Ian Harvey's Myofascial Swedish CE

Mid July 2025 I had the opportunity to take Ian Harvey's (The Massage Sloth) continued education course in Washington. My friend Joe Glow told me he was going to be having a class near us after one of our trades. The class was full when I went to sign up but thankfully someone dropped out shortly before the class was going to begin.

Day 1: It was filled with great classmates, a nice and knowledgeable TA, along with Ian Harvey himself. He did a great job explaining the minor details of fascia and myofascial work. Me learning best through writing, was taking down all his words as much as I could even if I knew some of the stuff. Using it as a refresher course as well. He took time to go around the class and have everyone share about themselves a little and told us to spread out. We ended up shaking our bodies a little and letting go of some stress and then he put on his first demonstration. It was fascinating watching him work. One of my biggest takeaways from the first day was the concept of "plane landing" and "plane taking off". Essentially making sure that when we make contact with the body, it is slow and methodical, as well as when we take our hands off, it is slow and calm as well. It can be jarring to someone who is feeling an elongating move (in a trance) when the therapists hands quickly comes off of their body and zaps them back to reality. By coming off slowly we keep the client in the healing trance. Another part of this was flowing from one section of the body to the other without letting go of the body fully. This rhythm makes the strokes feel everlasting, after reaching the end of one stroke, I place one hand where I want to start before bringing the other hand to join it.

Day 2: Started with Ian sharing some of his life story that created his passion for Massage Therapy. It was filled with more techniques for the upper chest, jaw and neck, low back and even easy side-lying techniques. I personally struggled at first with slowing down, using the appropriate amount of oil (essentially enough to make it seem like the bodies natural oil), and not having fighting fists but instead open, relaxed fists. He was very attentive to everyone, kind, and communicated very well. Also being a gamer it felt like we could relate.

Its been several months now that I have been practicing his method and I'm consistently getting clients speechless afterwards, massage drunk/high, and feeling a profound difference in their bodies. Slowing down has helped me feel more and create an even safer space for my clients to heal. It is also easier on my body and conserves a lot more energy.

I highly recommend to other massage therapists to take his class, and learn from him. Anyone that has the opportunity to receive a session from him, should 100% take it.

Looking forward to more classes from him, grateful to everyone in the class.