Sports Massage is used primarily for the serious athlete who trains continuously. It focuses on the muscles relevant to the particular athletic activity. Esalen Massage is Swedish massage combined with the influence of early Esalen leaders, Charlotte Selver and Bernie Gunther who taught sensory reawakening. What sets Esalen Massage apart from other types of massage is the philosophical approach. For the massage therapist, the work is a meditation, a time to quiet the mind, and attend to his or her intuition, and to be fully present in the moment with the client.
Erotic massage is really a sexual foreplay technique, rather than a form of massage.
Massage focuses on muscles, whereas erotic massage focuses primarily on skin. Shiatsu , is a system based on the body's energy meridians. Shiatsu massages are normally done fully clothed and involve pressing points on the body and stretching and opening of the energy meridians. Shiatsu is somewhat related to acupuncture, which is a form of anaesthesia and therapy used in Chinese hospitals for surgery. Its proponents view it as a form of treatment alternative to medicine or surgery.