Advanced Clinical Massage and Bodywork Training at TLC

On November 7, TLC’s Advanced Clinical Training (ACT) starts!  We are now beginning enrollment for this unique class! Nowhere else  in the US can you learn to systematically integrate in Clinical Practice – Structural Bodywork, Deep Massage, Shiatsu, Zero Balancing and Psychologically-Oriented Bodywork. To be a well-rounded therapist, we need these competencies with advanced techniques,…

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Advanced Massage Training: “Joys of being a Bodyworker”

A few years ago I wrote a blog piece and got this response from Stacy Liddle, massage therapist and physical therapy assistant. “I wish to thank-you for this eloquent reminder of one of the joys of being a body worker. Sometimes it starts with that knot that just won’t go away and then becomes oh,…

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What are Energy and Structure? Clarity will Help our Massages!

As you may notice, over the last few weeks in this blog I’ve been focusing mostly on structure/energy, art/science and their integration in bodywork.  Bit-by-bit I want to assemble a position paper that helps brings clarity to these things and helps our field take a closer look at integrative healthcare.  Thanks for listening and your…

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Massage Therapy with Two Eyes

Energy work and structural work are two sides of the same coin. The most effective therapy arises from an approach that respects the unity of structural and energetic aspects of both therapist and the client. The various arguments for and against energy work, for and against insistence on evidence-based therapy, are certainly passionate. The best…

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Energy Work Defended (Against Devotees and Detractors)

Energy is too important a subject to be, on the one hand, defined only by its devotees – some of whose ideas or practices have been shown to be false or dangerous or with claims made for scientific validity where there is insufficient scientific evidence or disproof. On the other hand, energy work has been…

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ARE YOU BONE-TIRED? – reflections on Zero Balancing

When we say we’re “bone tired”, what does that really mean? It means tired to our core, not just sleepy.  It refers to a feeling of depletion – that we’ve drawn upon our vital stores of energy, which are now in need of replenishment. In Chinese medicine and philosophy, the energy that flows through the…

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Massage and Meditation: Sacred Science and Art

Bodywork is in some respects a sacred art form, like mandala painting. Sacred art forms are themselves pathways for self-growth, ultimately vehicles for enlightenment. In the Western world, sacred art was the predominant art style until and through the Renaissance. Dance throughout the world has been the Path of movement. I recall reading about an…

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Massage and Meditation: The Necessity of Beauty

Meditation and Massage allow us the “vacation” and “vocation” to be affected by and to affect the beauty which lies within each person.  Here is a wonderful passage excerpted from Thomas Moore’s book, Care of the Soul. “Beauty assists the soul in its own peculiar ways of being. For example, beauty is arresting. For the…

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Massage & Meditation: The Evolution of Slowness

“Deliberation is born of joy.” Rumi The Evolution of Slowness Andrew Taylor Still, Osteopathy’s founder, said the body contains all the healing substances it needs. And indeed humans have within their nervous systems equally the antidote we need to the social epidemic of excess stress. The autonomic system embodies the advantage of a speedy, whole…

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Anatomy Review: Massage for the Scalenes

The scalenes are actually the uppermost of the intercostals muscles, those muscles lying between your ribs that assist inhalation and exhalation. However, big surprise, there are no ribs in the neck! Actually a number of books say the scalenes attach to the vestigial ribs of the cervical vertebrae. That is, little buds appear on the…

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