working on the front of the torso, neck and scalp

Most of our body's tension is stored in our shoulders and neck. In a healthy individual feelings that arise at gut level are expressed physically through the arms and hands or vocally through the throat. But many of us were not allowed to express our feelings of anger or sorrow as children, so we suppressed them by tightening up the shoulders and throat. And some of us still do exactly that because we still do not like to show our emotions. That is why shoulders, neck and upper backs are paid special attention to when giving a body massage. The main advantage from working on the shoulders from the front is that the receivers weight presses on your hands under the back which gives the strokes extra impact.
Long stroke is the stroke that is used to apply oil to the part of the body that your working on. Start by placing your hands on the upper chest just below the collarbone with your fingers pointing toward one another. Slowly pull them apart heels leading toward the shoulders. As you reach the shoulders curve your hands around the joints then slide them along the tops of the shoulders until you reach the back of the neck. Continue up the back of the neck without breaking the stroke to the base of the skull. Then move up to the back of the head and off of the crown. Repeat the whole stroke a few times.
Stretching the neck loosens up your partner and can be done in two ways: up and down and side to side. You stretch the neck up and down by cupping your hands under the head and lifting the head up, bringing the chin towards the chest. Slowly bring the head back again this time move one hand down to the nape of the neck and lift, letting the head tilt back until it rest on the ground. Then you straighten the neck again. Next is side to side, do this by holding the back of the head securely in your hands and "carry" it to one shoulder while pressing down on the other shoulder with the other hand. Bring the head back to the center and switch your hands and repeat with the other side. Thats all for massage, my next post is moving away from massage and moving onto Shiatsu.