Massage Classes

If you are searching for massage classes in O’Fallon, schedule a session at Jennifer Brand Spa. Our instructor, Shawn White genuinely cares, is an expert in his field, and loves teaching. If you are ready to take the next step schedule a massage class today or continue reading to learn more.

Foundational Massage Classes

Foundational massage classes are designed to provide a fun, engaging and personalized approach to learning massage. It is a series of classes focused on teaching people how to massage the specific areas of the body they want to learn. Every class is unique and is customized to meet the wants and needs of the students. The techniques I teach are determined by each student’s massage knowledge and ability.

This class can be taken by individuals who want to learn more about how to perform massage. This may include couples who want to massage each other at home, individuals who want to see if they want to go to massage school, students enrolled in massage school, and massage therapists seeking mentorship.

Foundation Massage Skills

These foundational massage skills are not classes, they are a general set of skills taught in Foundational massage classes. One class may focus on several skills in a single session, but no skill can be mastered in only one class. Massage requires practice, mentorship and a love for helping people feel heavenly. If you are interested learning more about massage read over the skills taught in these massage classes, or schedule a massage class today!

• Enjoying the act and exploration of giving
• Learning relevant and personalized techniques
• Indulging the exploration of body awareness
• Applying the basics of body mechanics
• Understanding the essential elements of transformative touch

Enjoying the Act and Exploration of Giving

Massage is the physical manifestation of your caring heart. Every movement of your hand should be imbued with clear, clean and ethical intent. This means you are offering peace and pleasure without ulterior motive or an expectation of reciprocity. Your heart must be in a good place to provide a good space. You must have the drive to provide, to give for the sake of giving goodness, and a love for life that inspires others to celebrate every second.

If you find it challenging to tap into theses delightfully divine places inside your heart, I want you to know there is a sweetness within your soul, even if all you can taste are the flavors that are sour and tart. If you take a moment you can feel the flow of your magnificent nimbus glow. This is your altruistic, benevolent need to help others set themselves free and live with glee. You can channel this energy from your heart to your hands. You can harness your clear, clean and ethical intent through your fingertips and love every minute of it.

If this is your first time offering such powerful intent, I strongly suggest giving it to someone you genuinely care about the first time you embark on this kind of massage exercise. It will acquaint you with the pure, good and wholesome pleasure we are meant to experience when offering this kind of touch. It will create a primer for you to compare against when massaging someone you would consider a stranger. In all likelihood you have already offered this kind of touch to someone you love and care about. If you have a child, I am certain you have attempted to console and comfort them with your love and gentle touch. If you have witnessed your spouse or lover suffer, you may have massaged them to ease away their weariness.

As you prepare to place your hands on someone with the intent to massage, take a moment to reflect on the seconds when you wanted to provide peace to someone who was in a state of woe. Tap into that memory, feel the good intentions and offer it through your touch.

Having your head and heart in a healthy state is an essential aspect of every massage. If we are hurting, our ability to help others will be limited. When my body hurts, it can be challenging to let go of the pain so I may solely focus on the person I’m trying to help. When my father died I tried to perform a massage the day after he passed away. It was one of the worst massages I have ever performed and the review after the session reflected it. Unbeknownst to the person I was massaging, tears streamed from my eyes as they laid face down on the table. I should have canceled the massage, so I could heal and replenish after my heartbreak. If you are hurting beyond normal aches and pains, give yourself a day, maybe two to rest and rejuvenate, so you may be of sound mind and body to offer healthy healing touch.

Giving a massage should be a joyful and rewarding experience for the giver, especially as you are learning. The learning adventure should be a fun and fascinating journey that inspires you to continue your quest for knowledge. If the lesson is boring, if it hurts your hands, or feels like a waste of time, you will dread doing it again.

There is a pleasure to the act of giving to another. There is a certain kind of joy we experience when we help others feel heavenly. Giving can replenish our drive to enjoy life, it can remind us how to exist in the second, and witness the infinitely magnificent details of existence.

As you learn how to massage, have fun, allow yourself to laugh, smile and have a good time.

Learning Relevant and Personalized Techniques

A one-size fits all approach does not work for adult learners. Any information we seek to acquire must be immediately relevant if we want to retain it. In massage this means you must learn techniques you can immediately apply.

At this stage you will learn techniques appropriate to you, so you may apply them in meaningful ways. This will inspire you to practice and develop them, because they are relevant and important to you. In practice you will search for ways to improve the quality of your touch, and as your skill develops a door will be opened for you to want to learn more. This doorway will inspire your thirst for knowledge. You will strive for excellence, seek to elevate your understanding, and develop a drive to help others live their best life. This drive will be fueled with passion, a sweet love for life, and a profound interest in the intricacies of existence. To help you achieve this I offer mentorship, cultivation and wise guidance.

As your instructor in this early stage of learning, I will keep the content relevant to you. I will teach the techniques that you will want to introduce into your massages, and practice. I will do this to keep you engaged, motivated and interested in learning more about massage.

Indulging the Exploration of Body Awareness

Two key components of massage is our sense of touch and our ability to analyze what we feel. When these two components are used in tandem it expands our ambient and active awareness. If we seek to one day provide a transformative massage experience we must possess the ability to dive deeply into each sensation and articulate what and how we feel. When we develop this skill it enhances our ability to empathize, communicate, and adapt to the needs of others in the second. As our expertise begins to develop we may even anticipate and adapt to their needs intuitively and preemptively.

While under my guidance I will encourage you to feel every sensation as your are massaged and as you massage. You will seek to explore the near infinite level of detail found within the soft tissues of the body. In many ways a new world of wonder will be revealed to you as you explore the magnificence of the human form.

Applying the Basics of Body Mechanics

The core rule of every technique you are taught is “if it hurts, don’t do it.” The reason is because “if you do it twice, you will do it a thousand times. As a result you will injure yourself, and your massage career will be over.” Whether you are seeking to be a massage therapist, or want to develop your massage skills for home use, you must use good body mechanics. If it hurts to perform a massage, you won’t want to give massages. Even if you still want to give a massage, if you are hurting it will inhibit your ability to help others.

Do not sacrifice the health of your body to help someone in the second, because it will one day prevent you from helping others in the future.

Body awareness is an essential component of safe and effective body mechanics. You must remain aware of every sensation you feel as your provide a massage. Failure to maintain this awareness will lead you toward injury. You cannot help others the way you want to, if you are injured.

When I teach massage I watch every movement you make. I am searching for ways you might hurt yourself or could be feeling pain. Periodically I will ask if you are experiencing pain or discomfort as you perform a technique or apply pressure. I do this because I want you to remain aware of the sensations you feel throughout your body, so you may adjust accordingly. It is very important that you feel good throughout the massage. If anything is uncomfortable to perform I will find an alternative way for you to do it. I may even abandon the technique entirely if I decide it is not going to be safe for you to use.

I will show you how to perform a massage while seated and standing and I will search for ways to accommodate your unique needs. When I went to massage school I was prohibited from sitting when I performed massage. I needed to sit because I had cancer, my lung was filled with blood and I could barely breathe. I know what it is like to have an instructor who lacks empathy and compassion, so when you are under my leadership, you will feel safe, seen and heard. I want every second of all your massage classes to be a dear and treasured experience. This means every body mechanic you learn will be personalized specifically to you, and I will take every step I can to ensure you are using the best body mechanics for your body.

Understanding the Essential Elements of a Transformative Massage

The ultimate goal of performing a massage is to provide peace and ease to someone who is in need. Often times we can guide people to a place of serenity with simple touch, good intent, and a nurturing heart. For those who want to provide a massage that transforms how someone experiences and perceives their life, they to need develop specific skills that allow them to offer a transformative massage experience. To accomplish this you need to develop specific skills that take your massage to the next level and beyond.

In these foundational massage classes we will touch on some of the core concepts associated with these essential skills. This will entail,

• learning what complete touch is and how to apply it.
• learning what a complete movement is and how to integrate it into your massage techniques.
• being introduced to the concept of existing in the moment.
• being introduced to the concept of offering someone your absolute undivided attention, so they feel like they are the center of the universe.
• learning what transitions are, and an introduction on how to plan for their integration and application.
• learning what micro-formulas are and how to make them.
• being introduced to the concept of massage strategies.
• learning how to adapt to the needs of the client in the moment.
• being introduced pressure levels, and the importance of providing people their perfect pressure (aka the Goldilocks of pressure).