There is a lot of misunderstandings around lomi lomi. One of them is that lomi is very gentle, soft and… nothing more.
Wrong. Lomi lomi goes all the way to the bones. This massage is literally designed to effortlessly reach to the deepest tensions in your muscles and joints, and release them without pain.
Is lomi lomi a deep tissue massage?
I could go on and on and on, but instead, I wanted to have another’s massage therapist opinion. I asked my massage friend Aga from Empathy Therapies to write few fords about lomi and deep tissue. Aga is a talented, intuitive, experienced massage therapist who offers deep tissue massage. She has received lomi lomi from me and my students several times.
This is how she explains what deep tissue is:
I’ve just received the second lomi lomi experience in my life. A very special one. It was an amazing, very releasing, and deep massage.
In my massage practice, I like to focus on the deeper layers of muscles. I incorporate advanced deep tissue massage techniques in every bodywork session. But what I provide is different from what my clients usually expect coming to me for the first time to get the “mysterious” deep tissue massage.
Many people believe that deep tissue massage is a hard and painful treatment when it actually can be very gentle and relaxing.
Deep is not the same as hard
Working with the tissue rather than on the tissue is paramount. Deep tissue work is archived by sinking down through the varying layers of not only muscles until we reach the level we intend to treat. But this sinking down is far removed from aggressive, brutal manhandling of the body. It comes with listening and nurturing touch, respect, taking time, intuitive tuning into the body.
I feel very good after lomi lomi massage. I feel like the tension in my body has been released and the balance restored. I feel sweet tenderness in some parts of my body but that’s a natural part of healing. I’m relaxed. And that’s exactly how I should feel after any massage which includes deep tissue work.
Deep tissue massage, like lomi, is not painful, and SHOULD NOT be painful. Still, some people believe that the more they suffer on the massage bench, and the more bruises they have after, the better the deal. But it really, really doesn’t need to be that way.
My kumu lomi (lomi teacher) was always saying: no pain in the halalu! (temple). And this is my intention in lomi: to take the pain away, not give you extra pain.