The short answer is, they are going to love it, and you are also going to love it!
I teach a lot of therapists Ayurvedic Yoga Massage, and usually they know they are going to love receiving back and shoulders massage, but they are stunned at how much they love giving AYM, and particularly two areas: the abdomen, and massaging with feet. Even though they want to become massage therapists, often people are a bit intimidated or apprehensive, or even haven’t thought about these areas.
So what is so amazing about massaging people with your feet? For one thing, it’s super easy. In Ayurvedic Yoga Massage we always use our weight rather than our strength to provide a nice pressure for the client, even when we massage with our hands. But frankly, with the legs it’s easier. So you are having a breeze massaging, and the person you are massaging cannot believe how amazing it feels.
It takes people different amounts of time to feel confident and get into massaging with their feet, but it’s usually something between 2 seconds and 5 minutes!
OK, so it’s great for the therapist, but why it is amazing for the client? And why is it amazing for non professional massage therapists to massage people with their feet?
Well, people who receive massage like more pressure than you’d think (another surprise for my massage therapist students!), as a medium pressure (and than is heavier than what most people think) is most relaxing. I think that is because with a light pressure you are essentially massaging the skin, and maybe the top layers of muscle. With a heavier pressure on a large area (think foot!), you massage the top as well as the deep layers of muscle tissue, fascia and other connective tissues. So it just feels that much more relaxing. If you are just massaging your mum/partner/best friend, often you don’t want to be massaging them for 1-2 hours (if you do, then come to more workshops!). Massaging with your feet means that you’ll cover a larger area of the body very quickly, and even just with 5-10 minutes of massage they are going to feel like they have new legs, or like they’ve had an amazing massage covering the whole upper body. With a 15-20 minute massage their whole body will feel happy and tingling with amazing sensations.
So that’s why you need to be massaging people with your feet!
You can join Despina on May 6th for her daylong ‘massage with the feet’ workshop at triyoga chelsea. Click here for more information and reserve your spot!
