I rarely do this to myself but I just finished working 11 days straight and my tight neck deserves a good massage. I go to this Chinese foot massage place for a quick fix. They say foot massage but they also do acupressure and massage the neck and entire back over the clothes.
This week I’ll show you the neck massage that I love being done by my favorite guy there. And I tend to do what I love being done to my clients as appropriate and they love these too.
Knead the neck with both hands. It’s like pressing the neck muscles against the spine in a wave-like motion. Kneading with one hand is nice but for some reason, I love it with both hands. I think he overlaps his thumbs because my neck is much smaller than his big hands. This is also an easy way to increase pressure which I like and appreciate. Use the body to assist the hand motion which will save your hands.
After warming up with the kneading, he presses his thumb on the tight spots on my neck against the spine and holds it there. Use the body weight instead of just finger strength to do this but carefully because a little bit of body weight transfer can be a lot here. Never press downwards when you massage someone’s neck. It’s always sideways or upwards to be safe.
When he’s done with one side, I’m not sad because I know he will go to the other side to work on the other side my neck.
Then he hooks and pulls the occipitals which is the base of the skull with his fingers. When I do it I use three fingers together to hook and pull different parts of the occipitals. Or put a middle finger over the index finger to increase pressure. Again, use your body to pull the hooked fingers to save your fingers and hands.
Massage Monday #411 – Neck Massage that I Love Being Done http://bit.ly/mm-411