This website covers the range of Advanced Massage courses that I teach. Each of these self-contained courses is designed to extend your practical massage skills and to enhance what you can offer your clients.

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 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 class.

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

I am presently working on a new (3rd) edition of my book Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology for Massage which I hope to have available to buy via Amazon.co.uk (print-on-demand) in spring 2026. In the meantime, I have copies of the 2nd edition for sale personally so contact me via the contact page of this website to buy one.

My Approach: I call my style Dynamic Massage to highlight the potential richness for both parties in massage sessions:

For clients – that it’s not just about relaxation (important though this can be for many people – their time out from the stresses of daily life), but can also include:

• deep massage work (done in a non-aggressive way);
• 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 in relation tothe body’s ‘natural rhythms (rather than trying to impose rhythms);
• the valuable vibration and percussion techniques of the massage repertoire (which are often, unfortunately, underused or misused);
• stretches and mobilsations that can redress and balance up the restricted habits that can arise in life, especially in desk jobs;
• all of which can offer the client a refreshing different experience of their body that is a contrast from daily life, especially the sedentary life.
• working to create a relaxing, trustworthy atmosphere for the client
• without breaking the mood, using some techniques that are challenging but manageable for the client, when appropriate (‘good pain’), – but not ‘bad pain’ (unmanageable for the client).

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

• looking after their own hands and body as they work, using them efficiently and effectively and working as easily as possible (working smarter not harder)
• 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 pulling as well as pressing techniques
• incorporating stretches for their own body as they stretch the client
• 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).