles, nerves and other physical aspects of the body. Both Swedish and Oriental cross over a bit in what they do, they just approach things from different perspectives. For example, Swedish will also affect the energies of the body, and Oriental treatments will affect the physical-ness of the body. They both affect the mental and emotional aspects of the person. Getting back to my point...most European techniques are spin-offs of the Swedish massage, simply, variations of the basic strokes. The Sports, Medical, Infant, and countless other variations use the 5 basic strokes and apply them in different ways. It's pretty much the same for Oriental types of treatments. Shiatsu uses various kinds of pressure on the acupuncture meridians and points using fingers, elbows, etc. Amma therapy uses circular digital (finger) pressure as well as pressure on the points. Now, since I can indulge myself and give my opinion, I happen to think that Geriatric Massage...I believe I'll refer to that as "Senior" Massage is a very important field. There are so many older people living alone and in senior facilities and communities that really don't get touches or hugs! We all know by now about the research that was done with premature infants and touching. The ones that were handled, held, & massaged thrived, those that were taken care of but had minimal touch experience did not do well. That holds true for older people (and people in general of all ages) as well. Many families are scattered across the country and many seniors are left without much family to have contact with. This is where massage comes in handy. Through massage, the gift of touch is given, and lives can be altered by the hands of a massage therapist. If anyone has any questions, I'd be more than happy to try to answer them. I'd like to create a bulletin board, and be as helpful as I can. Next article will be on setting up a massage room, and why we do the things we do. Like...why do we play music? There are a lot of people out there, that do not know. They think it's just "fluff"...guess again people! Stay tuned! Love & Light, Deirdre