Posts Tagged ‘anatomy’
“It Looks Like It’s Dancing to the Rolling Stones”
This morning I took me and my dog, Phoebe, for a walk. I guess the opening of presents brought me back to the biggest present, my own body. I’d been having a little back pain and hoped to relieve it by visualizing the sacrum and its ligaments. I could feel, refreshingly, movement in that area…
Read MoreWhen First We REALLY Meet – Massage and the Nervous System, Part 2
It is not the therapeutic intention that is fruitful, but it is how we really meet that is therapeutically fruitful. (paraphrase of Martin Buber) The nerve cells which sense pressure and vibration were discovered in 1831 by the Italian anatomist, Giovanni Pacini, who also discovered the cholera bacteria. Named “Pacinian corpuscles” in his honor, these…
Read MoreHow To Give the Best Massage in the World: Intake
I just got back from the Esalen Institute. This was my first time and I totally recommend it. As you may recall, Esalen, in Big Sur, California is considered the birthplace of modern American massage. When you’re there, you can almost feel the presence of ida Rolf who did her earliest trainings here and Fritz…
Read MoreMassage Therapy: Growing New Arms
The other day I working on a woman who has chronic complaints in her extremities. As I worked, I had a deeper insight into the origins of her pain, tension and discomfort. A Case Study: The Servers Some people are raised to do for others. Their own independent self-expression and the meeting of their own…
Read MoreAnatomy 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…
Read MoreMassage and the Nervous System: Part Three
Part three of Massage and the Nervous System. (See parts two and one.) As massage therapists we know how to get our hands on muscles and connective tissues. But now we see somehow we have to get our hands on the nervous system because otherwise it’s a bit like flipping light switches with no electricity – some action…
Read MoreMassage and The Nervous System: Part Two
Part two of Massage and the Nervous System. (See part one.) As massage therapists we know how to get our hands on muscles and connective tissues. But now we see somehow we have to get our hands on the nervous system because otherwise it’s a bit like flipping light switches with no electricity – some action…
Read MoreMassage and the Nervous System: Part One
This is the first part of a three-part series on Massage and the Nervous System. When we first learn massage therapy, we naturally visualize that we are working on muscles. Memorizing muscles and seeing their kinesiological relations to each other is a task! Then we can add to that the wonderful insights drawn from Rolfing and…
Read MoreMassage for the Sinuses
I live in Austin, one of the allergy capitals of the world. And every few years, particularly when our cedar trees bloom, I bloom too – into sinus infflammation. What is sinusitis? Sinusitis is usually a response to allergens or viruses. Our sinuses are hollow spaces in the bones of the head – the maxillae,…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Pregnancy Massage and the Migration of Fascia
Did you know it is basically a law of structure that under compression fascia will “migrate” laterally? Think of pressing down on a beach ball. The more you press, the further out each of its color segments would get. This is exactly what happens to the pregnant woman under the compression of the extra weight carried…
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