Taster sessions
“Really enjoyed the session and has given me some new techniques to use. Also a useful reminder of my body positioning in total, not just my hands.” – Katherine Preece
“I thought the taster session was excellent, very thorough and well organised. I really enjoyed it.” – Lisa Hazelwood
“Fantastic mini session which helped so much- my massaging posture and technique has improved loads, got so much from this!” – Devon Collier
“Really good session, very useful. Good way to do an intro – easy to attend without travelling.” – Pip
2 Day Basic Workshop
“A fantastic course! more than just Hands Free, the course covers body movement, positioning, self-care and creative experimentation”
– Anonymous
“I learned loads – I would recommend this course to anyone wanting to enhance their massage – and of course to save their hands!” Gaye W 2019″A fantastic course! more than just Hands Free, the course covers body movement, positioning, self-care and creative experimentation”
– Gaye W 2019
“Well taught. Everything was connected to us as moving bodies/practitioners. Explanations combined with learning-through-doing in a good structure. Dense but not intense. Always felt we were being considered, and had options. Our different bodies and styles were taken into account.“
– Deb Jones 2023
“Thank you for a great course. I learnt so much and I’m eager to start using my new techniques. They will be a lifesaver. No aches or pains today!”
(And then a few months later…) “The techniques I learnt on this course have been a lifesaver for my hands and wrists. They have been less painful since implementing better body positioning and posture when massaging. Leora is a wonderful tutor full of enthusiasm and experience. I’m so glad I did this course!”
– Samantha L 2023
“Teaching style was brilliant, refreshing, engaging. Notes were helpful. I like that it was varied and that I never felt bored” – Anonymous 2023
8 Day Advanced Training
“I’ve decided to take the plunge and quit my NHS job. I’m so excited to be a full-time massage therapist. The course is given me the confidence in both my skills and stamina and it’s showing in bookings, which is amazing!!” – Helen Johnstone
“Thank you for the beautiful course.
It has changed my working life and will keep me going for many more years!”
– Maya van der Galien
“The 8 day training really does change your practice. The course itself is well paced with plenty of time between classes to practice and develop the skills.
There are plenty of follow up videos and a well illustrated manual. Stop thinking about it and take that leap of faith. You will not regret it.”
– Carmen Zahra
“Best thing you’ll ever do! My practice is transformed and clients are delighted. Love it! The course has given me the confidence in both my skills and stamina and it’s showing in bookings, which is amazing!!!”
– Jessie Docherty
“Since finishing the 8 day training, I find I’m always discovering my own new Hands Free options. So easy to just flow and I have so many more regulars because of it too”
–Melissa (Coffee Tipsy Beauty)
“My practice is TRANSFORMED. I will take away confidence, calm, a quiet meditative approach and the knowledge that I give the best massage in town! Leora’s has enthusiasm, passion and a sense of humour.
Thank you. This has genuinely been the most life changing course of my life and I’ve done a few. Focused, practical, fun and joyful, I finally feel ready to confidently go full throttle with my massage business.”
– Jessie Docherty
“I decided to take up the Hands Free massage course after developing a number of problems with my body I knew being directly linked to massage… Calcification on the joints at the end of my fingers, due to too much finger pressure, a huge nodule appearing on my thumb a few days before starting the course and shooting pains up my wrists, from using my palms and hands at a slight angle and with too much pressure.
Hands Free Massage has transformed my life. It has taken away the worry that my career path is not sustainable. I now have a clear vision for my future ahead. One, where I will be able to continue with massage for hopefully quite some time yet.
I now feel totally competent as a massage therapist, love hands free and I no longer have the worry that I’m going to have to give up, as I no longer have wrist, thumb and finger pain which was a real worry for me.
I am able to work on a far deeper level with muscles than before. Yet skilfully, sensitively and intuitively easing my way in so as not to aggravate the muscles and cause undue stress to my client.
Hands Free techniques have made me more conscious of how I hold myself to avoid my own pain and discomfort. Following through into my daily life, this has made me more bodily aware as a whole. Giving me more of a desire to look after myself on a daily basis as well as when giving massage.
I feel more connected and in tune with my clients and their bodies, which in turn helps me feel confident and at ease with how I work. I am able to enjoy giving what i love doing, far more…yeahhh!!!” – Helen Watkins
“I take away with me integrated handsfree techniques, a heightened sense of body awareness and deepened friendships with the other therapist and CONFIDENCE in massage.”
“Leora was a fantastic tutor who made each session interesting, enjoyable and relevant to our practice. She has lot’s of energy, enthusiasm and patience.” – Sophie Walker
“Before commencing the Advanced 8-day Hands Free course I had attended the 1-day introductory workshop. During my holistic diploma training, we had been encouraged to try using our forearms in order to save our fingers during. So, I have been experimenting working without using my hands for some time, however, I wasn’t really prepared for the extent of learning I was letting myself in for on the 8-day training. We’re not talking about simply not using our hands but using a whole range of tools from the broad sweeping strokes facilitated by the soft forearm, to the targeted work achieved by using the elbow.
I was happy in my practice. There were times when I gave good massage and others when I gave very good massage, however last winter I recall worrying terribly about how painful my hands were and I’d only been practicing a few months. How was I going to make this new venture into a viable career if my joints were already this painful?
The 1-day workshop was all I needed to convince me that Hands Free was the way to go. Immediately I began incorporating what I had picked up that day into my general practice.
In addition to the new tools learned during the full course, almost as much emphasis is put on posture, making me much more aware of where I am, how I’m using my body and how I move around the table.
Massage has become a much more dynamic process compared to how I worked previously when I would divide the body into discrete areas, completing each section before moving on to the next.
Since graduating from the holistic course in July 2017 I spent 12 months working at the BCMB grad clinic, where I met a challenging client whose shoulders were so stressed that she had lost a great deal of sensation, so no matter what I did I simply couldn’t work deeply enough to satisfy her. We discussed this and agreed that we would commence working with her seated in a normal chair where I would use my newly learned forearm techniques to provide her with the additional pressure she seems to enjoy so much.
Hands Free massage has given me skills beyond my wildest dreams and I’m truly loving every moment of it.
Working Hands Free gives me the ability to work deeper whilst using my body less, yet achieving more, thereby enabling me to satisfy the larger framed clients.”
“I am so unbelievably grateful for these new skills, this confidence, this complete love of what I’m doing. I no longer go to ‘work’, I go to ‘play’. I’ve just given, what I think was my best ever massage, to someone who’s been practising for 10 years. There’s no way I would have even contemplated putting my hands on someone that experienced before doing this course!” – Carmen Zahra
“I am very lucky to have been taught by tutors at Bristol College of Massage and Bodywork (BCMB) who have instilled in me a hands-free style from the beginning of my massage journey.
Yet it was only when I massaged a large client that my hands-free skills where put to the test.
I know I could only use my forearms and elbows to give the depth of pressure the client was asking for and not cause pain in my own body. I worked with this client for several months although I tried to not put pressure through my hands, I often felt aches in my hands the day after the sessions.
This prompted me to sign up for the One-Day Introduction to ‘Hands-Free’ course to find a way of not ruining my hands for the sake of massage. The one-day course was just a taster but I liked the specific strokes we learnt and the principles behind it.
I knew that the extensive course would offer me much more time to practice these techniques and let them sink into my muscle memory.
I can say with all sincerity, it is the best CPD course I’ve ever done because it has given me the time to integrate the techniques into my own massage style over several months. More importantly, the course has given me a more astute awareness of my body use and posture, whilst massaging and in the rest of my life. I am thankful for honing my inner postural critic that will help me have a long and pain-free massage career.”
– Sophie Walker