Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/70065
x x Action. Again, hold on to the sheet with your partner. Begin to play, this time pulling by bending from your hip joints, knees, and ankles, moving backward with your pelvis (Image 2). Feel. Notice how you are now able to support your body, instead of suspending it from the sheet as before. Ask. What would happen if you were to suddenly let go of the sheet now? Feel. Notice how your body responds to this style of pulling. Ask. Has the control and sensitivity increased in your hands? Do you feel less strain on your hand and wrist joints? Has the effort decreased in your shoulders and back? In your legs and feet? Rest. Action. Now, let's translate this into your work. Ask your partner to lie supine on your table. Slowly begin to pull your partner's leg by leaning back, using her leg for your support (Image 3). Feel. Notice how your lack of self-support influences your quality of touch. Ask. Do you have a sense of control and sensitivity in your hands? Do you feel effort in your hands? Feel. Notice, as you did when pulling the sheet in this fashion, how your body responds to this style of pulling. Ask. What would happen if you were to suddenly let go of your partner's leg? Rest. Action. Now, stand in a self-supported manner. Begin to slowly pull your partner's leg by bending from your hip joints, knees, and ankles, and moving backward with your pelvis (Image 4). Feel. Notice how your self-support increases your quality of touch. Ask. Do you feel less strain on your hands and wrists? Can you let your hands pull without gripping? Feel. Notice your body's response to this style of pulling. Ask. If you were to let go, could you maintain your sense of self-support? Rest again. A self-supported style of pulling is the most effective way to pull and maintain balance and quality of touch. Pulling in this manner assures you and your client that the specific pulling techniques required are being executed with the utmost care and safety. give each other feedback. Which style of pulling felt the safest and most effective to you and your partner? and therapist since 1990. She coordinated IBM's body mechanics program and authored Body Mechanics for Manual Therapists: A Functional Approach to Self-Care, 3rd ed. (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010). She has a massage and Feldenkrais practice at the Pluspunkt Center for Therapy and Advanced Studies near Zurich, Switzerland. Contact her at barbfrye@hotmail.com. Barb Frye has been a massage educator connect with your colleagues on massageprofessionals.com 103