What is Self-Massage?
Self-Massage is exactly what it sounds like: you are able to give yourself a massage. How great is that? Some of you are rolling your eyes and muttering that it is not great at all and you’d rather visit your massage therapist, thank you very much. I totally get that! I looooove my massage therapist, too, but how often do we see them? Once a month? Every couple of weeks? Wouldn’t it be amazing to get a massage every week, or every day? We all carry tension, stress, and even pain in our bodies, and I believe it is the most empowering feeling to be able to alleviate that tension all by ourselves, whenever we need to.
There is an even greater benefit to self-massage: you have complete control. You can do exactly what your body needs, in exactly the right spot, with exactly the right amount of pressure. Plus, the more you practice the art of listening to your tissues, the more information your body will start giving you about what it needs and how you can help it function better.
Benefits of self-massage include:
- Reduced muscle tension and pain
- Improved circulation
- Enhanced flexibility and range of motion
- Deeper relaxation and stress relief
- Increased body awareness (proprioception and interoception)
What kind of self-massage do I teach?
There are many self-massage tools and systems on the market today, and they all have their merits. I have personally found The Roll Model Method designed by Jill Miller of Tune-up Fitness to be the most effective and well-researched.
In 2019, I became a Certified Roll Model Practitioner. This training, coupled with my decade of experience working as an orthopedic massage therapist, gives me many tools to teach you how to massage yourself using many different techniques.
The Roll Model Method utilizes a set of four different-sized therapy balls. It combines modern research on myofascial release with more traditional massage techniques and stretches to help you increase your athletic performance, relieve musculoskeletal pain, or relax and unwind.
If you are interested in learning more about my style of self-massage, check out the sample videos on my YouTube channel or come to one of my in-person classes. I often blend a few self-massage techniques into my yoga classes.
If you want to purchase the therapy balls that I use in my sessions, please use this affiliate link.
Below is an introduction to several of the different therapy balls and methods of self-massage that are on the market:
