Cinda Mefferd: Artistry of Touch ~ Poetics of Touch

Poetics of Touch Concept Number 1

ACCENT

She was a dancer:
sometimes drumming like Russian dance,
sometimes toe dancing over a spot. -- Judy Dykstra-Brown

Massage strokes, like words, have accents or points of emphasis that you may consciously employ. Similar to accents of the spoken voice, they offer some of the most personal, memorable, and emotionally rich cadences of massage.

Subtle or bold, accents are elements of style that coordinate massage, making your work more effective, interesting, and easy to absorb. Individual massage strokes or combinations of strokes that are accented in pleasing ways feel purposeful rather than haphazard.

With practice, massage accents become as natural as movements in daily life. For example, the next time you wash a tabletop, observe how your hands glide and scrub as you vary the pressure, speed, and direction of your movements to create efficiency and avoid boredom. These variations are accents.

When massage strokes include predictable accents such as repeatedly pressing harder at the top of circular strokes, these recurring intervals punctuate massage like the beat of music. Accented beats and their resulting rhythms soothe or enliven.

Additionally, through sensitive selection of accents you can highlight massage with nuances of gesture as if you were an esteemed cook adding seasonings to food. No one accent should stand out, yet each accent or combination of accents flavors massage.

Massage accents can also be single gestures: a dynamic sweep that just happens to follow a piece of music into silence as it ends, or a gentle tap similar to a reassuring pat.

Accent the massage with:

pauses and rests in stillness interspersed with rocking.
tone of accent: lilting glides or staccato moves like quick presses.
touch coordinated with rhythms of breathing.
various types of strokes and their specific locations on the body.

Accent individual strokes or combinations of strokes with:

direction and duration of movement.
easy to identify patterns:accented circles, ebb and flow of waves.
various tool surfaces such as your thumbs, elbows, or palms.

Circular strokes:

Half of a circle is formed by pushing away from you.
Half of a circle is formed by pulling towards you.

Accenting only one-half of your circular strokes at a time provides predictable patterning:

It calls attention to the push or the pull individually.
It gives a moment of rest and absorption between accents.
It seems rhythmic because push rest, push rest is patterned.

Some accents depend on the amount of oil you use:

To accent the smoothness of sweeping strokes use more oil.
To accent deep point work use less oil.

Occasionally use ripple accents on the client's arms:

Wrap one or both of your hands around the client's upper arm near the shoulder. While sliding your hands down the client's arm, create ripples by adding a few small squeezes in succession. Imagine wind rippling the surface of water.

The room's decor may have accents that appeal to the senses:

Colors, fragrances, flowers, candles, art, a fountain, a wind chime.

Accents make your work seem more focused and advanced:

Clients won't have the massage vocabulary to say, "Great accents." They will say, "You really know what you are doing."

Copyright Cinda Mefferd