United States: Massage started to become popular in the United States in the middle part of the 1800s and was introduced by two New York physicians based on Per Henrik Ling’s techniques developed in Sweden.
During the 1930s and 1940s massage’s influence decreased as a result of medical advancements of the time, while in the 1970s massage’s influence grew once again with a notable rise among athletes. Massage was used up until the 1960s and 1970s by nurses to help ease patients’ pain and help them sleep.
Because it is illegal to advertise or offer sexual services in most of the United States, such services are sometimes advertised as “massage”.
United Kingdom: Massage is popular in the United Kingdom today and gaining. There are many private practitioners working from their own premises as well as those who operate from commercial venues.
Massage in sports, business and organizations: The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta was the first time that massage was offered as a core medical service. Massage has been employed by businesses and organizations such as the U.S. Department of Justice, Boeing and Reebok.

Who the first yogi really was is lost in the sands of time, but the roots of Yoga can be traced as long as 5000 years back. The earliest reference to Yoga was found when archeological excavations where made in the Indus valley - the most powerful and influential civilization in the early antique period. This sophisticated culture developed around the Indus river and the long gone Sarasvati river in northern India, on the border towards Pakistan.

Archeological findings from two of the largest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, revealed (among other things) a portrait of a human being or god meditating in what looks like a Yoga posture. The Rig-Veda work, that describes different Yoga methods, is believed to be derived from the Inus-Sarasvati people and has been dated to 3000 to 5000 B.C.

Yoga as we know it today, is thus the result of a complex evolution that has been going on for at least 5000 years. However, according to most scholars, Yoga can’t be recognized as a complete and complex tradition before about 500 B.C.

Vedic Yoga
The oldest written records of Indian culture and yogic activities is found in the Vedas, which are a compilation of hymns and rituals over 3000 years old. The Vedic Yoga, also known as Archaic Yoga, revolves around the thought of reuniting the visible material world with the invisible spiritual world by sacrificing certain things. In order to practise these rather long rituals successfully it was necessary to be able to focus the mind to a very hight level. This inner focus as a means to enhance the sensory and human ability is the root of all Yoga.

The Vedic teachings at this point where not reserved for an religious elite, but was instead transmitted to the people by Vedic prophets, called Rishis, who had gained insight in the origin of life and it’s existence. The hymns of these prophets witness of strong intuition, wisdom and knowledge about human beings that can inspire new levels of understanding even for the people of today.

Pre-classical Yoga
This period in Yoga history spans about 2000 years, until year 200. The most central Yoga literature from this period are the Upanishades - a collection of texts revolving around meta-physical speculation - and are just like the Vedas considered as enigmatic revelations. As opposed to the public rituals of the Vedic period, the Upanishades where secret scriptures.

Some of these 200 gnostic texts are directly related to Yoga and are about the complete connectedness of all things. Yoga was now slowly finding it’s form. As Yoga and it’s secret teachings spread from teacher to student, or from guru to yogi, the concept of an individual system of thought began to take shape.

The Bhagavad Gita, that is the most well known and popular work among all Hinduic and Yogic literature was written during this period (about 500 B.C.). It is a beautiful story of a conversation between the god of Hinduism, Krishna, and a prince named Arjuna. The plot, ironically enough, takes place on a battlefield. This location is often interpreted as a metaphor for the many distractions present in our turbulent world. Prince Arjuna had put himself in a difficult position, where he must fight parts of his family and friends.

Symbolically speaking, this frustration conveys that prince Arjuna wanted some advice on how to fight the bonds that tie him to the material world, in order to set himself and his soul free. Krishna explained that it was Arjuna’s destiny and task to face this situation. He then moved on to explaining to Arjuna how he could emerge from the battle victorious, by outlining a detailed yogic path for the prince to follow; Through devotion (bhakti Yoga), a keen mind (jnana Yoga) and by giving up the ego (karma Yoga), spiritual freedom (moksha) could be attained.

Needless to say, the Bhagavad Gita is a complex work, and is meant to be studied, pondered upon and then studied some more.

Classical Yoga
The eight-limbed Yoga described in the Sutras by Patanjali is usually referred to as Classical Yoga. The Yoga Sutras where most likely written around year 100-200 A.C. and consists of about 200 aphorisms (words of wisdom). Here Yoga is presented in a systematic and approachable way, and many yogis see it as an important source of yogic understanding. Almost all serious Yoga practitioners will at some point study this literature and it has been published with commentary many times since it was first published.

Patanjali thought that every individual consists of two parts - matter (prakiti) and soul (purusha), and that the goal of Yoga is to free the soul from the material world in order to take it’s original, pure form. This is often characterized as philosophical dualism, which is quite remarkable considering that most Indian philosophy is of a non-dualistic nature. The world as it is perceived is generally thought to be different aspects of the same pure, shapeless but conscious existence.

Post-classical Yoga
The great number of independent yoga schools and forms that where developed during the period after the Yoga sutras, is usually referred to as post-classical Yoga. As opposed to Patanjalis’s Yoga, the Yoga of this era was, very much like the post-classical and Vedic traditions, characterized by an non-dualistic nature.

A few hundred years after Patanjali, the evolution of Yoga took an interesting turn - the potential of the human body now became an interesting field of study. Yogis of the past had not paid very much attention to the (physical) body, as they focused all their energy on contemplation and meditation. Their goal was to leave their bodies and the world, in order to re-unite with the shapeless reality - the soul.

The new generation of Yogis however, developed a system where different exercises - in conjunction with deep breathing and meditation, would help keep the body young and prolong life. The human body was regarded as the temple of the immortal soul, and not just as a meaningless vessel to be abandon at the first opportunity.

This paved the way for the creation of Hatha Yoga, and other branches and schools of Tantra Yoga.

Modern Yoga
Modern Yoga is said to have begun a the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893. During this meeting the young Swami Vivekananda from India made a deep impression on the American he introduced to Yoga. Vivekananda became whom of the most popular members of the Parliament, and he subsequently toured the US giving lectures on Yoga. Many Yoga masters would later cross the ocean and follow in his footsteps, spreading Yoga to all corners of the continent. Yoga schools where founded and increasing numbers of people fell in love with the yogic forms of exercise. Many masters also went to Europe where the reception, for some reason, wasn’t quite as warm.

Yoga, in the form of Hatha Yoga, debuted in the consciousnesses of the American masses when russian born Indra Devi, of the called “the first lady of Yoga”, opened a Yoga studio in Hollywood in 1947. She taught movie starts like Gloria Swanson, Jennifer Jones and Robert Ryan, as well as educating hundreds of Yoga teachers.

During the 1950s one of the foremost Yoga teachers of his time, Selvarajan Yesudian, wrote the book “Sport and Yoga”, and it was through this book Yoga entered the world of sports. This book has been translated into more than fourteen languages and has sold more than half a million copies. Today we can observe many athletes and sports teams that has incorporated Yoga in their injury reducing, strengthening and focus oriented training regimens. One of the most well known examples are the NBA stars of the Chicago Bulls.

1961 Hatha Yoga was presented in american television by Richard Hittleman, and his book called The Twenty Eight day Yoga Plan sold in the millions. In the middle of the 60s, Yoga got a real promotional boost when the Yogi Maharishi Mahesh taught Yoga to the famous pop-stars in the Beatles. Many other artists and musicians where influenced to take up Yoga as well. During the 60s and 70s Yoga became a way of life for many people living on the American west coast.

On an interesting side note, Dalai lama is a great yogi from Tibet, representing Buddhism and Tibetan Yoga. He was awarded the Nobel price for peace and has inspired many westerners to learn more about Buddhism and Yoga.

Yoga today
Yoga has gained tremendously in popularity during the last few years, and today over 30 million people practise Yoga on a regular basis. Yoga is the most rapidly growing health movement of today, despite having existed for thousands of years already.

Peoples attitude towards health, spirituality, way of life and our place in society have changed quite dramatically, as people are looking for answers for their everyday problems. In these chaotic times our environment is fighting for survival and we humans suffer more and more from physical and psychological stress, with new diseases developing while old ones, that we thought we could handle with antibiotics, returns with an vengeance in the midst of out society. We can’t always control these developments, but we can learn to face them.

Written by: shaynebance

The saying, “What’s in the past, should stay in the past” - doesn’t work here.

We might already have an idea of what Yoga is but to understand it better, we have to know what it has become as well as its roots and beginnings. A quick look at the history of Yoga will help us appreciate its rich tradition and who knows, it might help us incorporate Yoga into our lives.

Although Yoga is said to be as old as civilization, there is no physical evidence to support this claim. Earliest archaeological evidence of Yoga’s existence could be found in stone seals which depict figures of Yoga Poses. The stone seals place Yoga’s existence around 3000 B.C.

Scholars, however, have a reason to believe that Yoga existed long before that and traced its beginnings in Stone Age Shamanism. Both Shamanism and Yoga have similar characteristics particularly in their efforts to improve the human condition at that time. Also, they aim to heal community members and the practitioners act as religious mediators. Though we know Yoga as focusing more on the self, it started out as community-oriented before it turned inward.

For a better discussion of the history of Yoga, we could divide it into four periods: the Vedic Period, Pre-Classical Period, Classical Period, and Post-Classical Period.

Vedic Period

The existence of the Vedas marks this period. The Vedas is the sacred scripture of Brahmanism that is the basis of modern-day Hinduism. It is a collection of hymns which praise a divine power. The Vedas contains the oldest known Yogic teachings and as such, teachings found in the Vedas are called Vedic Yoga. This is characterized by rituals and ceremonies that strive to surpass the limitations of the mind.

During this time, the Vedic people relied on rishis or dedicated Vedic Yogis to teach them how to live in divine harmony. Rishis were also gifted with the ability to see the ultimate reality through their intensive spiritual practice. It was also during this time that Yogis living in seclusion (in forests) were recorded.

Pre-Classical Yoga

The creation of the Upanishads marks the Pre-Classical Yoga. The 200 scriptures of the Upanishads (the conclusion of the revealed literature) describe the inner vision of reality resulting from devotion to Brahman. These explain three subjects: the ultimate reality (Brahman), the transcendental self (atman), and the relationship between the two. The Upanishads further explain the teachings of the Vedas.

Yoga shares some characteristics not only with Hinduism but also with Buddhism that we can trace in its history. During the sixth century B.C., Buddha started teaching Buddhism, which stresses the importance of Meditation and the practice of physical postures. Siddharta Gautama, the first Buddhist to study Yoga, achieved enlightenment at the age of 35.

Later, around 500 B.C., the Bhagavad-Gita or Lord’s Song was created and this is currently the oldest known Yoga scripture. It is devoted entirely to Yoga and has confirmed that it has been an old practice for some time. However, it doesn’t point to a specific time wherein Yoga could have started. The central point to the Gita is that - to be alive means to be active and in order to avoid difficulties in our lives and in others, our actions have to benign and have to exceed our egos.

Just as the Upanishads further the Vedas, the Gita builds on and incorporates the doctrines found in the Upanishads. In the Gita, three facets must be brought together in our lifestyle: Bhakti or loving devotion, Jnana which is knowledge or contemplation, and Karma which is about selfless actions. The Gita then tried to unify Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Karma Yoga and it is because of this that it has gained importance. The Gita was a conversation between Prince Arjuna and God-man Krishna and it basically stresses the importance of opposing evil.

Classical Period

The Classical Period is marked by another creation - the Yoga Sutra. Written by Patanjali around the second century, it was an attempt to define and standardize Classical Yoga. It is composed of 195 aphorisms or sutras (from the Sanskrit word which means thread) that expound upon the Raja Yoga and its underlying principle, Patanjali’s Eightfold path of Yoga (also called Eight Limbs of Classical Yoga). These are:

Yama, which means social restraints or ethical values;
Niyama, which is personal observance of purity, tolerance, and study;
Asanas or physical exercises;
Pranayama, which means breath control or regulation;
Pratyahara or sense withdrawal in preparation for Meditation;
Dharana, which is about concentration;
Dhyana, which means Meditation; and
Samadhi, which means ecstasy.
Patanjali believed that each individual is a composite of matter (prakriti) and spirit (purusha). He further believed that the two must be separated in order to cleanse the spirit - a stark contrast to Vedic and Pre-Classical Yoga that signify the union of body and spirit.

Patanjali’s concept was dominant for some centuries that some Yogis focused exclusively on Meditation and neglected their Asanas. It was only later that the belief of the body as a temple was rekindled and attention to the importance of the Asana was revived. This time, Yogis attempted to use Yoga techniques to change the body and make it immortal.

Post-Classical Yoga

At this point, we see a proliferation of literature as well as the practice of Yoga. Post-classical Yoga differs from the first three since its focus is more on the present. It no longer strives to liberate a person from reality but rather teaches one to accept it and live at the moment.

Yoga was introduced in the West during the early 19th century. It was first studied as part of Eastern Philosophy and began as a movement for health and vegetarianism around the 1930’s. By the 1960’s, there was an influx of Indian teachers who expounded on Yoga. One of them was Maharishi Mahesh, the Yogi who popularized Transcendental Meditation. Another one is a prominent Yoga Guru Swami Sivananda. Sivananda was a doctor in Malaysia and he later opened schools in America and Europe. The most prominent of his works is his modified Five Principles of Yoga which are:

Savasana or proper relaxation;
Asanas or proper exercise;
Pranayama or proper breathing;
Proper diet; and
Dhyana or positive thinking and Meditation
Sivananda wrote more than 200 books on Yoga and Philosophy and had many disciples who furthered Yoga. Some of them were Swami Satchitananda who introduced chanting and Yoga to Woodstock; Swami Sivananada Radha who explored the connection between psychology and Yoga, and Yogi Bhajan who started teaching Kundalini Yoga in the 70’s.

Up to this day, Yoga continues to proliferate and spread its teachings, crossing the boundaries of culture and language.

This is the first of installment in new column on the history of massage equipment, tools and products. The history of massage has been largely forgotten, and much of it is yet to be revealed. Learning about the past can instill pride and create traditions, as it has in many other professions. In an industry that is sometimes tainted by allusions to its relationship with prostitution and sexuality, it is important to understand that massage has a rich and long history that has nothing to do with these elements of human activity. In an industry striving for recognition, with a history virtually unknown and unappreciated, telling the story of its past can instill self-respect - and the knowledge that massage has a long and significant past.

The first so-called massage tables were used during the time of the Greeks and Romans, and were marble or wood slabs called plinths. These were used in the great gymnasiums of Greece from about 800 B.C. to 146 B.C.; and in the palatial baths of the Roman Empire from about 300 B.C. to A.D. 476.

The term “massage table” is less than 100 years in use, arriving sometime during the late 1920s. Prior to this, devices used for massage were called couches, and were truly pieces of furniture. These were used during the Victorian era of the late 19th century and were stuffed with horse hair, but were upholstered with velvet or similar material. They were quite cushy in their comfort, compared to the physician’s exam table, and fashionably colored in the warm, rich hues of the era.

The next generation of massage tables were medical examination tables. Usually made of solid oak, they had various adjustments and were designed for multiple uses, massage being one (physical exams and surgical procedures were two others). The padding on these exam tables was horse hair covered with heavy leather. Horse hair was the most widely used stuffing because it was resistant to insects or other damage, whereas cotton and straw were not.

Between 1910 and 1925 electric vibrating tables were manufactured for use primarily in sanitariums and physicians’ offices. These were solid wood with no cushions, except those that might be added for a thinner person’s comfort.

A stationary massage table used after World War I was made from common woods with cotton or straw padding under a thin plastic covering. The first portable massage table was developed around 1930 and was made of a wood frame with metal or wood legs. Portable massage tables of this period were quite sophisticated in their design and quality, especially those that had mechanisms to unfold the legs and fold them back again as the table was opened and closed.

The Battlecreek Company, of Battlecreek, Michigan, manufactured the first light-weight massage table, an aluminum folding portable table introduced in the 1940s.

The stationary table presented by George Downing in his 1972 book, The Massage Book, was a homemade model copied by many practitioners until later in that decade, when commercially manufactured tables became more readily available.

Neither the first stationary nor portable massage tables contained face holes. The face hole cut into the head of a stationary or portable table appeared in the late 1940s. The face cradle that attaches to the end of the massage table was first introduced in the 1980s.

Today’s models are ergonomically designed, with special alloy tubing or specialty woods and multi-layered padding that comes in a variety of colors and styles. Specialty tables, such as those with removal stomach-holes designed for working on pregnant women; extra-wide table tops for working on large clients or doing special types of bodywork; built-in spa-therapy water tubs; and those which fold to lie flat on the ground for Asian therapies, are among the numerous types available today.

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Robert Noah Calvert is the founder and CEO of MASSAGE Magazine. The material for this column comes from two sources: the World of Massage Museum’s collections and Calvert’s book, The History of Massage, published in February 2002 by Healing Arts Press.

This is a two-part series on the subject of vibrators. Part One takes us from ancient Greece to the end of the 19th century. Part Two will conclude with devices from the 20th century.

In an attempt to be funny, I once told a reporter visiting the World of Massage Museum (WOMM) that I had more than 100 vibrators in the basement if he’d like to see them. He looked at me in a way that told me I’d made a mistake mentioning this so soon in the tour. It took me five minutes to explain the kind of vibrator collection we had on display. And sure enough, in the article he wrote about the museum he labeled me eccentric partly because of the vibrator collection. So, to assuage any misgivings by my readers, the vibrators discussed in this article are not the amorous type, nor are any in the WOMM collections.

The earliest recorded forms of ancient therapy used to deliver vibration were from the Greek and Roman era. A patient was placed on a simple wooden plank hung from ropes attached to a tree or a cross-bar and vigorously pushed to and fro. The rhythmic jostling of riding atop a horse or mule was a more severe vibration treatment. But the ultimate vibratory therapy was delivered to the patient while he or she sat on a small two-wheeled wagon, made with uneven wheels, pulled over rough stone roadways. I wonder if an enterprising physician might have treated two patients simultaneously: one on the horse drawing the treatment wagon and the other seated on the wagon.

Swings, horses and wagon-riding were used from ancient times until the early 19th century, when mechanical devices replaced the more ancient modes of treatment. Their intended purpose was to ease morbidity, help circulation and digestion, and treat some nervous disorders. Without the administering physician’s knowledge, however, the lymphatic system was also stimulated to help remove waste products from tissues and empower the immune functions of the body. Asclepiades referred to these treatments as “gestation.”

Vibration was the first massage stroke imitated by mechanical devices. Machines could deliver slow and consistent movements better than a human practitioner, and they did not get tired. It is interesting to note that the first devices labeled “massage vibrator” were not vibrators at all but were beaded body rollers like the one shown here.

The first real vibrators were hand-cranked devices used by physicians to deliver percussion in one direction only - something like a repeating hammer action. Developed in Germany circa 1855, the Macurator Blood Circulator was the most simple of these first manufactured massagers. The Macurator delivered a high-variable frequency pounding on the body that resembled vibration if cranked fast enough.

Actual vibration delivered in more than one direction wasn’t developed until the middle of the 19th century.

After the early percussive devices came hand-cranked machines that produced up-and-down stroking, and circular movements used in the treatment of neuralgia, atrophy, emaciation and constipation.

The Veedee was an advanced hand-cranked massage vibrator. This device was more sophisticated than the Macurator, even though it utilized the same drill-like principles to deliver its vibration to the body. A small adjustable flywheel that could be calibrated to provide more or less vibration was attached to the end of the Veedee to accentuate the vibration and provide more horizontal movement to the body, thus creating the first true vibrator.

In the next installment of this series: the first steam-powered, battery-powered and electric vibrators will be discussed. Part II

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Robert Noah Calvert is the founder and CEO of Massage Magazine. The material for this column comes from two sources: the World of Massage Museum’s collections and Calvert’s new book, The History of Massage published in February 2002 by Healing Arts Press.

This is a two-part series on the subject of vibrators. Part One took us from ancient Greece to the end of the 19th century. Part Two concludes with devices from the 20th century.

Steam-powered massage devices were created about 1875 and were often large mechanical monsters that accommodated more than one person at a time, such as John Harvey Kellogg, M.D.’s vibrating machine that provided foot, hand and full-body vibration treatments for up to five persons simultaneously. Most of these devices delivered either percussion or vibration and were used for specific medical conditions.

Kellogg’s “Vibrating Machines,” circa 1895, used extensively at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. The first one is for “rotary vibration of the legs and arms,” the other is a beating apparatus. Note the second set of beaters (on left) not being used.

Gustav Zander, M.D., a Swedish physician and director of the Medico-Mechanical Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, gained widespread fame at the end of the 19th century because of his application of steam power to mechano-therapy. Only a few of Zander’s more than 70 steam-powered devices were massage machines. Zander’s devices were so popular, and their application to the gymnastic movement so widely accepted, that Zander Institutes were opened throughout Europe and the United States.

George Taylor, M.D., is credited with being the first American to create a steam and foot/hand crank device, in 1880. Taylor’s “Manipulator” simply turned a wheel, which pushed a rod that created a movement on a handle or padded surface. The patient would either hold on to the handle and receive the vibration or oscillations, or sit or stand against the padded surface to receive the movement from the machine.

In 1882 Hartvig Nissen presented a new invention called “the Vibrator” in his book, A Manual of Instruction For Giving Swedish Movement and Massage Treatment. Invented by J. W. Osborne, Nissen claimed it was made especially for his institute and that, by 1889, he’d been using it with success for three years. However, Zander, Taylor and Kellogg were using mechanically applied vibration and percussion during the 1880s.

The first attempts at electrical massage were either battery-powered devices or those operated by foot or hand mechanisms moving a wheel or friction belt. One of the first battery-powered massage devices was the Swedish vibrator. This little device was made of solid brass attached to a wooden handle. Etched into the sides of the brass body are images of lightning bolts indicating the electrical character of the device.

The Brass Swedish Vibrator, a dry-cell battery-powered device, circa 1875. This tool was made of solid brass attached to a wooden handle that created an up-and-down motion of the round bakelite head.
The first alternating current electrical vibrator from 1902. Note the light-socket device at the end of the electrical cord. Because very few homes or offices had electrical outlets during the first decade of the 20th century, but did have electric lights hanging from the ceiling, the first vibrators had a screw-in device wired into the end of the cord, to place into the light bulb socket. The electrical cord was also exceptionally long because it had to reach from the ceiling to the floor.

The invention of Victorian vibrators using dry-cell batteries was the precursor to modern alkaline-battery powered vibrators, and the Victorian vibrators were often sold alongside the first alternating electric-current vibrators introduced in 1902.

The use of mechanical devices was both praised and criticized in the late 19th century. Taylor provides this discourse on the benefits of mechanical devices, in 1904: “The natural rate of motion of the voluntary muscles is considerably greater than is that of the involuntary which preside over the movements of the abdomen and its contents. The respiratory and the peristaltic movements are slower than those of the hand. It follows that motions, natural for the hand of a massage operator, do not so apply to visceral parts as to merge with and assist those of the latter. The imparted motion will not agree as to time with the pre-existing motion. This disagreement does not exist in case of the mechanical processes.”

Taylor is saying the application of the human hand to voluntary muscles, such as those used in locomotion, can be properly calibrated to coincide with the rhythm and rate of those muscles, but that the hand cannot be calibrated to coincide with the slower-moving muscles of the internal organs, such as the colon and diaphragm, whereas mechanical devices can.

Most medical applications of these new approaches to massage were applied to women. In the 1820s, physicians began inducing orgasm - by water, the hands or horseback riding - through vibration, to cure what they termed “hysteria,” in women. (The term “Hysteria” at that time referred to conditions including vertigo, anxiety, headaches, irritability, insomnia and depression.) The advent of mechanical methods of applying vibration improved the success of this practice. In her book, The Technology of Orgasm, Rachael Maines reports that physicians have failed in large part in writing about the connection between vibratory massage and the inducement of orgasm, except to say that vibratory massage was a common treatment for “hysteria.”

Today there are literally hundreds of vibrating machines available, from vibrating pillows to vibrating plastic novelty ladybugs. You can even get vibrating ball point pens. Vibrators are used by chiropractors, massage practitioners, physical therapists and by millions at home.

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Robert Noah Calvert is the founder and CEO of Massage Magazine. The material for this column comes from two sources: the World of Massage Museum’s collections and Calvert’s new book, The History of Massage published in February 2002 by Healing Arts Press.

Swedish massage did not originate in Sweden, nor was it created by a Swede. Also, in Sweden there is no “Swedish massage”; instead, massage is referred to almost universally as “classic massage.” And in most of Europe the term classic massage is much more prevalent than Swedish massage. But in America, the term classic massage is used very little, while Swedish massage is considered the classic and most basic of all massage methods.

And so the term “Swedish massage” is a misnomer in a number of ways. I don’t know of a massage textbook written during the last 100 years that does not attribute Swedish massage to Peter Henry Ling (1776-1837), a Swede. Setting aside the argument that Swedish massage is a misnomer and would be more historically correct if it were called classic massage, Peter Ling was not the creator of Swedish massage. This may come as a shock to many readers, but it is absolutely true. Peter Ling is not the “father of Swedish massage,” because Swedish massage was not a part of Ling’s Swedish Gymnastic Movements nor the curriculum of the Royal Central Gymnastic Institute founded by Ling in 1813.

Swedish massage is defined in large part by the original strokes that compose its method: effleurage (stroking), petrissage (kneading), tapotement (striking), and frictions (rubbing), with vibration added later. The French terms - effleurage, petrissage, frictions (massage a’ frictions) and tapotement - were never used by Peter Ling, by any of his successors nor by the Central Gymnastic Institute. So where did these terms come from?

Dutch practitioner Johan Georg Mezger (1838-1909) is generally credited (by physicians such as Emil Kleen and Richard Hael, who researched the origins of massage and gymnastics) as the man who adopted the French names to denote the basic strokes under which he systemized massage as we know it today, as Swedish or classic massage. Somehow, the term Swedish Movement System was transposed to Swedish Massage System sometime during the second half of the 19th century. Ling’s system was the Swedish Movement System or Swedish Gymnastic Movement System. This may be how he has become incorrectly associated for so long with Swedish massage. When the first books were written about Ling’s Swedish Gymnastic System, the writers used the French terms so prevalent since Mezger’s use of them. Later writers evidently attributed the French terms to Ling because of this.1

George Taylor, M.D., writing in 1885, uses the terms “clappings, knockings, stroking, kneading, pullings, shakings and vibratings” as the passive movements used by Ling in his Swedish gymnastic system. However, he gives very little attention to describing those movements. This may be explained first because Ling provided no explanations and second by the following passage from Taylor: “But the employment of duplicated [passive] movements, it must be confessed, is attended with difficulties that will prevent their general use as a medical resource. An ordinary course of medical instruction does not confer the necessary qualifications for their successful application; the tact necessary to prescribe and apply them properly is only acquired by long and patient practice, and the labor is excessively severe.”

Even so, by 1890 a number of physicians and non-physicians had published books describing in detail with text and illustrations the massage movements we now refer to as Swedish Massage. And Swedish, or classic, massage was used extensively in a number of sanitariums, including the great one run by John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., and other establishments in Europe and North America.

These writings and use of massage movements successfully ended the commingling of massage with any of the gymnastic or movement systems found so prevalent earlier in the century and brought about the advent of massage as a stand-alone therapeutic tool for the first time in its long history. And the first to stand alone were the massage methods systemized by Mezger and expanded upon ever since.

Footnote
1. Benjamin, Patricia, “Notations to the General Principles of Gymnastics by Pehr Henrik Ling.” Lars Agren and Patricia Benjamin, trans., Journal of the American Massage Therapy Association, winter 1987.

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Robert Noah Calvert is the founder and CEO of Massage Magazine. The material for this column comes from Calvert’s book, The History of Massage published in February 2002 by Healing Arts Press.

The use of tools - other than one’s hands, feet, or other body parts - applied to the human body in conjunction with or to supplement massage is an ancient practice. The oldest massage tool yet to be discovered is supposedly a Neolithic jade ritual blade from the Longshan culture of China, dating back to the Shang dynasty (circa 2000-1500 B.C.E.). The stone is believed to have been used either hot or cold for placing on tired and sore muscles. But the ancient stave or strigil was used more than 1,000 years before this time by the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Later, the strigil was used extensively by the Greeks and Romans to scrape oils from the body and produce friction as part of the process of massage, cold or hot baths, exercise or competitive games.

The athletes’ strigil, a device used by Roman athletes or their alliptae (”rubbers”) circa 175 B.C.E. to scrape the skin of dust, oil, and sweat after physical exercise. Modern rendering, from written accounts.

Along with the strigil, the ancient Greeks and Romans used pieces of cloth made of wool or cotton to apply friction to the body. Sometimes the treatments were harsh and drew blood from the recipient due to the course cloth and extensive friction. Ferules, made of ebony, wood or bone, were straight tools used for tapping—or what today we call tapotement.

Utilized in association with hot or steam baths, flagellation is a form of tapotement delivered by beating the body with twigs or leaved branches, usually of birch or green nettles. Flagellation is thought to be helpful in cases of atrophy and emaciation. One 20th-century writer claims it is also used “for its erotogenic [sexually exciting] effects.”

The use of heated or chilled stones is not unique to any particular part of the world, but the Chinese seem to have used this method extensively. In the World of Massage Museum (WOMM) we have a 1,000-year-old jade massage knuckle that was used to rub the body. It may have been heated or cooled, just as river rock and other stones were used. Jade, marble, basalt and many kinds of exotic stones that are dense and maleable were the most commonly used.

This Chinese Jade massage knuckle, about 1,000 years old, was used to rub the body.

About the same time the Chinese came up with tools carved from wood—or, more often, animal bones—used to apply pressure to points or replace the fingers for digging into trouble spots, the English were using tools as well. The Chinese created wooden needles or bats, while the English carved bone tools used for treating gout.

A Chinese wooden needle was used instead of the fingers to dig into the body’s pressure points.
This Chinese bat was a portable tool for massage, replacing the fist or hand and used to pat on a limb or the body.

Tools used by ancient peoples were usually made of natural products indigenous to their particular environment. For example, the guava tree that grows in the Pacific islands lent itself to the shape of a device called a Laau lomi-lomi stick, as well as rounded lava rocks called lomi-balls. Polynesians also utilized walking sticks to support and balance themselves so they could do a walking massage on their subjects.

Wooden Hawaiian Laau lomi-lomi sticks are used for self-massage of the back, and applied to specific pressure points. Originally the balls were lava rock used to clean or scrape the skin after a lomi-lomi session. (Image courtesy of San Anselmo, from Lomi-Lomi Hawaiian Massage.)
The instruments carved and used by the British admiral Henry in 1787 for self-massage: (1) a corked-head hammer covered in leather; (2) a wooden paddle for beating the heels and soles of the feet; and (3,4,5) carved bones for rubbing various parts of the body, with knobs to work among the tendons.

In the 19th century, the development of massage tools increased - and so the next installment will begin at this prolific era for tools of the trade. Continue to Part Two

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Robert Noah Calvert is the founder and CEO of Massage Magazine. The material for this column comes from two sources: the World of Massage Museum’s collections and Calvert’s new book, The History of Massage published in February 2002 by Healing Arts Press.

The electric vibrator was introduced in 1902 and thus began the broad marketing of vibrators to the general public. But the introduction of electric devices did not hinder the development and marketing of manual tools. Over time the manual tools would outnumber electric ones in sheer volume of product. Many of the manual tools introduced from 1980-1999 were remakes of the original devices that appeared a century earlier.
At one time, Racine, Wisconsin, had more than 20 manufacturing companies producing electric vibrators. Most of these products were small hand-held units sold from catalogs, retail stores and advertisements in magazines. The electric vibrator evolved from being a device used largely by barbers and massage practitioners, to one used hardly at all by barbers and very little by the massage industry, to an almost exclusive trade with the general public. Many of these devices were advertised as self-help units, but soon became related to sexual pleasure.

But this article is not about those latter types of devices; it is about the wide variety of electric and manual tools used for relaxation and self-help. As noted in the previous column, most of the earlier vibrating devices, particularly the hand-crank types, were used by physicians. With the advent of electrical devices the marketplace expanded exponentially to consumers everywhere.

One of the earliest devices, sold around the turn of the 20th century, and still sold today in a myriad of revised versions, is the original massage vibrator.

Stringed beads made of rubber, Bakelite or metal were configured on a chain of brass or other heavy metal. Vibration was achieved by rolling the beaded device over the body in long pressure strokes. Some were even made on elastic material so they could be stretched between a doorway.

The bongers, originally called the ball beaters, were first introduced about 1885. This photograph from the 1904 text Common Disorders, by W.R. Latson, shows the ball beaters being used in the treatment of female disorders.

Another hand-held device, bongers, sold today in retail stores nearly everywhere, was originally introduced in 1885. Bongers deliver vibration by pounding the body in rhythmical beats.

The physician’s use of hand-cranked vibrators in the late 19th century gave way to delegating manual therapies to the physical therapist. Over time manual therapy was almost completely replaced by electric vibrators. Faradic massage, or electric stimulation of the muscles, was quite popular within the new field of physiotherapy during the 1920s in America and Europe. Originally used as medical treatments, electric vibrators soon became quack devices. Today they are again being sold to consumers in various forms for weight reduction, to reduce muscle spasm and as muscle relaxants.

The vast array of hand tools used to rub the body found in stores today are made of common and exotic stone, molded plastics and polymers, copper, glass, crystal and even porcelain. All of these devices are merely copies of the 1,000-year-old Chinese jade massage knuckle we have in the World of Massage Museum (WOMM) collection. Some of these modern devices are shaped as turtles, dolphins and branches–there are as many shapes and colors as one can imagine.

This 1902 illustration is part of a promotional brochure that came with the purchase of this vibrator. Recommended uses were for imparting beauty to the cheeks, throat and muscles by toning.

Even the best-selling TheraCane® and Backnobber™ products have their roots in the ancient Polynesian lomi sticks. Most modern vibrators–the G-5, Thumper®‚ and others–deliver similar vibration techniques to the body as their hand-cranked predecessors did more than 100 years ago. And if you think the vibrating chairs sold today are new, think again. The vibrating chair has been around since Greek and Roman times, and as an electric device since the late 1800s.

We have a device in the WOMM collection from the 1960s that produces vibrations up and down the spine much like a sophisticated chair from Sharper Image or Panasonic, but with the kneading devices visible, not hidden inside the chair.

With all the electrical devices available today, from Thumper to Sharper Image’s high-tech recliner, the most common are manual tools used to supplement the hands that apply them. Criticisms made by physicians such as Taylor, Kleen and Kellogg more than a century ago, stating that tools could never replace the human hand, seem to have taken an interesting turn. As the electrical devices become more sophisticated and high-tech, and thus more expensive, manual tools have become more common and widely used because they cost less and are not replacements for, but extensions of the human hand that applies them.

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Robert Noah Calvert is the founder and publisher of Massage Magazine. The material for this column comes from the World of Massage Museum’s collection and Calvert’s book, The History of Massage, published in February 2002 by Healing Arts Press.

David Palmer is the San Francisco practitioner who created the world’s first massage-specific chair, the High Touch Massage Chair, in 1986. I remember visiting the factory in Santa Rosa, California, with David just a few months before its debut to see the prototype. David was excited about how the chair would revolutionize touch therapies, allowing anyone to get worked on without taking off their clothes, and to receive a full-body massage at nearly any location. His dreams have come true. Today we find the massage chair being used wherever one’s imagination may take them.

The original High Touch Massage Chair, which debuted in 1986, was created by David Palmer and manufactured by Living Earth Crafts. The photo shows the chair in its folded-up position, which allows it to be carried much like a suitcase, complete with handle and carrying strap.

An early attempt at using metal instead of wood, circa 1989. This model did not fair well, due to its poorly designed locking mechanisms that made the chair very unstable and unsafe.
The Massage Bar, created in 1993 by Cary Cruea of Seattle, Washington, utilizes a separate desktop face cradle attached to the countertop. The desktop face cradle was created about 1990 and was designed for doing massage where a chair was not available.

The latest development in massage chairs, circa 1999, this one from Golden Ratio Woodworks and the mind of owner John Fanuzzi. Many chairs look and act like this one, using high-tech tubing, quality vinyl and offering an easy-to-assemble set-up and easy-to-carry break-down. The Oakworks chair uses powder-coated aluminum and allows many adjustments.
The retail cost of that first chair was $385. With nearly a dozen manufacturers today and prices ranging from a low of $239 to a high of $551 (average $418) the chair costs about the same as a massage table.

The evolution of the massage chair since 1986 has been considerable in terms of the materials used to make them, the added features like wheels, covers and instructional videos (the first chair had no diagrams or photos on how to assemble it), the safety of transporting and adjusting a chair, and the stability and quality of the overall product.

Most notable has been the change from primarily wooden materials to high-tech metals and plastics, while the vinyls and under-padding have also improved with new technology. The range of adjustments on today’s table make the original look like a one-dimensional unit, even though the High Touch Massage Chair had a face rest, and seat, arm and leg adjustments. Today’s chairs have extensive face-cradle adjustments, and several models can take the client from a sitting position to a horizontal posture that is almost supine.

The chair has also spawned other related inventions, such as the desk-top face-cradle designed to attach to the top of a desk while the client is seated on an ordinary stool. (There’s also the new mobile massage tool for home use that provides a face-cradle at the end of your bed, supported with a metal support under the box springs and mattress.)

The massage chair has indeed been one of the most influential new tools for the practitioner since it was first introduced, and has contributed toward an expansion of the career opportunities in the industry like no other tool now on the market. David Palmer is still going strong, teaching his method of giving a session on the chair-right next to a large number of others trying to capture the market of those who want to learn how to use a massage chair and market its uses into today’s fast-paced world. Because with a massage chair, where you do massage is now as far-reaching as your own imagination.

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Robert Noah Calvert is the founder and CEO of MASSAGE Magazine. The material for this column comes from two sources: the World of Massage Museum’s collections and Calvert’s book, The History of Massage published in February 2002 by Healing Arts Press.