Hour 7

April 15, 2013 9:00AM to 10:00AM
Patient: Sarina Salazar
Body Type: female, 5'7'', thick, muscular

On the first day of STAR Testing, I massaged my sister, Sarina, for my sixth hour.

It took me a while to start massaging people by appointments because it took a while for me and Mang Adring to coordinate a time to get the massage oil. Once I had that, I started scheduling appointments and completing my hours.

It was a little nerve racking because I didn't have my mentor next to me to tell me how to do things or correct me if I was wrong. I just needed to trust myself.

I remembered that the massage is much more effective when I concentrate pressure through the tips of my fingers rather than the pads. Even though I studied the video of Mang Adring's lesson, I was still a bit nervous. My fingers started to camp a bit but all I needed to do was power through it.

As usual, I started with her upper back, concentrating on the muscles around her shoulder blades. I massaged the muscle under her left shoulder blade, then the muscle on top of her left shoulder blade and repeated the motions with her right side. Then I massaged around the shoulder blade on both sides a the same time. Then, I reached below her traps and massaged the spot below the collar bone and above her armpit. I found this to be a very sensitive spot because she started tensing up. I did the same to the other side and did both sides at the same time. After, I applied more oil to her back and pressed on either sides at the top of her spine and followed through until the base of her spine. Then I continued pressing down with my thumbs on her lower back, working my way up, and repeated from the top of her spine. Following routine, I pressed on two pressure points located below her back. This is where Mang Adring advised me to keep applying pressure throughout the massage because that is where everything connects. The more you sooth these spots, the better it is for the body.

After her back, I started with her arms. I applied oil to her arms and held her wrist with my right hand and massaged the groove in her upper arm with my left. I secured her hand in between my side and my upper arm to massage her with both of my hands. I then applied pressure to her forearm and continued on to the pinpoints of her hands. One particular move that I was scared of doing was cracking her knuckles. Mang Adring did this to me and taught it to me during the lessons but I was scared to do it because I didn't want to hurt her. Again, this is when I needed to learn to trust myself to simply bring relief to any patient. I did so carefully but once I succesfully crack the first couple fingers, I wasn't so scared anymore. I continued the arm and hand massage on to her right side.

I then went back and concentrated my attention to her shoulders and upper back. This is similar to the first part of the massage, but instead massaging both sides at the same time from the front of the massage table, instead of the sides. I continued with her neck, only this time, I wasn't as scared of massaging the neck than I was during the lesson.

I went back to massage her full back once more and also pressed on the two pressure points below her lower back.

After that, I continued to her legs. I always found the legs a bit awkward, but I felt more comfortable as the massage continued  I applied oil to her legs and started with lightly squeezing the backs of her thighs, going up and down. She started laughing, but it soon turned out to be less funny when I continued by pressing down the sides of her quads. Personally, this was always the part of the massage that I dreaded myself. I repeated the move two more times then repeated the squeezing motion. Instead of stopping at her knee, I continued the move down to her ankle. Then I massaged her calf then to her ankle, and continued to her feet.

I continued to massage her calves then back to her thighs, then massaged the two pressure points again, and then back to her back.

Then, I had her flip over and did basically the same things, except with her face up.

Then then had her go on her side. I bent her top leg and straightened out her bottom leg. I crossed her arms. I pulled on her top arm's wrist and pushed on her hip 3 to 4 times and cracked her back. I told her to lie on her other side and repeated the motions.

Dwindling down to the last minutes of the massage, I had her sit upright and massaged her shoulders and upper arms once more. The last part was one that I personally dread, and know that she isn't too fond of either. As she sits on the massage table, I sit down on a chair in front of her. I put one of her feet on the chair I'm sitting on between my knees and bend her knee. I then but my fingers at the middle of the back of her knee and I press hard all the way down to her ankle. I repeat it 3 times and do the same to her left calf. This releases all the stress from everyday things to walking, driving, and even exercising.

The very last stage is when I take both of her wrists and find her pulse. I just have to make sure that its regular. If it isn't, then I need to do it all over again.

For the first real, full-on, massage, I my sister said I did a good job. My hands still aren't as strong as Mang Adrings, but that come with practice and experience. It's really easy for me to find knots and knciks now and I'm starting to feel my hands slowly getting stronger.