SWEDISH, HAWAIIAN & BALINESE MASSAGE — A COMPARATIVE ESSAY

When I was in massage school, learning that there are all different styles (“modalities”) of massage from all around the world was daunting to me. I couldn’t yet comprehend what that might look like. I thought, if I can get the hang of just one style and do that really well, it’d be an accomplishment.

And I wasn’t wrong, but once I had Swedish down (it’s usually what’s taught first in massage schools in America), I was really intrigued when I began learning Shiatsu. On our first day of class the instructor asked us to define massage, and I raised my hand and gave some rehearsed answer I’d learned about using the hands to manipulate soft tissue. Oh, the instructor said, You can use more than just hands. I’ll show you.

I hadn’t realized how useful knuckles, forearms and elbows could be. And even feet and knees! This instructor would hop up on the table and blow our minds daily.

So when I finished school I thought I’d specialize in Shiatsu. But then I was introduced to Lomi Lomi (Hawaiian) massage in a brief training at a spa and thought, maybe this is more my thing.

Years later, I was lucky enough to spend a year in Hawaii (mostly Kaua’i, then the Big Island for two months) doing volunteer work. I lived in a volunteer house on the beach and worked on community garden projects.

We were only required to work 25 hours a week for room and board, so the rest of our time we were free to travel the island and enjoy the beaches. But each of us volunteers (we called ourselves the “Ohana”) had our thing we did that filled our “mana,” the Hawaiian word for life force or spiritual energy. For a few it was learning the ukulele (pronounced “oo-koo-leh-leh,” I’d never known that). For a couple others it was surfing. For one it was learning the hula at a community center, for another it was Hawaiian history. For yet another it was patronizing bars and tattoo shops and forming genuine friendships with native Hawaiians. I dabbled in all of these things (even surfing, for about ten minutes before I paddled back to shore, horrified) until I found my thing. It was going to the library every weekend, stocking up on Lomi Lomi Massage books and Hawaiian language books.

I’d like to say I became semi fluent, but that’s a stretch. I can say that I learned a lot of grammar, a good amount of vocabulary, and have a good basic grasp of the language (my goal was to read and write Hawaiian poems without the aid of an English-Hawaiian dictionary; maybe one day). I did attempt to find a Lomi Lomi Kumu (teacher), but failing that, I got all the books and videos I could and tried my best to embrace the spirit of the practice.

The spirit was what I most appreciated. The idea behind Lomi Lomi is that you say a simple prayer before and after a massage session, and that you imagine the healing power of your higher being flows through your body and into the person you’re touching. Your higher power guides your hands, and allows you to intuitively feel what’s going on and how to promote wellness through touch. You pray for guidance before, truly connect with your client, then say a prayer of thanks afterwards. Breathing is also an important component of Hawaiian massage. Ideally, both the client and practitioner take long, deep breaths during sessions. This helps to connect spiritually and also enhances awareness.

Years later, I found that Balinese massage has a similar but also different spiritual concept behind bodywork. We are all divinely connected, and when we touch another person with a healing hand we tap into that divine connection to gain a deep understanding of their body. We honor the interconnectedness of all beings and appreciate that we are all one with the divine. This grants us compassion and empathy through touch.

Swedish massage doesn’t have an underlying spiritual element, but I appreciate it just the same. Its goal is to promote relaxation, reduce muscle tension, and improve mobility through soothing and then invigorating massage strokes. It was originally created to help athletes recover from all their hard work. Actually, to me those things are divine on their own.

Though I generally start all my sessions with aromatherapy and palpation (feeling/compressing parts of the body to assess tone, temperature and texture), each modality progresses differently depending on what you’ve booked, or what we decide during intake will be most helpful for you.

Traditionally, Hawaiian massage is done with Kukui nut oil, Balinese massage is done with Coconut oil, while Grapeseed oil is a popular choice for Swedish, though some people also use lotion or creme.

Aromatherapy is an important component of Balinese massage, with the two most popular choices being Frangipani, an oil extracted from the plumeria flower that grows in Morocco and many regions of Asia (the flower has been imported to Hawaii as well, along with many many other flowers. In Kaua’i, I went to the Allerton Garden, where in a tiny greenhouse were displayed all the plants native to Hawaii. It really was tiny and all of them were green. Many of the beautiful flowers and plants and trees in Hawaii were imported at some point, some from England and Africa, many from Asia. Hawaii simply didn’t have time to develop a wider variety of foliage as it only popped out of the ocean about 70 million years ago, compared to 2 billion or so years all the other earth’s land has been around), and also for some reason Lemongrass (cool with me, I love its fresh scent).

For Lomi Lomi massage, I like to choose tropical fruit or floral scents we associate with the island, such as grapefruit, pineapple, or lotus flower. (I’m eyeing some fresh scents from Sarah’s Sweet Scrubs, a Hawaiian based essential oils shop, for the summer — Pikake [jasmine] and Lilikoi.)

Here is a breakdown of massage strokes according to modality. You may notice some overlap; strokes that are simply called by different names (people across oceans doing similar things, I think that’s pretty cool).

Swedish Massage:

Effleurage: to begin the massage, gentle long flowing strokes are used to apply oil and warm up tissue. Typically done with the hands and palms, sometimes with the forearms.

Petrissage: Kneading strokes. People often compare them to a cat kneading a blanket, or a baker kneading dough, and they’re more similar to the latter. Swedish kneading strokes are done with the hands facing each other at about a 45 degree angle.

Friction: done with the fingers, thumbs and sometimes palms, these invigorating strokes reduce muscle tension and generate heat. These strokes can be deep and are usually circular.

Vibration: a quick rocking motion while gripping the muscle, these strokes also reduce tension and may boost circulation to the area.

Tapotement: percussive, tapping movements with loose hands. I usually do these over a blanket, sheet or towel. These strokes invigorate and are a good wake-up for the body at the end of a session.

Hawaiian (Lomi Lomi) Massage:

Kaomi: compression, to assess tissue and palpate muscle for tone, texture and temperature

Hamo: to anoint with oil, the sacred act of spreading oil on the body with gentle strokes (similar to Swedish effleurage).

Kahi: light, gliding strokes with the hands, side of hands, and forearms. These strokes are so versatile, because you can restrict them to an area of the body, or undrape a larger section of the body (some Lomi Lomi practitioners will undrape the whole body except for a square of cloth over the genital region, but I find this approach may make people feel too cold or exposed, so I limit it to a section, or maybe half of the body at a time) and glide in a smooth movement with both forearms. You can incorporate gentle stretching with Kahi, such as hanging an arm or a leg off the table and gliding up and down with the forearms. It is a long, flowing and balancing stroke that is soothing and really awakens the senses.

Kupele: kneading strokes. These kneading strokes actually ARE similar to a cat kneading a blanket because the hands are facing the same direction. Rather than the hands working against each other in opposition, they’re working together on the same bands of muscle.

Opa: grasping the skin lightly between the thumb and first two fingers, lifting and letting go, in rapid succession. This move is supposed to be stimulating to the nervous system, and some people include it in Swedish massage but call it “fulling.” I use it sparingly.

Ku’i: tapping motions at the end of the massage. These percussive movements are the same as Swedish massages’ tapotement.

Balinese Massage:

Bon: aromatherapy, used at the start and during the massage, by having the client inhale and anointing base oil with essential oil.

Urat: pressure point work to release energy blockages. Balinese massage is influenced by Indian and Southeast Asian styles of massage, so acupressure and reflexology have made its way into the mix. I like to start with pressure point work to assess where blockages may be. Balinese also call energy flow or life force “chi”. You can find different maps of pressure points of the body depending on what source you’re using, some simple and some very detailed. I like to start with basic pressure points and then let my hands guide me intuitively.

Pikur: deep pressure with thumbs. This is similar to trigger point work, using sustained pressure to release hypertonicity (tightness, often from chronic overuse) in muscles. Some Balinese massage therapists use tools to add pressure; I use a rosewood massage tool. So much deep pressure work is done with the elbows, forearms or sticks, which is effective, but the great thing about Pikur is that it really targets specific muscle tissue.

Pukulan: fast, rhythmic strokes with the palms. You can use both palms at once, or one palm while the other hand guides. Pukulan generates heat and stimulates the nervous system.

Digdag: this funny word is a term for circular movements with the thumbs. This is similar to friction in Swedish massage. Either Digdag or Swedish friction can also be cross-fiber, meaning working against the grain of the muscle to achieve deeper pressure. You can also use friction strokes with the grain of the underlying muscle but against the grain of the overlaying muscle for deeper work (some people define deep tissue massage this way).

Really, Swedish, Hawaiian, and Balinese can be done with light/soft, medium/firm, or hard/deep pressure. Hawaiian massage traditionally uses a more moderate pressure, while Swedish is done with moderate to hard, vigorous pressure, at least after effleurage is complete, and Balinese is traditionally deeper. And focus areas can always be incorporated.

There are different offshoots and subsets within all these modalities as well. Balinese massage can include other styles such as Lombok, Balinese Boreh, and Javanese Lulur Ritual (I don’t know these styles, but I’ll get back to you when I’ve learned about them). Temple Style Lomi Lomi incorporates dancing movements, and in A’e Lomi Lomi, the massage therapists walks on the client’s back, using a long stick for balance. The American version of Swedish massage is a light to medium pressure relaxation massage using long flowing strokes.

So which modality is my favorite? Which three of my children is my favorite child? (Just kidding, I don’t have any children.) But seriously, I love them all. I love them each for different reasons and purposes and some styles will be more helpful than others at any given time on any given client. I do love blending them, too. My specialty has long been a Swedish-Hawaiian blend, but the other blends are fantastic too (I think of them as Bali-Swedish and Bali Lomi).

What’s most important for me is that there is always a goal and a purpose behind what I’m doing, and that I’m focused and connected. When I have awareness of the techniques I’m using and their origins, I think that comes through in my work.

So in booking any of these modalities, don’t worry whether you’ve chosen the “right one.” We can always, always customize. (Remember, too, that one style doesn’t cost more than another. That’s not my, well, style.) You can always go with the signature massage, where I use your input and my intuition as a guide, but I also love it when someone’s drawn to a particular style. So if you’re in doubt, just take a quiet moment to yourself and ask your body — if you’re listening it’ll usually tell you what it needs.