Massage & Exercises Combined / A permanent physical culture course for men, women and children; health-giving, vitalizing, prophylactic, beautifying; a new system of the characteristic essentials of gymnastic and Indian Yogis concentration exercises combined with scientific massage movements; with 86 illustrations and deep breathing exercises

by Albrecht Jensen

Fig. 3 C. Fig. 3 D.

Fig. 3 E. Fig. 3 F.

Bend the trunk forward, at the same time raising the right leg about four inches from the floor, so that it is slightly bent at the knee and hip and pointed somewhat forward. The weight will then rest on the left leg, the knee of which should be held as rigidly as possible. With the trunk bent forward, clutch the right leg with both hands just above the ankle in such a way, that the thumbs are in front on either side of the tibia (shin-bone). The fingers of each hand, which are kept close together are slanted downward and around the back of the leg from each side, so that the third and fourth fingers of each hand meet and touch at the middle line of the calf muscles. The palms of the hands are thus on each side of the leg, the right hand being on the right or outer side and the left on the inner or left side (Fig. 3 A).

Stroke thus with both hands simultaneously from the ankle upward over the lower right leg pressing the muscles with the thumbs and especially with the inner side of the tips of the fingers on the middle of the calf muscles.

While continuing over the knee and in order to conform the hands to the shape of the thigh, turn the thumbs more transversely over the upper side of the thigh and do the same with the fingers underneath, so that as far as possible the muscles of the thigh are influenced all around (Fig. 3 B).

The hands thus reach the groin (Fig. 3 C).

Here the right hand, the fingers pointed downward and thumb close, continues upward over the side of the hip, until the back part of the right palm is just above the crest of the ilium, or hip bone. Here it is turned around so that the fingers are pointing straight toward the left, or toward the middle line of the body. Simultaneously the left hand, at the inner side of the groin, is also turned, but in such a way that the fingers are pointed toward the right and with the back part of the palm it presses and strokes a short distance over the appendix and the lower right side of the abdomen. This is done at the same time as the right hand is stroking upward over the hip and turned around as described (Fig. 3 D). When both hands are thus turned, the left will be underneath the right, the fingers of each hand pointed in an opposite direction and the hands parallel to each other. The right foot is placed on the floor, at the time that the hands reach the groin or hip, and at the same time, the upper body is returned to an upright position, the shoulders thrown slightly backward without strain. The abdominal muscles should be neither distended nor contracted, but kept in a natural position (Fig. 3 E).

Without bending the body to sides, continue thus with both hands simultaneously across the abdomen, the right hand with fingers first, moves underneath the ribs, and pressure is exerted with the fingers and palm over the abdominal viscera (the point of the liver, the transverse colon, the region of the solar plexus, the duodenum, the pylorus, and the stomach) and finishes over on the left side, with the fingers moving between the crest of the ilium, or hip bone, and the lowest border of the ribs. The left hand with the back of the palm preceding, at the same time strokes across the lower abdomen just underneath the umbilicus or navel, and over to the left side, where it is released simultaneously with the right hand (Fig. 3 F).

Now stroke over the left leg, hip and abdomen in a similar way, but of course with this difference; that here the left hand strokes upward over the outer side of the leg, over the left hip and across the stomach from the left, above the right hand. The latter moves from the inner side of the leg, across the lower abdomen below the left hand. In other words, the left hand massages over the left leg and side and from the latter across the abdomen in the same way as the right hand does on the right side, and likewise the right hand massages over the left leg and side and from the latter across the abdomen, in the same way as does the left hand on the right side.