How to end a massage session (with cranial cradle demo!)

My new book is out! It's called Massage Is Weird: massagesloth.com/book/
This one is mostly for massage students and new massage therapists: How to end a massage? For me, it's about creating a sense of finality.
0:00 Introduction
0:32 "Floating" out of a massage technique
2:29 Ending at the back with static compression
4:26 Ending at the neck: The cranial cradle
8:02 Ending at the feet: Traction or compression
9:08 Other ending rituals

In this video I talk about "floating" a lot. This is something that you'll need to experience to appreciate. Have a friend or colleague apply some deep static pressure somewhere on your body (I demonstrate this on the low back), and then either swoop out, or take about 10 seconds to gradually decrease their pressure until they're off the body. I think you'll find that this second approach feels a lot different, and can leave you with a sense of buoyant freedom. It's good stuff, and it's great for creating that sense of finality at the end of a massage.

For the cranial cradle, this is another good one to try with a friend so that you can experiment with different approaches. Try varying degrees of finger curl and upward pressure. Try swooping in from the sides, or just creating strips up the paraspinals. Try supporting with your palms versus mostly leaving the palms out, etc. And once you've found your favorite approach, maintain it for at least 30 seconds and see what happens! This is another one that creates a floaty sense of freedom for me, and it's one of my favorite massage techniques.

Let me know what your favorite ways of ending a massage are in the comments! Thanks as always to my Patreon supporters, who receive an exclusive video every month at the $5+ level: patreon.com/MassageSloth

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