As finals week approaches, many students are feeling the pressure of cumulative exams and… As finals week approaches, many students are feeling the pressure of cumulative exams and 10-page papers mounting.

To alleviate that stress, Dr. Mary Duquin recommends a slow, relaxing massage. Duquin, who will be teaching a three-credit therapeutic and sports massage class in the fall, was on hand Wednesday night to teach a group of 27 people, split up into pairs, how to effectively massage one another. The massage class was sponsored by Pitt Program Council, as part of a series of relaxing programs that will coincide with the approach of finals.

“The important thing in massage is to be a good giver of touch and a good receiver of touch,” Duquin said.

The “giver” needs to effectively massage the other person and relax his or her muscles, while the “receiver” needs to relax and enjoy the massage, she said.

To begin, Duquin took the one partnerless person from the group and asked her to be the demo body.

One person in each pair was told to lie down, belly-up, putting a rolled-up blanket, towel or jacket under the knees.

As Duquin proceeded to teach the massage techniques, she simulated the movements on her demonstrator.

First, Duquin instructed the givers to place their hands in a resting position on the receivers’ thighs.

“Make sure your hands are very soft and molded to the body,” Duquin said.

The massage began with a gentle rocking motion, as the givers gently pushed one leg toward the other, letting the leg rock back into position.

“Move up, and easy rock in the torso area,” Duquin instructed.

Next, the givers rapidly rubbed their hands up and down the legs and arms of the receivers to stimulate circulation and warm up the body.

Duquin then led the group into a “shaking” technique, in which the massager took the ankle or wrist of the receiver, extended it out, and gently shook the limb.

“Stretch, and then vibrate,” she instructed as she took her assistant’s arm, gently stretched it over the woman’s head, and loosely shook it. “They should feel it all the way down to their sides.”

Next, the receivers flipped onto their stomachs and put the rolled-up blankets under their ankles.

Duquin put her hands, one on top of the other, on the volunteer’s lower leg muscle. She then used her body weight to compress her hands into the muscle, instructing her pupils to do the same.

“Always ask your partner how the pressure is,” she advised. “Pressure is individual.”

Compression can also be done with fists, especially on the bigger muscles, like the gluteus maximus, she said as she moved up to the buttocks of her demonstrator and gently compressed the muscles with her fists.

But not everyone immediately followed suit.

One girl gingerly put her index finger onto her friend’s posterior, but as she looked around at the others in the room, she tentatively splayed her hands onto her friend’s rear end and pressed down.

“If the person feels as though they have a really tight ass,” Duquin began — causing the room to erupt in laughter — it means one of two things: they either work out a lot, or they feel a little “panicky that you’re touching their buttocks.”

If the person was a little panicky, Duquin recommended doing some slow rocking in the tense region to loosen them up a bit.

Next, Duquin led the group into petrissage, a technique that is commonly used for neck massages. Petrissage involves using the thumbs and fingers to gently knead, compress, roll or twist the muscles.

Duquin slowly simulated petrissage throughout the lower back, legs and arms.

“Let’s move down to the feet,” she said, taking the model’s foot in her hand and gently kneading it.

“Some people are ticklish,” Duquin observed as participant Tracy Tilghman broke out into giggles.

Because laughing can disrupt the ability to relax, Duquin advised moving to another part of the body or trying to increase or decrease the pressure around the foot to stop the ticklishness.

Duquin then began effleurage, or gliding strokes, along the lower leg. She glided her hands up the leg while pressing her thumbs deep into the muscle, and then back down, easing the pressure.

After this first tutorial part, the partners switched places, so that the givers became the receivers.

Duquin put on some low, soothing music.

“Make your intentions positive and think about helping the person relax,” she said soothingly. “Make them feel good. Take away their pain and stress.”

The massage began with slow rocking motions, and then proceeded to a scalp massage called the spider.

The massage moved down the body as the givers began to compress along the backs of their receivers, on either side of their spines.

“If you hear a little crack,” Duquin said, “just say, ‘Free adjustment. No charge.'”

The massage proceeded through the techniques that they had all just learned, as well as a few new techniques for facial massages.

As Duquin sat with her legs on either side of her assistant’s head, she instructed the students to slowly massage from the ear to the brow, and then under the eyes.

“Come under the chin, and pull up,” she said, taking the simulator’s chin in her hands and gently pulling toward her body.

Duquin ended the massage with nerve strokes, skimming her fingers over the body in feather-light strokes.

“And then you say, ‘Thank you very much,'” she instructed the massagers, “because it’s always a privilege to touch another human being.”