Two Hearts Bodywork

The side body might be one of the most underworked areas, and your clients can feel the difference when you finally get there.

Lats, serratus, intercostals, and QL all live along the side of the body. They help us breathe, reach overhead, and rotate, and they get skipped in a lot of sessions.

One (of many ways)to work it:

1. Bring the arm overhead if client comfort & mobility allows. It opens the ribs and puts the lat on stretch.
2. Slow pulling strokes along the side ribs.
3. Reach underneath to get the back edge of the lat and QL you can’t reach from the top.

Go slow on purpose. Slow, steady pressure on the side ribs feels grounding instead of ticklish. The video is sped up so you can see the full movement.

This is the first in our underworked areas series. Follow along for the rest!

P.S. Want a ready-to-film reel idea like this for every day of November? Comment CHALLENGE and we’ll send you the details. 🎃 (or check out the link we added in the reel)

If you want clients walking out standing taller, the front of the shoulder deserves more of your time than it usually gets.

Two techniques in this one:

1. Collarbone pinch. Grab pec major and the anterior delt right where they attach to the collarbone, then lower the arm out to the side. The fibers lengthen right under your fingers.

2. Subscap with passive rotation. Subscapularis sits on the front of the shoulder blade, so you reach it through the armpit. Rotating the arm out lengthens it while you hold. Go slow here, since nerves and vessels run through that space.

The video is sped up so you can see the full movement. In real life, both of these are great to move slow and steady. You can also incorporate active movement on the clients end!

Save this for your next desk-job client 🧑‍💻

Do you work subscap in your sessions, or does it make you nervous? 👇

Here’s some more things you can tell us:
• I actually don’t like (stretching, hot stones, my feet worked, etc)
• I’m cold, can I have another blanket?
• I’m hot, can we turn off the table warmer?
• I changed my mind, let’s just do my upper body, not the full body.
• actually, can you go spend some more time on my feet again?
• that thing you just did, I loved it, can you do it more??
• can you turn the music down?
• can I go to the bathroom real quick? (Even if it’s mid session)

This is YOUR massage and we encourage you to speak up! Some people definitely do and we always appreciate it because then we can make your experience better and learn what your body likes, needs, and responds to the best. 🙌🏼

Clients: Which one have you always wanted to ask but never have?
MTs: which request do you wish clients made more often? Or what would you add to the list?

Our practice didn’t notice but our online business definitely did.

When we pulled back from posting like we used to, our massage practice didn’t change at all. We stayed fully booked. Word of mouth, our cancellation list, and our Google business profile kept doing their job. In July our practice grossed $22k between Cody, me, and our part-time MT, with Cody and me taking clients just 15 days a month.

The online side was a different story. In February we had our best online month ever at $13k. Now we float around $4k in monthly online income. Which is still incredible and was a mere dream at one point.

Digital products aren’t passive. I wish they were. Yes, we’ve made sales while we slept, but only because we put in constant work to get there. An online business needs you to keep showing up.

After our daughter was born, our plates got too full. Parenting, our home, a full practice with a growing team, constant posting, and an entire digital business. Something had to give, and honestly, it was my mental health.

So we pulled back. I won’t pretend it’s been easy. I poured so much into building this, and it’s scary watching those numbers drop. But I can’t go back to a pace that was never sustainable.

Right now we’re choosing us. Building movement routines, going to therapy weekly, spending more time as a family, and getting clear on what we actually want this next chapter to look like.

We’re still here. Just showing up differently 💕

Have you ever had to slow your business down to take care of yourself? Tell me what that looked like for you 👇🏼

This is what to do and how to do it

Leave your questions and I’ll answer them all! 💚💸

Yes, I sit on the massage table. And yes, their arm goes over my leg. 👀

A few things that make this work:
🤍 Draping matters. I lay a pillowcase over my lap so their arm rests on clean fabric, not my clothing.
🤍 During the pec stretch, you can use that same pillowcase to shield the side of the chest. Super helpful for bigger-chested clients, or anyone who’d feel more comfortable covered.
🤍 Consent first, always. I’ve seen comments saying people would never put a client’s arm between their legs like this. I get it! But with informed consent, clear communication, and real respect for the work, positioning like this can create an amazing experience for your client.
Using your own body as a tool lets you reach muscles in ways your hands alone can’t. Sitting on the table is just one example.

Do you like seeing technique content like this? Should we share more? Like, follow, and drop a comment so we know 👇