Why Your Breathing Matters When Giving a Massage
When we learn massage, we spend a great deal of time concentrating on our hands, different techniques, applying pressure, and how to recognise what is happening beneath our fingers. We also learn about posture and how to use our body weight effectively. But I encourage all of you massage therapists to pay attention to your breathing as well. How often do we think about what we are doing with our own breath during a treatment?
For me, breathing is an important part of how I apply pressure and move during a treatment. Not only that, but also how I look after my own body while working. It is something very simple, yet it can make a noticeable difference to the way we perform massage.
How breathing helps you apply pressure during massage
If I’m placing my hands or forearms onto the body and preparing to apply pressure, I don’t immediately push down using the strength of my arms. I take a breath first. Then, as I breathe out, I gradually lean into the client’s body, allowing my body weight to create the pressure rather than trying to generate it through muscular effort.
This changes the way we approach pressure. Instead of forcing our way into the tissue, we’re allowing the movement to happen gradually because the pressure builds as we exhale and lean forward, giving us time to feel how the client’s body is responding.
I think this is particularly important when working with deeper massage techniques, where there can sometimes be a temptation to believe that we need to use more strength to achieve a result. But applying deeper pressure doesn’t necessarily mean working harder with our hands and arms but learning how to use our own bodies more intelligently.
Why gradual pressure matters in deep tissue massage
When we apply pressure too suddenly, particularly into an area that is already sensitive or holding tension, the experience can become uncomfortable for the client. Instead, I prefer to approach the tissue gradually, allowing myself time to feel what is happening beneath my hands or forearms. And breathing out as I lean into the treatment helps me control that movement. I can increase the pressure progressively, paying attention to the resistance I feel and how the client responds.
Coordinating our breathing with our movements can help us avoid rushing into pressure or relying on unnecessary force. And I think that is an important distinction, especially for any of you therapists who are still developing your confidence with deep tissue massage.
Using your breath instead of relying on strength
There’s a common misconception that an effective massage requires a great deal of physical strength. Doing so, you’ll find yourself pushing through your shoulders, tightening your arms or placing too much demand on your wrists and hands. Over time, working in this way can become exhausting.
I want all of us therapists to understand that our bodies should support the work we do. We shouldn’t be relying on the strength of our hands for every movement, particularly when we have our body weight available to us. Breathing out and leaning into a technique means the movement is supported by my whole body. My arms can remain relatively relaxed while my body weight helps me apply pressure.
This is also why the height of your massage table and the way you position your body are so important because your table should be at a height that allows you to bend your knees and lean on your client comfortably without rounding your back or reaching awkwardly towards the client. Your breathing, posture and movement begin to work together.
This doesn’t mean you should hold your breath between strokes or force yourself to breathe in a particular rhythm throughout the entire treatment. The idea is to remain comfortable and use a natural exhalation to support the movement when applying pressure. For me, this is a much more sustainable way of working than constantly trying to create pressure through physical strength.
Breathing also helps us become more aware of our movements
There’s another reason I believe paying attention to our breathing is valuable, and that is the awareness it brings to our work. When we’re concentrating on applying pressure, it can be easy to become tense without even realising it like tightening our shoulders, holding our breath, or become so focused on the technique that we stop noticing what is happening in our own bodies.
I encourage you to become aware of these habits and ask yourself why. Sometimes, simply noticing your breathing gives you an opportunity to adjust how you’re working.
I also believe it encourages us to slow down and pay closer attention to the client’s response. When we aren’t rushing to apply pressure, we have more opportunity to feel the tissue beneath our hands and make thoughtful decisions about what the body needs.
Practising breath-led pressure during your treatments
If this isn’t something you’ve consciously thought about before, explore it during your next appropriate treatment or practice session. Start with a technique you already know well, using your hands or forearms in a position where you can comfortably transfer your body weight. Try gradually increasing pressure as you breathe out.
Pay attention to how it feels in your own body, but also to what you can feel beneath your hands. The aim is not to reach a particular depth before you’ve finished exhaling. It’s to allow your breathing to support a controlled, responsive movement. Keep checking that the pressure is appropriate and comfortable for your client and remember that there is no need to force the movement if the tissue isn’t responding in the way you expected.
You may find that something as simple as becoming aware of your exhalation helps you recognise where you’ve been using more effort than necessary. And the more you practise, the more naturally your breathing and movement can begin to work together.