Reviews for The Massage Book: 25th Anniversary Edition

The average rating for The Massage Book: 25th Anniversary Edition based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-04-07 00:00:00 Hiram Acevedo Some good information hidden among a fair amount of outdated nonsense. This book has been around since the 70's and is regarded as a classic - however a lot has changed in that time and the book has not been updated to reflect these changes. I am currently working as a massage therapist and went to massage school over ten years ago. I hope that, at least by now, the association of massage therapist with sex worker, is starting to fade. There is a whole segment of the book where the author discourages people from becoming professional massage therapists, especially women, because people will think you are a prostitute. Come on! Some people may still think this way, yes - but that's not a reason not to become a massage therapist. Some people think all kinds of weird things, and you can't help that - the key is to learn how to protect yourself - no matter what industry you are in - to communicate clearly - maintain proper professional and emotional boundaries - and trust your gut. Don't work on anyone you don't feel right about. The cartoon illustrations in the book are completely nude. I don't have a problem with nudity, but I think proper draping is an important skill for a massage therapist to have. In the book, sheets are not used to cover the areas of the body that are not being worked on. The author says that choosing not to massage a woman's breasts is "prudish and condescending" - but I think that it is professional, not prudish and condescending. Keeping the breasts and genitals covered reinforces the idea that you want to communicate to the client: that it is a non-sexual massage. I believe that the practice of covering the genitals and breasts, and not including these body parts in the massage, is important. They reinforce healthy client therapist boundaries and help to create cultural recognition of massage as a non-sexual healing art. I don't think this makes me a prude, but if so, so be it. I also have a specific pet peeve about the placement of illustrations in relation to text. When an illustration is placed in the middle of a block of text it breaks the flow of concentration and makes it harder to read. Other than that.... There is some useful information here.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-03-11 00:00:00 Cesar Lujan I am a massage therapist. I bought this book a year ago and thumbed through it. This week I picked it back up and decided to read it cover to cover. This book was written almost 50 years ago. While the techniques described in this book are still relevant today, our approach to massage has changed significantly. Today, we focus primarily on the scientific and not enough of the psychological and emotional aspects. The illustrations in this book depict clients without drapes and therapist without clothes. This was typical of Esalon massage during that time period. It conveys the message that our bodies are normal and that nudity does not equate to sex - even though there is a section devoted to Massage for Lovers complete with instructions for genital massage. This used to be a massage bible back in the day, but times have changed and very few therapists would but this book today. But I did because I believe massage is more than clinical soft tissue manipulation.