DANCING HANDS ABDOMINAL MASSAGE

Abdominal Massage

What happened with abdominal massage in Thailand?

Abdominal massage is an area that is often neglected in general massage therapy. Here are some personal observations of mine:

I have been living in Thailand for over a decade, and massage is very popular in this country. After all, it has its own nationally sponsored and protected system of massage, called “Thai Massage.” I have received countless massages here, but in almost every single case the therapist never even touched my abdomen.

When I originally studied Thai Massage back in the 1990s, we were taught a few abdominal techniques, but they were distinctly unpleasant and mostly quite painful, consisting of strong and sustained linear pressure with thumbs and hands. As a result practically no therapist in Thailand is using them.

Thai Massage has lots of great techniques, but abdominal massage is certainly not one of them. However Thailand is the home of Mantak Chia who has popularized his “Chi Nei Tsang” style of abdominal therapy way beyond Thailand’s borders. As a matter of fact, it is hardly practiced in Thailand at all with the exception of Mantak Chia’s own Tao Garden institute, a handful of students of his, and some high end spas.  However Chi Nei Tsang has become much more well known in the western world.

What happened with abdominal massage in the western world?

Abdominal MassageThe “step child” status of abdominal massage is not only a phenomenon in Thailand. Recently I went on a trip to the United States to visit friends in Austin who suggested I get a free practice massage from a recent massage school graduate.

The massage was fine, but strangely the therapist never touched my abdomen or chest at all. After the sessionI asked her why she had skipped my belly and chest. She explained that this had not been part of her massage training. How strange – why would you skip a major part of the body completely!

 

Interesting facts about abdominal massage:

  • The abdomen is the physical center of the body
  • The abdomen is the energetic center of the body, the seat of the “hara”
  • The abdominal cavity contains the largest concentration of organs in the body
  • The abdomen (hara) is the starting point of the energy lines in traditional Eastern medicine
  • By working on the abdomen you affect the entire body
  • Abdominal work has a direct effect on over half a dozen organs
  • Many people store negative emotions in the belly area which can be released through abdominal massage
  • Abdominal massage can have major beneficial effects on your health

Both Chi Nei Tsang and Shiatsu offer extensive education about abdominal massage. Both of these systems involve a lot of highly detailed and specific training about eastern medical models like Chinese and Japanese medical theory. Learning them involves a significant investment of time and money. (I know that since I have studied both.) This is mostly beneficial for therapists who want to specialize in those modalities.

“Dancing Hands” Abdominal Massage fills the need for a system that

  • can be learned and applied quickly
  • can be easily combined with other massage modalities
  • can be learned without significant financial investment
  • gives therapists a practical method to work on the abdomen without needing to study a lot of medical theory
  • can be done even if the client is fully dressed like in Thai Massage

Abdominal MassageApplication and Benefits

“Dancing Hands” Abdominal massage uses lots of rocking techniques which are more gentle on the receiver than direct pressure techniques and are also easier on the thumbs and wrists of the therapist. It is a flexible system since it can be done on dressed or undressed clients, on the floor or on a massage table, with or without oil.

I originally developed this system as a complement to  Thai Massage which lacks good abdominal work, but it can be used as a stand-alone massage modality by itself as well.

I have observed many wonderful benefits of this therapy from profound emotional releases to total relief of constipation to health improvements in many areas. The gentle rocking techniques activate energy flow in the body and stimulate its own natural healing response.

It is not only pain free but highly pleasant to experience since there is no strong pressure applied. The rocking gradually opens up deeper and deeper layers of the abdomen while softening the muscles and opening the energy channels. The effect on the receiver is similar to a meditative trance experience.

How can you learn abdominal massage?

This system can be learned through one of our video training courses which offer full support by the instructor, an interactive forum, and a 30 day money back satisfaction guarantee.