We think NO HANDS Massage is a great course to choose if you're looking for CPD - but then we would say that! The video below from our friends at Massage Warehouse sees several therapists from different backgrounds sharing their views on what CPD they've undertaken and would recommend - and at around 14min 30sec former student, Chris Haddon, talks about his experience of NO HANDS training. Check it out!

Wendy visited Miranda in her clinic in Herefordshire this week to film this short video. Please forgive the shaky bits, she is by no means a film expert! You can hear Wendy's voice in the background a couple of times, but mainly you will see Miranda sharing her journey from her painful days before NO HANDS to where she is now. Just see the joy on her face, and I defy anyone who spends just 8 minutes watching this not to be enthused by it. Of course if you want to get some of what Miranda's ...

I don't know where to start with this photo. This is the future. This is potential. This is love. This is support. This is excellence. This is humility. This is joy. This is the world I want to see. This. Is. Love.  (From left) NO HANDS Massage Masters Wendy Mills, Tigger MacGregor, Beth Lloyd, and B(eth) Hunt (joined here by her amazing son) gathered at the inaugural TigFest this weekend. There are other Masters not in this picture - not because they don't deserve to be here, not because ...

Massage means different things to different people: Different approaches: sports, relaxation, NO HANDS… Different impacts: pain, pleasure, and a lot in between. Different intentions: to “fix”, to be the “expert”, to deliver safe Touch for the client to use as they wish and do their own healing. So I got to thinking: what *is* my definition of what I offer as a Massage therapist? How would I, as it were, describe what a treatment with me is like to the ...

NO HANDS Therapist, Sandra Morris, has completed the full journey from the core zero strain bodywork right through transactional bodywork and to the most advanced NO HANDS strokes. She's also a NO HANDS Instructor, trained and licensed to offer the NO HANDS PRACTITIONER training. She offers both treatments and training courses in Essex.   "I started my working career as a hairdresser eventually opening my own salon in Leigh on Sea, which I ran for 22 years. When I reached ...

I’ve been utterly spoiled when it comes to Massage. After a brief dalliance with classic Swedish Massage, I got injured, found NO HANDS and never looked back. Which means I’ve also received hundreds, if not thousands, of exquisite NO HANDS treatments, both on courses and as a client. That said, I remain curious as to what’s going on in the rest of the Massage world. Every now and then I book in for a non-NO HANDS treatment – and, I confess, ...

One of the funny things about this story is that I’m convinced I first heard it on a NO HANDS Massage course, but Gerry (Pyves – founder of NO HANDS) swears blind that he first heard this story from me. Point being, if you’ve heard this story before or know its origins, please let me know! Every day things happen to us that we don’t take the time (or have the time) to ponder, process and integrate fully. They could be seemingly ...

Self-care and self-love are essential for a happy and healthy life. Even more so when working within the healing world - as therapists we are exposed to more stories of hurt, pain and trauma than many people hear in a lifetime. And that's on top of events in our own lives. Kim McMillen's poem, As I began to love myself, puts the journey towards self-care and self-love utterly beautifully (you can find it below). As is so often the case, the words of a gifted author offer a beautiful ...

The role of Massage in addressing and resolving trauma is a rapidly expanding field. Seeing Touch be recognised as a vital part of healing, especially in the challenging realm of trauma therapy, is a real victory. Especially for NO HANDS therapists who have been offering their clients the Touch, boundaries and communication which makes safe trauma release possible. This recent On Being podcast with renowned trauma therapist & researcher, Bessel van der Kolk, is fascinating on many levels ...

What a man: I was sad to hear of the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Boxing Day. However, as sure as life is not possible without death, this news prompted me to re-examine the incredible man he was. There's an excellent and comprehensive Wikipedia page about him which I enjoyed reading to get more of a feel of him as a person. The quote that stood out for me was this, from his time at St Peter's Theological College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. The college's principal, Godfrey ...

By Master Tigger MacGregor Last day of advent! When I was little I was always foxed by the advent calendars that stopped on the 24th - I mean, the 25th's the big day, right? And no, it wasn't all about the chocolate: I never had a chocolate advent calendar as a child - instead we had a stash of advent calendars that had been bought over the years and I got to have several in different places in the house. Mainly because I could never manage to choose my favourite... Every journey has to end and ...

I Choose Love I wrote about Love being a Doing Thing a few days back. Sometimes the "doing" looks suspiciously like doing nothing at all. Especially when it comes to choose what to say - and what not to say. Good communication has always been immensely important to me. Call me a pedant and I'll wear it as a badge of honour. One of the wonderful things about coming to NO HANDS Massage courses as a student was the outstanding communication I discovered. Generous. Compassionate. Clear. ...

Life as a Massage therapist can be incredibly lonely. Perhaps that's one of the reasons so many therapists attend courses in a range of different treatments and approaches: this is their opportunity to be with fellow professionals, to connect. The downside is becoming a "Jack of All Trades" - and Master of none. But the subject of specialism or generalism is one for another day. In addition to courses, there are also lots of therapist groups - both virtual and in person. These can be a ...

The most common greeting at this time of year is "Merry Christmas!" Although now very much a cultural celebration, the origins of this celebration are, of course, the birth of Jesus Christ, at the very heart of the Christian tradition. Being agnostic, and respecting the roots of things, celebrating Christmas doesn't really do it for me. Next up comes "Happy New Year!" I wanted to get behind this and I tried really hard. It was the end of one year and the beginning of the next! Woo hoo! Yeah, ...

We live in a world where a lot of money is made by making us feel inadequate - and hence need to buy the next "great product/experience". It's not enough to have a loving community and a simple life - you need a bigger house, a shinier car, a more toned belly, different coloured hair, make-up that obscures the lines and marks on your skin that make you, you. The list goes on. You know this list. You live this list. This constant yearning and striving for more, bigger, better in every aspect of ...

We live in a world that rewards fast. Where quality is often sacrificed in favour of quantity. Where people work incredibly long hours to be able to afford two weeks of rest by a pool in the Maldives. Yet slow really is beautiful. Entirely counter-cultural yet still beautiful. There is nothing I enjoy more than watching a room full of NO HANDS therapists as they explore just how slow they can go. How slow they can go while also maintaining the flow that is so characteristic of a NO HANDS ...

Something about the current situation with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has brought back echoes of the days before the very first UK lockdown. We know so much more than we did then: about COVID-19, about masks, about lockdowns, about lateral flow tests and PCR tests (I just looked it up: PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction). We also know how much uncertainty there is in life - to a degree I definitely used to take for granted. Running away and hiding from it all isn't an ...

Touch can be an incredible healer. But ONLY if there is true consent. Sometimes it's explicit verbal consent. Sometimes it's body language - the way someone opens their arms for a hug, they way they lean in to a gentle stroke on the arm. Yet sometimes consent is virtually impossible to achieve because the person in the position to give consent has never been taught that their body is their own - that it is their right to say yes, or no. This can happen in a multitude of ways but until that ...

Tolerance. Three short syllables. Often a whole heap of energy required! There are some things in life that shouldn't be tolerated: bad relationships, bad jobs, bad political systems. But sometimes knowing what we can tolerate - and what's too much - is vital to keeping going. It's for this reason that Dan Siegel's Window of Tolerance model is such a valuable part of theory - and why it's part of every session, nay every conversation, I hold space for. In brief, the Window of ...

I saw this cartoon online recently and really liked it. The one thing I felt it missed, though, was the fact that love doesn't come in a box. Because Love is a Doing Thing. Saying "I love you" can be a throw away linguistic habit - or it can be an act of great bravery and courage. Acting in a way that shows your love brings a whole new significance and weight to it. That might be love for a friend: giving them a call when you know they're having a hard time. Love for your community: ...

I don't know what it's like with you today, but where I am it is undoubtedly a "book on the sofa by the fire" day. And today the book in question is Gerry's In Celebration of Feet. This is, by far, my favourite of Gerry's trilogy about NO HANDS. Bold statement! Well, The Principles and Practice of NO HANDS Massage is, of course, a classic. It has lots of pictures and breaks down into chunks well - but it's still much more akin to a textbook. In Celebration of Feet, however, is ...

Thirty years ago a therapist arrived at work. He had a busy day ahead: and work-generated injuries to both wrists. His first client of the day was a Russian opera singer by the name of Anton*. Think classic, rather rotund opera singer: that was Anton. Anton liked DEEP Massage. Anton would not be satisfied with the gentle stroking work that the therapist could offer without pains shooting up his arms. And just as the therapist realised this, and panic struck in, his body wisdom took over and NO ...

Yesterday I talked about the wonders of the EARTH treatment for resting. Today I'm talking rest AGAIN - this time, something you can do from the comfort of your home or even your favourite "getaway" spot: READING. Forgive me if I sound like an enthusiastic librarian at this point, but books - I mean, how awesome are books? Yes, e-readers are convenient, but for me, nothing beats getting your hands on a physical item, something that has been lovingly crafted, printed and dispatched direct ...

Every regular NO HANDS client knows exactly the type of Touch that will help them best, but there are certain patterns that occur again and again. So when a new client arrives in need of rest and recuperation two treatments are my absolute "Go to": the first is the EARTH treatment. This treatment is SLOW. This treatment is DEEP. During the session your tissues will be powerfully compressed - without any pain. They will be given space to expand and realign. The ...

Sunday is traditionally known as a "day of rest". But are there really any days of rest any more? Being busy seems to have become the thing to aspire to - "resting" a weakness rather than a necessity for living. This time of year in particular, with preparations for festivities and the closing of the year, rest often gets shoved to the bottom of the "to do" list. If we look to nature at this time of year all its energies are focused towards resting. Recuperation. Gathering energies. Minimising ...

The Chair. Oh, the Chair! My own relationship with Chair-based Massage has been a varied one but, I confess, right now it's an absolute love affair. The humble Chair is SO EASY. Other than the face cradle cover, there are no towels or coverings to worry about. It can be sanitised in less than a minute. The client doesn't need to undress. The practitioner can work from standing or from a stool. There's loads of space to move around (even in a room which would feel a bit "tight" for ...

We all need some nurturance in our life. A bit of TLC. And Touch is a MASSIVE part of this. A hug. A cuddle with a pet. Gently touching someone's arm. A Massage. Of all the different treatments NO HANDS therapists offer, the NO HANDS NURTURE treatment is very often their "favourite" or "go to". Because, by their nature, Massage therapists tend to be carers and nurturers, wanting to look after those around them (and then some!) The NO HANDS NURTURE treatment is a treatment that ...

The hard truth is that for some people, when they say "Massage" they actually mean "Sex". Euphemisms are funny in that these people will often do anything to avoid actually asking for sexual services - which means there are two people in a conversation talking about totally different things! One of the best ways to approach this is like you would do any interaction: with introductions. The text message that arrives from an unrecognised number: "Do you do Massage?" The phone call: "I'm ...

By Master Sam Beckett  During my Assessment year, I went for 3 consecutive Master Support Sessions with Master Sophie (Atkinson). Though a little daunting, I relished the opportunity to have constructive feedback from a Master about the strengths and weaknesses of my Massage. Firstly, I wanted to know that I was embodying the Postural Keys. For instance, was I really Falling? Was my work Flowing? Next, I wanted to know that the styles of Massage that I was offering were actually ...

Tigger, now co-owner of the NO HANDS Massage Company Ltd,  was one of the four new Masters of the 2010 cohort. She started her training in NO HANDS in 2006 at the very first TRANSFORMING TOUCH course (now integrated into our PRACTITIONER course) at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Little did she know the significance NO HANDS would have in her life when she arrived at that first course thinking to herself "Wow! The Royal College of Surgeons are so cool - they burn incense! I never ...

By Master Tigger MacGregor An earlier post included the story of me and my “sugar crutches”. Well, my most recent “crutch realisation” happened a couple of weeks ago and coincided with a pile of stress and a general feeling of being too sugar-dependent and bloated. So I cracked out my Belly Ball. When the Belly Ball was launched I was lucky enough to be among the first to try it out. I followed the suggested regime pretty much to the letter (no days off, no ...

By Master Tigger MacGregor You may not know, and perhaps even be surprised to hear, that I've got a thing for Irn Bru. It wasn't always Irn Bru. It started with Fentiman's Curiosity Cola, progressed to their Cherry Tree Cola (yummity yum!) and has now evolved to Irn Bru. I don't see the occasional consumption of any of these as a problem. However, it was when I realised there was a point in my afternoon that I would start counting down to my bottle of Fentiman's (latterly my can of Irn Bru) ...

By Master Tigger MacGregor One of the first things taught in my NO HANDS journey was to learn as a client. I confess, it wasn’t the thing I remember most from my first course. As with so many things in NO HANDS, those four little words, learn as a client, mask with simplicity a very deep and broad topic. Those words are a gateway to a world of learning and exploration which I still feel I’m only beginning to scratch the surface of. For me, a big part of being a client is ...

By Mimi Ness, NO HANDS Master  Some of you may know that I failed at my first attempt to become a Master.  At the exam feedback I was encouraged to "do it my way". Easier said than done after a lifetime of being culturally conditioned in Malaysia to do what is expected of me! How to change such an ingrained habit? So I decided to "walk the talk" and booked in for a Transformational Treatment* with Master Robin. Well, it was just incredible.  I took a ...

By Gerry Pyves, NO HANDS Massage Founder & Creator Ever since I started my first training in therapeutic Massage, I found myself nursing a conviction that deep and powerful Massage was having a profound PSYCHOLOGICAL effect on both myself and my clients. Twenty eight years and over 20,000 treatments later I find this conviction permeates every fibre of my being, just like rings permeate the trunk of a tree. This conviction has become part of who I am. Nor has this belief come from merely ...

The NO HANDS Massage Company was founded in 2001 by NO HANDS creator, Gerry Pyves. Over the years NO HANDS has developed and evolved but always under one simple yet powerful mission statement: To heal the world through the power of transformational touch You can read the full mission statement at the end of this post The NO HANDS story started with one therapist (Gerry) desperately wanting to continue to share the power of touch but finding himself injured. By ...