Self-Massage for Athletes
A Revolutionary Approach to Improved Fitness and Health
FAQ: About Yoga*Massage
What is Yoga*Massage? Yoga*Massage is the marriage of yoga and massage, actually self-massage. By introducing a simple prop used as a massage tool, yoga students will receive many of the benefits of massage while still receiving all the benefits of yoga. Yoga*Massage will bring something new and exciting to your yoga practice.
Who will practice Yoga*Massage?
People who want the benefits of both yoga and massage.
Why Combine yoga and massage?
Combining yoga and massage gives yoga practitioners a more profound physical experience and a healthier practice. The combination of benefits will significantly improve the experience. It will bring more people to yoga and give a much needed boost to the incomes of yoga teachers.
What are the benefits of Yoga*Massage?
You’ll receive all the benefits you’d normally receive from yoga plus many of the most important benefits of massage, including:
• Relief from muscle pain and soreness
• Improved health and mood
• Increased energy
• Reduced likelihood of injury
• Improved knowledge of your physical nature
• Improved athletic performance and fitness
• Faster recovery time between workouts
• Reduced muscle tension and stress
• A trigger point release to your entire back body and feet
To learn more about the benefits of self-massage, see Chapter 2 of Self-Massage for Athletes, a book that serves as a resource for Yoga*Massage practitioners.
What are the benefits of a yoga practice in Yoga*Massage?
The long term benefits are the same as those of any other hatha yoga practice: improved strength, flexibility, balance, body awareness, and breathing.
Does Yoga*Massage provide any other benefits?
In addition to the long term benefits, Yoga*Massage packs a sensational short term benefit, an immediate sense of physical well-being. This benefit is measured by how much better practitioners feel leaving the class than entering it. You’ll walk out of a Yoga*Massage session feeling as if you’ve experienced a full body massage and yoga practice. The feeling is as close to nirvana as most people get.
Is Yoga*Massage a form of therapy?
Because both yoga and massage individually are forms of therapy, Yoga*Massage is also a form of therapy.
What kind of therapy is it?
Yoga*Massage is both a preventive and a remedial therapy. All active people sustain tiny injuries, of which they are largely unaware. Because yoga and massage can both prevent those injuries from growing, they are excellent preventive therapies.
How does Yoga*Massage work as a remedial therapy?
The goal of preventive and remedial therapies is similar. Both types of therapies prevent a medical problem from growing larger, while allowing the injury to heal. Preventive medicine corrects a problem before you’re aware of it. Remedial medicine corrects a problem after you’re aware of it. As such, both yoga and self-massage help practitioners become and stay healthy.
How much class time will the massage component take?
It can take no more than ten minutes of class time. Or as much time as you want. The massage component is time well spent because it delivers benefits that would otherwise only be available through a massage therapy session.
Why is it called Yoga*Massage?
The practice is named Yoga*Massage because it combines one part traditional
yoga with two kinds of massage. The first massage component is the implicit massage that is traditionally part of yoga but is rarely noticed. For instance, in a seated pose when weight is brought to bear on your glute muscles and the muscles are moved they’re massaged. Many yoga asanas impart an implicit massage to your internal organs, especially twisting poses. The second massage component in Yoga*Massage is explicit and is delivered through the massage tool.
What does the massage tool look like?
The massage tool looks like a big blue “S,” standing for Super Yoga. It’s molded from a durable polymer composite and measures twenty inches long by ten inches wide, and weighs two pounds. At each end of the “S” is a small ball or knob which serves as a powerful massage tool used to release muscle tension. In fact, the entire prop can be used for massage. The serpentine piece between the knobs can glide over and compress muscles, to improve circulation and energy.
How does the tool work?
You can use the massage tool much as you’d use any other yoga prop to assist in asanas. The tool also gives you the power to deliver a complete back body massage in about ten minutes. Lying supine, your body will naturally relax letting you release trigger points and neuromuscular tension while restoring balance and energy. You’ll feel an intense and immediate release and will leave class feeling a sense of well-being bordering on euphoria. Students will want to attend yoga classes more often and may want to bring friends to experience the wow effect of Yoga*Massage. Teachers will find that classes grow in size and they may have to schedule more private sessions as more people are attracted to this new form of yoga.
How do you use the massage tool?
Lie on your back and allow your body to relax onto your yoga mat. Then place the knob at the end of the tool under your back body. Allow gravity to press your body onto the knob. The pressure releases muscle tension, stress, trigger points, and neuromuscular tension. Then by moving the knob along the muscles in your back body a couple of inches at a time, first on one side of your body and then on the other, you will gradually massage points along your entire back body releasing waves of tension and stress. It can be a powerful experience the first time you try it. Yoga*Massage puts the power of massage directly in your hands.
How about your feet?
You may also massage your feet using the little ball at the end of the tool. This too provokes a powerful release of energy. Yoga*Massage gives you many of the benefits of massage without the costs.
When can the massage tool be used in class?
It may be used anytime but it should be used at least twice, once to massage your lower back body and feet, and a second time right before shavasana to massage your upper back body from your head to your glutes, along your erector spinae muscles, and the muscles around your scapula.
Can the tool be used at other times during class?
Yes the massage tool can be incorporated into yoga asanas just like other yoga props at the discretion of the teacher. For instance, when balancing on one leg and extending the other leg straight-out in front of you, the tool can be used to massage the foot of the extended leg, and support it. By pressing the knob of the tool into different points on your foot, you’ll get a puissant foot massage and yoga stretch. The tool can also deliver a powerful glute massage by balancing on one leg while folding the other leg on top of your knee and pressing the knob into your glutes. Yoga*Massage delivers an exciting new dimension to the physical experience of yoga.
Is the massage tool easy to use?
It’s easy to learn, and simple to use. Any yoga teacher trained as a Yoga*Massage instructor can lead you through the massage component effortlessly. Yoga*Massage is extremely easy to teach. If you teach yoga and are interested in teaching Yoga*Massage, contact us.
Is the massage tool expensive?
You can buy it on line for between $30 and $40, and by delivering a concatenation of massage benefits, it will pay for itself in no time.
Where can the tool be purchased?
The tool, called the Backnobber II is made by the Pressure Positive Company, can be purchased at their website www.pressurepositive.com or at www.Amazon.com. You can also use the Thera Cane® or Body Back Buddy™ massage tools.
Why do yoga teachers want to learn Yoga*Massage?
Yoga*Massage will attract more students to classes and private sessions because it provides a new and exciting experience for practitioners. Teachers will feel the improvement in their own bodies and see their students enjoying better results. Yoga*Massage delivers the goods to students and teachers. For more information on Yoga*Massage contact Rich.
Phone 303.545.6462, Two Hand Press, LLC,
PO Box 4236, Boulder, Colorado 80306
Every Good Workout Deserves a Massage