“The most important piece of equipment a massage therapist has is their own body.”

-Sandra K. Anderson. I hear so many massage therapists complaining of joint and muscle pain.  Carpal tunnel syndrome, lower back pain and medial epicondylitis, also known as golfer’s elbow are some of the most common issues.

There may be several different aspects of this pain, and we may need to address each of them in a different way.

Here’s one explanation from a Lomi point of view: You may be blocking energy or taking on another person’s energy that has begun to move. Energetically, we’re basically made of mostly water. I remember one of Auntie’s students, telling me that the first time that he did Lomi – he’d never been taught. It went something like this. “Oh, Auntie, there’s so many people that would need Lomi,” and she said, “Yeah. You should work on them. You should work on them right now.” “What do you mean? I don’t do Lomi. I don’t know Lomi,” “Yes, you do. You know what to do. Just move the water. Feel where the water isn’t moving and move the water.” Interesting, right?

When I was in Ireland, we attempted to meet a healer named Moss Lane. He is a bone-setter.

When I think about a bone-setter, I think of someone that moves the bones. Although we never actually met him, a woman told me how he worked. She said, “It’s crazy. He takes a coat hanger, and then he moves it over your body. I think he uses it like a dowsing stick. People use the stick to figure out where water is. Anyway, he uses the coat hanger to find where the energy isn’t moving in your body, and then helps you to move it. The goal is for energy to be flowing and open.”

It’s the same thing in Lomi.

Notice where is the channel flowing and where is it not flowing. If you tighten your muscles or lock your joints, you stop the flow. In Lomi, we use our forearms quite a bit. I notice a lot of people like to tighten the forearm during a stroke.  It looks like this: Notice the extended wrist. Notice the fist. This movement creates is a closed chain of energy. It’s like putting a dam, energetically and physically toward the water of the body. The water cannot flow because the muscle is constricted. The blood supply is constricted because of the fist at the end of the chain.

Picture this:

You go to the doctor’s office and they want to collect a blood sample for some tests.   You make a muscle and they put a tourniquet on your arm because they’re trying to find the vein.  You see how the tourniquet makes the vein get bigger. What you are seeing is pooled blood. It’s stagnation. And it’s the same process that occurs when you tighten your muscles in Lomi. Now, imagine the same forearm stroke. The hand is open. The wrist is relaxed. Now energy can flow all the way out the end of the fingertips. You’ve created a vessel where energy is moving for your clients and that energy has somewhere to go. The dam is removed and all of the channels are open. Watch this video to see some common mistakes as well as the correct forearm placement and stroke for Lomi. All you need to do is relax the joints. Another way is by actually moving the joints. We call this, Ho’omanamana, to empower or open the joints. Begin by moving your fingers, and then roll the wrists.  Create silos of movement by rolling your whole arm. Then your shoulders, ribcage and neck. Doing these isolated movements to make sure that everything is moving properly is a really great way to find out where your restrictions are.

Become aware of yourself.

This is how we support others in knowing their restrictions in movement, where there isn’t the best flow, or some kind of blockage. Open the channels and allow the water to flow, just as the water flows from the mountain to the stream.   If you’d like to have even more mana ola, tools to raise your personal power, download my free guide HERE. And I would be ever-so-grateful if you would like, comment and share with your friends!