Massage: shoulders

Most people who I treat in my work as a massage therapist are utterly disconnected from their own bodies. Often it is only the fact that they are in pain that reminds them that they even have bodies! Don’t wait for another spasm in your shoulders. Try to do these techniques at regular intervals while sitting at your desk.

1. Place your right hand on your left shoulder.
2. Using your index, middle and ring fingers press into your shoulder just in the spot where the neck joins the shoulder.
3. Make 5 circles using medium pressure. Be sure that the movement is firm and slow.
4. Move to another place along the left shoulder and repeat circles with your right fingers.
5. Work all over the top and the back of your left shoulder, reaching as far as you comfortably can
6. When you reach a sore spot stay there longer, breathing out the tension.
7. Repeat on the other side

Originally published in Stella Magazine, the weekly supplement of The Sunday Telegraph