Pose yourself on your knees beside them. Use your weight and be careful not to strain your own back. It will be helpful to use a little bit of vegetable oil as a lubricant between your hands and their skin.

Be careful of the sciatic nerve in the buttocks. Sharp pressure in this area will be very painful. Also, note the white dots on the photo above. These dots indicate the approximate location of the bones called the spinouts processes.

From the head smooth down the back muscles on both sides of the spine. This thick rope-like muscle is called the Erector Spinae group. It actually runs from the base of the skull to the tailbone area. Use equal pressure on your fingers and the heels of your hands. Smooth down the Erector Spinae, and back up along your friend's sides, shoulders, and neck. Do this several times.

Don't press directly on these bones. Don't push on these bones with pressure thinking that they are just stubborn spasms.

Move yourself along their side and face their head. Repeat the long smoothing strokes, going slightly deeper with each pass. Make sure that your hands conform to their body. Your pressure should be even and your strokes consistent in speed.

Try splitting your index finger and your center finger, placing your hand over the spine. Gently place each finger in the groove between the spine and the Erector Spinae muscles. Place your other hand over the bottom hand for extra pressure.

Again begin making strokes down the back, but deeper than the first time. Emphasize your pressure on the heel of your hands, stroking the Erector Spinae, down both sides of the spine. You can try to separate the fibers of the Erector Spinae group of muscles with your thumb.

For extra strength, you can use your other fingers to reinforce your thumb. Firmly, but smoothly, work from the ditch next to the spine and over the Erector Spinae muscle. Don't "thump" over the muscle. Take it slowly, with control. This will help to improve the fibers in the muscle itself.

After you've worked the muscle all the way down the back, you can do soothing circular strokes with the finger tips along the same area. This serves to relax the muscle and increase circulation.

Now the fun stuff! To work the Erector Spinae even deeper, now that it is warmed up, we'll use our elbows. In the second picture above, you can see that we use our elbow to work from the low back to the top. Keep your elbow away from the spine. Do not work to quickly so that you lose control. You will make several strokes (3-10) the entire distance.

Each should be slightly deeper than the first.