Pressure is one of the most confusing aspects of massage. While many new students think that more pressure is better, most bodies react with more comfort to pressure that feels contained and deliberate. Proper pressure starts with listening with your hands. As you drag your hands over muscles, you can feel where they resist. Some areas will be soft and easy to rub over, others will feel hard or resistant. This is the first clue to how much pressure you should apply. Rather than applying more pressure, try to sink slowly into the muscles while moving steadily.
One thing I see frequently is the hands that stop moving, and the student, without realizing it, pushes down into the muscle with their thumbs or finger-tips. This often causes pain instead of relief. The reason is that the small muscles of the hand are doing the work. The fix is simple, but it takes some awareness. Use your whole palm, or the bottom of your forearm to apply pressure, and lean forward slightly to shift some of your weight into the person. This way, the pressure is more diffuse, and you don’t feel like you’re poking or stabbing into the muscle.
If your arms are relaxed, and the motion is coming from your core, the pressure will feel better. The second thing I see is a lack of variation in pressure during a stroke. Think of it like a wave. Pressure should build as your stroke goes on, then decrease again as you stroke off. At the beginning of each stroke, pressure is lighter as you approach, it should build in the middle of the stroke, then decrease as you come away.
Practicing this wave like motion can help avoid shocks and jolts that bring the client up out of their relaxed state. Try stroking the upper back, with particular attention to this wave-like motion. Stroke several times, and notice how the muscles react. If you practice for a few minutes a day, you can master this pretty quickly. Start by spending a minute or two with both hands on the person’s back, just feeling their skin temperature and texture.
Then try slow strokes that run from the shoulders down, with pressure building in the middle of the stroke. Repeat this for a few minutes, experimenting with using your body weight instead of your fingers. Then finish with several broad strokes using your forearms to try to induce longer, more flowing motions. If you find that your pressure is irregular, it may be because your wrists are getting tired or cramped.
Instead of bearing down harder, stop for a second and shake out your hands. Then go back to lighter strokes to let the muscles loosen up again. With practice, this becomes second nature, and your pressure becomes guided more by sensitivity than by strength. Once you’ve learned, you don’t have to think about it anymore, and your strokes become comfortable and smooth.