Find the mistakes in this stone massage video

I came across this video recently. This is a very educational video demonstrating how you should -not- give a stone massage. This way the video becomes the perfect educational tool and I will certainly keep it in mind when I'm teaching my students.

Take a look at it and see if you can spot the mistakes and unpleasant techniques used. There is even an aspect to the massage that is directly dangerous for the client. I will elaborate below and explain where he does wrong for a good, therapeutic stone massage.

The original video is found here .

Keep in mind that geothermal therapy works with extreme temperatures. This means that the stones are hot and cold. Not just warm and cool. Paying attention the temperature is very important as you can severely burn your clients. But you also need a high temperature in order to achieve the good therapeutic effects.

My issues with this video include:

The spinal layout - my biggest concern

Where he places his client directly on hot and cold stones without any protective layers in between. Normally during a spinal layout, you're working with stones that are hot enough to burn a client if placed directly against the skin. If the stones are of a temperature that wouldn't cause the client to be burnt, the thermal therapeutic effect is minimal and there's little benefit in placing the client on the stones.

This is one of the biggest issues within Stone Therapy. Clients getting burnt from lying on stones and having stones placed on them. Because of the relaxing situation, trust in the therapist, and the pressure against the stones, it can be hard to realize that you are getting burnt before it's too late.
There has been numerous cases and lawsuits recently where clients have been burnt because their therapist isn't skilled in the use of geothermal therapy.

Do be sure that you understand geothermal therapy and have the right education before you place a client on a spinal layout. It is not only your own client you risk harming, but the entire business as insurance companies will be less inclined to insure geothermal therapists based on previous bad cases.

The application of cold

Luckily you can't in most situations cause any serious damage through cold. At least not as long as the stones have been cooled on ice (if they've been in the freezer, then it's an entirely different matter and can cause damage). So this point is more to the client's comfort, as well as achieving any therapeutic effect.

The speed with which he applies the cold will feel very uncomfortable. Keep in mind that cold stones are taken from an ice-chest. So the quick way he runs that cold stones over the muscle would be like running an ice-cube over the skin. Not pleasant at all and the client most likely wouldn't want to come back for another cold stone massage.

The quick speed also means that he only affects the very superficial layer during the massage. By moving slowly, the cold penetrates deeply into the muscle, creating a strong therapeutic effect. Also, slow moving means that the client gets used to the cold and it, if done correctly, will feel amazing and really pleasant.

The use of tugged stones to massage with

In the beginning of the video he uses a basalt stone to massage the arm. The stone he took from under the armpit. He mentions himself that he tugs stones in when they've become "lukewarm". Lukewarm stones just doesn't have any thermal therapeutic effect. He could just as well have used his fingers or a wooden massage rod. The effect would have been the same.

In order to achieve geothermal effect, you need to work with hot stones so the heat can penetrate into the muscles. This makes the muscle relax, brings blood to the area and when you apply cold, you achieve a vascular gymnastics effect, which supports the natural healing process of the body.

Hot eye stones

Placing stones on the eyes is a delicate matter. It does look like the stones he is placing are large enough to rest on the bone-ridges going around the eyes, so that the stone doesn't directly touch the eye-lid. It is important that stones placed over the eyes never touch the eyelid and thereby put pressure upon the eyeballs.

The temperature is an issue too. We can't see if these stones are hot or just warm. If they're warm no damage is likely to happen, but I can't imagine it will feel very pleasant for the client. On the other hand, a cool stone, one not too cold, would be wonderful over the eyes, refreshing and reducing puffiness (like the cucumbers used with facial masks).

There are other things I could point out, but these I have mentioned are the major issues I have with this video.

Hands on education is essential

One reason I'm speaking up about this is that there will be people out there who will use this video as their teaching material on how to give a hot and cold stone massage. Seeing the spinal-layout without the protective layer makes them duplicate that and cause burns to their clients. Using cold without understanding how to apply it properly will chase their clients away. Placing hot eye-stones could cause burns and damage.

It is so important that when you want to learn how to do hot and cold stone massage that you receive a proper education by someone who knows and understands all the things to be aware of in geothermal therapy. Not to mention, someone who is educated to teach this knowledge to you.

These are things you can't just learn from watching a video or reading a book. You need to feel on yourself what pressure is right, how extreme temperature feels, how a wrong or bad application makes you react and so on.

So please do yourself the favour of finding a qualified instructor to learn geothermal therapy from, and do not use videos on the internet as your teaching manual.

Becoming a LaStone® Instructor

Image via Wikipedia

I have some very busy and packed three days ahead of me when I leave for England tomorrow. There's so much to learn and know in order to teach LaStone®. Most of it which I of course already know and utilize through giving massages as well as writing these blog-posts. But there are aspects to teaching LaStone® which isn't obvious to a practitioner or an outsider.


It's not just about teaching how to give a geothermal massage, how to move the stones or where to place them.There are so many other things which has to be taught to create highly skilled Stone Walkers.

Some of the topics we have to cover are:

~ Administration, what papers to fill, for the students to have and what needs to be registered where. The entire paperwork and arranging of workshops. Basically all the boring stuff that absolutely has nothing to do with massage.

~ How we can begin each day during a course. Gathering all students and making sure everybody are heard, understood and have their questions answered. It's not just a classroom setting, but also making them part of the group and support them in their strength and aid them when they have difficulties. This is essentially psychology and good teaching protocols.

~ Be able to share the story of LaStone®, of how Mary first began to use stones, her inspiration, quest and research and how it is spreading and new things are included all the time.

~ As part of this I have to be able to explain logically and understandably why LaStone® is different and what sets it apart. It's not enough to just be able to show a client why the massage is so awesome and incredible. In short, my sales pitch will be perfected.

~ Then there's of course the theory. Why hot and cold, the effects on the body, contra-indications, sanitation and all the practical matters. My students need to understand how the temperature works, what to be aware and careful of and certainly how to make sure that no diseases are transferred from client to client.

~ Not only are students introduced to stones by seeing them and using them, they also learn what stone they are, their properties and why we use the stones we use. So I need to remember my geology and how basalt and marble are created among other things.

~ We will cover the practical aspects of giving a LaStone® treatment. Practical ways to sort stones, how to recognize one stone from another and know what it can be used for, how to work with the stones, effective routines and much more.

~ And finally, there's the entire energy and spiritual aspect of LaStone®. Ceremonies, different spiritual approaches, smudging, the Native American connection, energy treatments with stones and so on.

As you can see, all this we need to cover in just three days. I'm fortunate and grateful that I've had some quiet days during May where I've had time to read up on all those things. I've read more than 500 pages of manuals and official documents and I'm not done yet!

If I survive this week-end, I should be able to host and teach my first LaStone® classes. That'll be a whole new interesting adventure that I look forward to sharing with  you!

Depression affects the immune system

Research has shown that depression can lead to reduced immune functioning. A recent article in Massage Magazine describes how depressed people are more prone to premature ageing of immune cells, "which could in turn open the door to serious illness, such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke and dementia."

A challenged immune system does not only increase the risk of serious illness, but also of all our daily life nuisances such as colds, tiredness, flu, infections and what not. When we are feeling blue we are more likely to become sick.

Last week I shared how massage can help ease the symptoms of depression, and thereby help strengthen the immune system. A lot more studies is needed, but I think that the research done so far gives birth to some interesting thoughts and possibilities.

Massage helps boost the mood. I know from personal observation of my clients that they feel better and happier afterwards. Not only has their physical problems eased, but emotionally and mentally they feel balanced, more "zen", stronger, confident and with energy to face the challenges of the world.

Our mood influences our immune system to some degree, even if we're not clinically depressed. Mind influences our body, perhaps much more than we expect. The placebo effect is real. Thinking something will help certainly does help. I have read of studies where people feel better even when they know they're taking a placebo pill.

How it is all connected I do not know, and I predict it will be quite some years before scientists have fully understood how our mind affects our body. Something is certainly going on, and we cannot just look at one part of ourselves when we seek explanations and treatments for what ails us.

Anyway, back to massage and health. Touch is a very powerful tool. Not only does it affect our body and physical being by releasing various hormones into our system. It also helps our mood and how we view the world around us. All these things combined helps boost the immune system and thereby influences our health.

To me it is clear. It's important that we take time to take care of ourselves, both emotionally and physically. A massage can be one very pleasant way to do this. There are many other ways to nourish yourself physically and emotionally and it is all about finding that combination of things which suits you and your lifestyle.