I’ve been a massage trainer since 1982, and I’m now focused on giving back to the profession through my books and teaching. I love opening up the horizons of what is possible in massage/bodywork for new practitioners as well as refreshing established practitioners.

For 40 years, I’ve been passionate about helping massage practitioners to protect their hands and body while using them most effectively – and thus maintain their career. This includes developing Advanced Hands Free Massage – the skilful, sensitive use of the forearm and elbow to save the hands – over the last 30 years.

This website covers the range of Advanced Massage courses that I teach. Each of these self-contained courses is designed to teach you practical skills that you can immediately incorporate into your massage treatments (with a little practice).

Please contact me if you would like further information about my classes, or if you’d like me to come and teach for your group.

All the best
Darien Pritchard

News:

Online ‘stretch-and strengthen’ classes: I teach weekly online ‘exercise’ classes. There are spaces in my new ‘beginners’ Keep Moving class (chair exercises for seniors) for people who want to keep their bodies flexible and active at home. There are also spaces in my weekly online Feldenkrais classes.

My book: I am excited that the new edition of my book Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology for Massage is now available as a print-on-demand paperback from Amazon. This total rewrite of the massage student textbook that I co-wrote over 20 years ago covers the UK massage training syllabus. It also provides useful information that will help massage practitioners in their professional careers.

Find the book on Amazon

My Approach: I call my style Dynamic Massage to point to the richness of experience (for the client) that I feel can be encompassed in a massage session, depending on the client’s needs:

• to indicate that it’s not just about relaxation (important though that can be for many clients – time out from the stresses of daily life);
• and including deep massage work for clients;
• but it can also incorporate techniques that can be quietly enlivening for the client (without leaving them feeling ‘wired) – e.g. rhythmical, rocking techniques applied in a non-jarring way that aims to discover the body’s ‘natural rhythms (rather than trying to impose rhythms); and also the valuable vibration and percussion techniques of the massage repertoire (which, unfortunately, are so often underused or misused);
• and stretches and mobilsations that begin to redress and balance up the restricted habits that can arise in life, especially in desk jobs;
• all designed to offer the client a refreshing different experience of their body that is a contrast from daily life, especially the sedentary life.

And it needs to be supported by the practitioner’s own dynamic approach to how they work in sessions:

• not standing or working stiffly, or tensing to deliver pressure
• but relying on their body (not just their hands) for power and movement
• moving, swaying and changing position to use their bodyweight
• using their hands creatively to reduce their workload and protect/save them as much as possible
• learning to work “Hands Free’ and use the wonderful forearm and elbow tools with skill and sensitivity (not in a stiff, brutal way)
• pulling as well as pressing
• incorporating stretches for their own body as they stretch the client
• working to create a relaxing, trustworthy atmosphere for the client
• and, without breaking the mood, also challenging clients with some ‘good pain’ (when appropriate) for some of the massage session