Shama Kern said
"Is there any point where you would recommend suggesting a client see a therapist that is closer to their size?"  -  I can tell you my experience from living in Thailand for two decades. The vast majority of Thai Massage therapists in Thailand are small women, some of them tiny. They often work on much larger clients - especially large Westerners. So it can be done if you make sure to use your body weight and have good body mechanics.

However you will have to skip some techniques and modify others so that you don't strain your body. There are many examples coming up in this course on how to do that. Keep in mind that the clients will never know which techniques you skipped. As long as the overall experience is good for them, they will be happy.

I will have to admit, however, that working on much heavier clients is more difficult - no question about that. But thousands of small Asian women are doing it every day, so it can be done.

I have had a couple of cases in my career where massively overweight clients came for a session, and I did not work on them a second time. There is a point where you have to take care of yourself first if you want to be able to help others.

  

Thank you, this was incredibly helpful. I have been trusting my intuition and modifying things where I can, but certain things I simply can not do with this person. This gave me the reassurance I needed to continue trusting myself.

Module 14

Hip rocking – maintaining body contact – transition

I feel like hip rocking is a great warm up and a gentle way to say hello and get a feel for any tension or restrictions that may need to be addressed. The rocking techniques have been a good indicator of whether or not a client is a “helper” or has trouble relaxing and letting go. When I encounter these people, I find that I have to take a different approach to the warmup starting with slow holds and no movement and sometimes even coaching some breath work or pulling from meditation skills.  The quad and low back stretch looks deep and powerful. So far none of my clients have had the mobility for this technique, but we are working towards it. You make the transition look so easy, and mine needs work. The balancing exercises and maintaining my yoga practice are helping. While I use my whole body for table massage, it uses different muscles. Getting used to moving around on the ground is helping my own mobility. I love that this modality is beneficial to me as well as my clients.

Module 15

I always love adding new abdomen techniques to my repertoire, it is one of my favorite areas to massage and, in my experience, one of the most important. I typically start abdominal massage with a simple hold to listen, just like you demonstrated, and always notice the breath first. I find when my clients have what I call stuck breath where either the inhale exhale or both are struggling, simply holding helps their breath unstick.

When I feel no breath/they are a shallow chest breather, I find placing one hand on the abdomen and the other on the sternum helps deepen the breath and drop it into/connect it to their center or even lower. The push and roll is a great technique for releasing tension patterns I frequently find here including, the bottom or top half of the x being taught, the left or right side, or the cross/opposing sections.

Placing the hand on the center and doing the circle is similar to something else I already do but is more efficient at finding certain tension patterns. It did not occur to me until I saw you do it, that on a mat you can position yourself over the client for abdominal massage which will eliminate awkward twisting on my body for bilateral work like the thumbs under the ribs.

It is much easier to do the rib flow back and forth, and elephant walking on a mat than it is on a table. Being able to be over my client instead of next to them has allowed me to do more techniques without stressing my own body. My abdominal massage is more effective due to better positioning. Thank you.

I have watched many more modules than this. I am not caught up with posting in the forum. Thank you for your patience and for allowing us to go at our own pace.