The First French Hippy Gets a Massage?

In 1785 Claude-Étienne Savary wrote about his experiences receiving massage in Egypt. ‘Perfectly massaged, one feels completely regenerated, a feeling of extreme comfort pervades the whole system, the chest expands, and we breathe with pleasure; the blood circulates with ease, and we have a sensation as if freed from an enormous load; we experience a…

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If You Love the Body – poem for massage therapists

IF YOU LOVE THE BODY If you love the body you must know the bone that ribs and peoples it; deeper than flesh you feel the beauty. That will last, simply as stone upheaves in season where the winter rain rakes asters and drooping cornstalks from a hill. If you love the body you must…

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Massaging the Windows of Life: Where Your Muscles Meet Your Bones

When we do our strokes in Deep Massage, when we pause, particularly at the beginning or the end of a stroke, it creates a kind of “window”. These pauses naturally occur at the beginning and near the end of the muscle – at the origin and the insertion. As in most stories, beginnings and endings…

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Massage and Faith

Yesterday, I received a good session from a student.  I also received a deeper learning than ever about repetition.  The student did some very lovely strokes down the back and then followed them by more and similar strokes. Each stroke is a communication.  And though we know this on some level, we can forget it…

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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: Touch Changes Everything

Next weekend I’ll be teaching “Massage and Meditation” a CE workshop which has become a holiday and new year’s tradition at our school. Whether we’ve been doing massage for just one year or twenty, we can always find ways to renew our appreciation for how profound, and sometimes how neglected, touches are in our lives.…

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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: The Essentials of Touch

by Tara White, LMT, MTI, Guest Blogger As a massage therapist, my life is pretty much immersed in touch. I have come to find that when I go on vacation, I begin to feel out of sorts after a few days of not working because the act of touching another person is so grounding to…

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