Seated Massage
What is seated massage? It is the process of performing a massage while seated. Simple right? What are the benefits of seated massage therapy? It allows for precise, calculated, and practical techniques often unachievable when performing a massage upright. It conserves energy, reduces wear on the body, and encourages a heightened degree of control awareness throughout a massage.
Seated Massage Conserves Energy
A seated massage allows a therapist to sit comfortably throughout a session. This reduces the energy required for proper body mechanics, improves flow, and transforms how techniques are performed and experienced.
Reduces Wear and Tear
Standing massage uses more energy than sitting massage. We have to constantly invest energy into our legs, back, and head to ensure we are standing correctly to avoid injury. As we become tired, our awareness of our body mechanics begins to wane, which leads to more fatigue and increases the likelihood of injury. Seated massage removes the focus on the legs, placing your awareness on how you are performing each technique. This hyper awareness helps reduce injury by helping you avoid entering a fatigue state.
Increases Focus
Rather than focusing inwardly on our stance and endurance, it redistributes our energy and intent to how we are performing each technique. Seated massage achieves this by reducing our discomfort and fatigue. The more we focus on ourselves, the less we can focus on our clients.
Stigma of Seated Massage
Seated massage has a degree of stigma. Many believe it is lazy, disrespectful, and unprofessional. Throughout my career, peers have ridiculed me for performing all of my massages while seated. Many believe there is only one way to practice massage correctly, and those who deviate are wrong. Why do I perform my massages seated?
When I was going through massage school, I was dying of cancer. My right lung was partially collapsed, filled with blood, and being consumed by a softball-sized tumor. I could barely breathe, moving around erased most of my energy, and I was in constant pain.
Every time I stood to perform a massage, I would get soaked with sweat, I would wheeze with every breath, and at the end, I felt utterly exhausted. Even then, though performing a massage was excruciating, I knew that massage was my purpose. My suffering was immense, but nothing could steal away my dreams.
I asked my instructor if I could sit throughout my session, and he firmly said no. He looked at me like I was lazy and said it was illegal, that if he permitted me to sit, he would get into trouble with the authorities. I am uncertain which authorities he was talking about, but like any good student, I acquiesced.
Each massage ate at my insides, and my body thundered with agony. The more tired I became, the harder it was to breathe. I would gasp for air and cough into my arm. With each cough, my mouth filled with blood, and I would swallow it in gulps. The crimson blood stirred within my stomach, and it made me ill, but my will forced me forward to focus.
Although my instructor told me it was against the law to sit during the massage, I knew it wasn’t true, and in my professional career, I perform 99% of my sessions sitting. I have had my right lung removed and endured chemotherapy. I sit during a massage, because it is what I must do, but as a result, it has shown me it can be a value to others who do not have the same restrictions as I.
Performing Seated Massage
- Use a comfortable massage stool: The stool you use must be comfortable and adjustable. Make sure the wheels are quiet and can be easily lifted.
- Make sure you can position your legs under the massage table: An electric table is great, but unnecessary; going cheap with a portable table is unwise. Portable tables have ropes underneath that prevent you from sliding under them comfortably. They also have hard knobs on one side. Custom Craftworks builds a wonderful table for seated massage called the Taj Mahal. Its support beams allow you to scoot under it without hitting your knees.
- Wear a scrub top with front pockets: The holster on your hip may not work as effectively when performing a seated massage. I find they twist and turn and sometimes stick me in the stomach. A quality scrub top with a pocket in the front will comfortably hold your massage oils.
- Keep your shoes tied, or wear slip-ons: Make sure your shoes are tied so they can’t get caught up in the wheels. The last thing you want is to have your shoelaces caught in a wheel. It will pull your attention away from your client as you obsess over getting free.
- Use a cart: A cart will provide you with a place to put all of the tools you intend to use throughout your session.
- Make sure you have enough room: You should be able to wheel around the table comfortably without bumping into stuff.