Website: Home
Page About Us
Healing Sessions The Energies Training Courses Training Manuals Information Centre Newsletters
_________________________________________________________________________________
Massage
Table – Purchase Guidance
This page is based in part
upon an extract from my training manuals and gives some tips on points to
consider for energy healing students who wish to buy their first massage table.
Much of this is common sense and seemingly obvious. However, there is a history
of people going out and buying massage tables of a design that are fine for a
client to lay on but are difficult for the healer to
work around so the following guidance might be helpful.
Useful
tips
- Massage tables can be fold-up or
fixed (that is, they do not fold-up). If you are likely to visit clients
in their own homes, you will need a fold-up table.
- If you are going to take a fold-up
table to a client’s home, consider purchasing a light weight table so that
you can carry it easily and so that you can lift it in and out of your car
easily. There is no point in having good intentions to help other people
if you hurt your own back through lifting a very heavy table.
- If you are going to take a fold-up
table to a client’s home, make sure that you can buy one that comes with a
cover. That will protect the surface of the table from being scratched and
torn.
- Check that the material that the
massage table is covered in can be washed easily and that it will be
durable. Check also that the construction of the fold-up mechanism of the
legs of the table will be sufficiently robust to survive the table being
put and up down hundreds or thousands of times over the years.
- If you feel that you might like to
work a lot with crystals in due course, consider getting a wide table
which will allow you to place crystals on the table around the client’s
body.
- If you are not very tall and have
short arms, buying a wide table might be uncomfortable or not very
practical for you if you have to keep over stretching yourself when
placing hands on the far side of a client’s body.
- It will be necessary from time to
time for you to spend part or all of the time during a healing session in standing
position around the client. To minimise the risk of your back suffering
from the constant bending over the client (especially if you are tall), it
would be helpful to consider the best table height for you. Tables are
made either to standard heights, can be tailor made to suit your personal
height, or might have adjusters on the legs so that the height of the
table can be changed.
- As it is likely that some of your
time spent with clients will be with you in a sitting position, check that
the construction of the legs and of any wires that support the structure
of the table will enable you to put your knees and feet under the table in
a comfortable way both at the ends and at the sides. Not all constructions
let you do this. If you cannot get your legs and knees under the table in
a satisfactory way when you are sitting at a table, you will end up being
very uncomfortable.
- If possible, I would recommend that
you consider buying a table where there are not just legs for the corners
of the table but also where there are legs supporting the middle of the
table. Some of your clients might be quite heavy, and the additional
support given by the legs in the middle will help your table to last
longer. If you cannot obtain a table with this construction, it is likely
that tension wires will be used instead to hold the corner legs of the
table in place and to provide stability for the structure. In this case,
please check with the supplier what testing has been undertaken to ensure
that the strength of the wire construction is adequate for normal day to
day weight loads.
·
Wood is a poor conductor of energy and
metal is a very good conductor of energy. If you sit at a table with a metal
frame and legs, it is likely that some of the energy flowing through you will
be drawn through the metal of the table and away from the client. If you can
find one, therefore, I would suggest buying a table which has as much wood in
the construction as possible and as little metal as possible.
·
Sometimes variations on the design of
massage tables allow for the resting of the head of a client either by way of
small extensions at the end of a table or by removable oval shaped sections
within the surfaces of the tables. It is not essential to have these but an
extension might be helpful if your table is not long enough to accommodate very
tall people.
·
A good quality massage table that will
last a long time will cost upwards from around 300 pounds in the
Some
examples
The construction at the end of table on
the right is such that the healer will not be able to get his / her legs under
the table and will have to sit at a distance from the client. It will be uncomfortable for the healer to
have to bend and stretch to reach the client and the healer is likely to get
back ache if giving several healing sessions during a day. I have seen many
Reiki people buy a table with this construction at the end, only to realise they
have made a mistake.
The table on the left is better. As you can
see, the construction at the end is one that enables the healer to get his / her
legs under the table and to sit comfortably.
However, this is still not ideal because the free space is restricted.
If there is any chance to discuss the requirement to get legs under the table
at the end with the manufacturer, ask if there can be a slight modification of
the standard design so that the amount of free space at the ends of your table
can be maximised. One option is to have some
cross bars between the legs very close to the ground. Although the legs of the
healer will have to be swung over them, the healer will be sat in the same
place all the time whilst at each end of the table so they will not be too much
of an inconvenience.
The
construction along the length of the table on the left is based upon tension wires running lengthwise between the
legs about six inches off the ground.
The wire is part of the support structure that helps to keep the legs in
vertical position. With such a table, the healer cannot sit properly with legs
under the table unless they are swung over the wire. Every time the healer
moves down the table, he/she is going to have to remember about the wire. The
table on the right has a much better construction profile lengthwise and will
be comfortable for the healer to work from. It has some central legs to provide
support for heavy clients and the healer is able to get his / her legs right
under the table for most of the length when working down the body of the
client.
All the other photos are
copyright of marshcouch and should not be reproduced
without their permission.
Where to
buy
The massage table that I
usually use at home was made by Darley Couches in
Instead, if anybody is seeking to buy a
good quality massage table, I would suggest that they consider a company called
marshcouch. This company’s website is at www.marshcouch.com
. Marshcouch are based in Hemel Hempsted
just north west of
If you go to the marshcouch
website, you will find some guidance on what to consider when buying a table
and will find descriptions of the different types of standard tables produced.
Although it is likely that you will be able
to find other healers who also make massage tables and sell them for less money
than a company such as marshcouch, it is not
advisable to buy such tables unless you can satisfy yourself that they are
strong enough to be fit for regular use and will last a reasonable length of
time. Sometimes you can find very good tables this way but you need to be
mindful that sometimes cheapest does not always mean best value if the tables
do not have a long life.
If you go to
internet auction sites such as eBay, you will be able to find second hand
tables for sale at reasonable prices. Sellers on such sites give descriptions
of variable comprehensiveness so it is advisable to ask sellers a range of
questions before bidding or buying. Particular points to query are:
·
Is the covering torn,
stretched or stained?
·
Is the padding under the
covering still intact and whole or has it started to break up?
·
Are hinges broken or intact?
·
Have the sockets for screws
been overwidened through regular use and have
difficulty therefore holding the screws in place?
·
Have any wires broken. If not,
are all the wires taut when the table is standing?
·
What repairs have been
undertaken to the table in the past?
·
Does the table smell?
·
What damage is there to the
table?
It would
probably be best to try to view before buying if that would be possible. If the
seller seems reluctant without good reason to allow viewing before purchase, it
might be best to avoid.
Date of posting : 25th
March 2007
www.healingenergies-at-londonwest.com info@healingenergies-at-londonwest.com
healingenergies -at- londonwest
Telephone