Tui Na Massage Class

I'm in acupuncture school at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and part of the program is to be able to learn how to give an hour tui na massage if the patient asks for it (its like acupressure) instead of a session with needles. I had my first class on Wed and it was great! I partnered with a girl in class and we worked on eachother for 4 WHOLE HOURS doing massage techniques! By the 4th week I have to be able to give a massage for 30 minutes on a back. I've been practicing the techniques I've learned so far (only about 10-15 minutes worth) and I thought, while massaging my hubby and inlaws:) (such good sports!), that you might want to take the techniques and use them! Here are a few I've learned -

(the patient is laying belly down on a flat surface)

1. pushing - this is simply taking your hand palm down on the patients back and "pushing" downward towards the feet. this is more superficial but feels really good! You can do this one three times if you'd like.

2. rolling - I'll do my best to explain. Your hand is in a position like you are holding a pen and writing (but without a pen). You take the hand (pen writing position) and place it on the back of the patient, and roll from the palm to the back of the hand all the way down the back towards the leg. (this feels really nice too but can be hard work!)

3. hammering - place hands in a very loose fist position and let your hand fall on the patients back using arm muscles, not your hand muscles (hand muscles will hurt the patient!)

4. round rubbing - this one is great. place the part of the hand where the ulna meets the carpals, aka the part where the part of the hand that is opposite of the thumb on palm, on patients body and rub in circles towards the feet, like kneeding dough kinda!

5. grasping - begin on the back and grasp (as if you were mixing ground turkey meat) the skin and muscles (careful not to pinch) and pull up. Start from the back and move down to the feet (one side of the body at a time).

Hope you have a great weekend!