Authors: Lucinda Lidell. Carola Beresford Cooke. Anthony Porter.
Paperback, 192 pages
Publisher: Fireside
Publication Date: 2001-01-02
Edition: 2

Reviews :

    Experience the Healing Power of Massage

With more than 650,000 copies sold, The Book of Massage is the classic guide to the relaxing and healing skills of the hands. Featuring both Eastern and Western methods, it presents step-by-step, beautifully illustrated instructions on everything from traditional massage to shiatsu and reflexology. The Book of Massage offers easy-to-follow techniques for giving the perfect massage, including advice on creating the right setting and suggestions for using aromatic oils and lotions. In the comfort of your own home, you can

• Soothe away stress and tension

• Develop your body's unique healing powers

• Banish headaches and back pain

• Share the language of touch

• Experience optimum health and vitality

Now revised and updated with fresh color photos and drawings throughout, The Book of Massage is a simple and comprehensive handbook that reveals how you can experience the myriad benefits of giving and receiving a soothing massage....

    With more than 650,000 copies sold, massage therapist Lucinda Lidell's Book of Massage has been updated with new photos and instructional drawings. Not for the prudish, as the subjects in most of the photos are completely in the buff, the book presents an intense, information-packed, step-by-step guide to traditional massage, shiatsu, and reflexology.

No matter which method you choose to focus on (you're advised to choose one at a time), Lidell is thorough in her explanations of the strokes and techniques necessary to give relaxing, therapeutic massage in the privacy of your own home. Detailed drawings, diagrams, and photographs help to further demonstrate how to address each individual body part.

Divided into distinct chapters for each of the three methods, The Book of Massage also includes several sections that Lidell stresses are fundamental to all types of massage. The first is "Beginning," with information such as creating the right atmosphere (a warm room and soft lighting), applying oil, and finding a comfortable position. Additionally, Lidell suggests that everyone should review sections on the human touch and anatomy, both of which oddly come at the end of the book.

As thorough as The Book of Massage may be, do not expect to walk away from it an expert. As with any skill worth learning, giving good massage takes time, study, and practice, practice, practice. --Bree Altman ...

Authors: Art Riggs.
Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Publication Date: 2007-06-05
Edition: 1 Revised

Reviews :

    Featuring more than 250 photographs and 50 anatomical drawings, Deep Tissue Massage is the standard guide to the essentials of touch, biomechanics, and positioning options for a multitude of strategies to treat all major conditions encountered in a bodywork practice.

The book is divided into three sections. “Fundamentals” covers basic skills of palpation, explaining the deeper layers of the body and presenting detailed instruction on working with these layers to release tension. This section gives clear information on the proper use of knuckles, fist, forearms, and elbows in preventing injury to the therapist. “Strategies” offers more precise protocols and treatment plans for the entire body with emphasis on client positioning options to stretch muscles rather than just kneading tissues. “Caveats” details areas in which the practitioner needs to exercise caution.

Deep Tissue Massage presents a wealth of information in a way the therapist can immediately utilize. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and includes a preface to the new edition, a foreword, an index, a Suggested Reading list, and extended sections on integrating deep-tissue massage into bodywork practice and the psychology of treating injuries....

Authors: D. Gary Young.
Paperback, 27 pages
Publisher: Essential Science Publishing
Publication Date: 2003-04

Authors: Roger Jahnke.
Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: HarperOne
Publication Date: 1999-01-01


Reviews :

    Release your natural powers for healing, endurance, and longevity

With this revolutionary guide, you will learn four simple and remarkably effective techniques to release your natural powers for healing. The methods--gentle movement, self-applied massage, breathing exercises, and meditation--are drawn from the ancient Chinese healing system of Qigong (Chi Kung) and are easily adaptable to every lifestyle. You can practice them almost anywhere--in the car, in line at the bank, at your desk, while walking, even in bed. Using these methods for as little as ten minute a day can dramatically increase you endurance, vitality, and longevity. Self-care has never been so easy!...

    Essentially an all-in-one beginner's guide to self-healing techniques, The Healer Within examines four practices: movement, massage, meditation, and breathing. The movement section focuses on gentle motions, more like tai chi than yoga, and might be especially useful for those who suffer from back pain. The self-massage chapter involves stimulating acupressure points that traditional Asian medicine believe can help heal organs and improve bodily functions. A section on breathing (a seemingly natural process that is often retaught as part of alternative-medicine regimens) includes techniques intended to help you take in more oxygen and get rid of tension. And the meditation chapter provides an easy introduction to various meditative techniques and deep relaxation. Jahnke, an acupuncturist and doctor of Chinese medicine, makes a persuasive argument for using these mind-body healing techniques both to recover from illness and to remain healthier and happier all the time. --Ben Kallen...

Authors: Tanmaya Honervogt.
Paperback, 144 pages
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Publication Date: 1998-03-15
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    ...

Authors: Ananda Apfelbaum.
Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Avery
Publication Date: 2004-01-05


Reviews :

    A uniquely relaxing yet energizing way to achieve balance and healing.

Traditional Thai massage is a dynamic yet comparatively little-known form of bodywork that combines elements of acupressure, stretching, reflexology, the application of herbal compresses, prayer, and meditation. This therapy has benefits for anyone-young or old, active or inactive, healthy or not. Sometimes called "lazy man's yoga," it stretches the muscles, increases the joints' range of motion, and balances the flow of energy throughout the body to promote healing and well-being.

Thai Massage provides fully illustrated, step-by-step instructions that enable the reader to use this integrative and interactive therapy (with a partner) at home. It also explains the history and philosophy behind the techniques and discusses their connections with Buddhist thought and practice, yoga, Ayurveda, the body's energy lines, and acupressure. It is a complete guide to an ancient practice that benefits body, mind, and spirit....

Authors: Ann Gillanders.
Paperback, 144 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: 1996-03-01
Edition: 1st American

Reviews :

    From one of the world's foremost reflexologists--a former director of the International Institute of Reflexologists--comes the best and most complete guide ever available on this ancient Chinese healing art, featuring workouts for both feet and hands. Color illustrations throughout....

Authors: Jack Forem.
Paperback, 400 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall Press
Publication Date: 1999-04-01
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Teaching easy-to-learn, self-treatment methods, the bestselling author of "Transcendental Meditation" shows how anyone can relieve his or her own stress, tension, aches, and pains while increasing vitality and well-being with a variety of pressure point therapies....

Authors: Jeffrey Maitland.
Paperback, 164 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Publication Date: 2001-01-15
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Written by an expert on alternative bodywork, this book presents techniques for manipulating the soft tissues of the back in a safe, simple manner. The method avoids the high velocity, low amplitude thrusting techniques employed by chiropractors. Instead, it utilizes the intuitive sense of somatic bodyworkers combined with the proven theory and technique of Rolfing to provide safe and effective treatment. Maitland shows how to elegantly release joint fixations in the spine, sacrum, pelvis, and ribcage by using subtle soft tissue techniques, rather than the thrusting techniques that "pop" the joints. This gentler kind of individualized Rolfing work is thoroughly described within an explanation of biomechanics, aided by drawings and photographs which depict techniques and anatomy....

Authors: Yamuna Zake. Stephanie Golden.
Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Healing Arts Press
Publication Date: 1997-09-01


Reviews :

    A revolutionary method that teaches bodywork practitioners and their clients how to feel the inner logic of the muscular system. 

Each body has its own logic, its own language of release. This internal logic is at the heart of Body Rolling, an innovative technique that uses a ten-inch ball to stretch muscles, freeing restrictions in the body, increasing blood flow, and promoting healing. Body Rolling teaches "touch and tell" anatomy; you learn to physically find the origin of a muscle and sense what it feels like for that muscle to fully release. Experiencing first-hand the interrelationships in the muscular system comes as a revelation to most bodywork therapists. Body Rolling is an excellent treatment for a number of conditions, and it can re-teach muscles to move effortlessly and painlessly. It creates structural changes that are positive, permanent, and powerful, and that prevent new injuries from occurring. 

The author explains the underlying principles of her technique, shows how to get started, and gives instructions for basic side, front, and back routines. 

Detailed chapters focus on treating specific conditions such as lower back pain, neck problems, and the effects of aging. 

...

    Here's a workout with one big difference from all the others: it uses a ball. Among others, the kind of lightweight vinyl ball you often see stacked up in huge cages in toy stores (perhaps the cheapest piece of workout equipment ever). Zake, a yoga teacher and bodywork practitioner, began developing her techniques 20 years ago to help herself recover from a hip injury. She believes that rolling on the ball in various ways stimulates muscles at their origins, causing them to relax and elongate; at the same time, the gentle pressure increases circulation to the muscles and tendons. This in turn helps balance the body and relieve all kinds of painful conditions in the back, neck, shoulders, and legs, as well as improving the results produced by any other bodywork techniques. Body Rolling is structured for bodywork practitioners to use with their clients, and the anatomical language is somewhat technical. Still, the exercises are well illustrated, and there's no reason readers with a certain amount of fitness knowledge can't do these routines themselves. If you really get into it, you can order more flexible, reinflatable balls from Zake's company....