Posts Tagged ‘impact of touch’
Energy in Bodywork & Massage Therapy
The broadest use of the term energy in bodywork has been applied to bodywork that consciously aims at more than just soft tissues. The scientific method is empirical. It looks at and works with what is there. In the case of a human, what is there is a body, and certainly mind and emotions as…
Read MoreStand By Me! – a song for massage therapy?
In 1962 Ben E. King recorded the song, “Stand By Me.” In this appeal – to whom? – his lover, God, his massage therapist? – he calls up the courage it really does take to stand up and live our lives each day. It is sad, terrifying, joyous, maddening, inspiring, and mundane to live our…
Read MoreMuddy Waters on Energy
“She moves me, man. Honey, now I don’t see how it’s done.” – Muddy Waters The concept of energy in bodywork has historically had, and I think wisely, a wide definition. It retains the mystery Muddy Waters evoked. Yet maybe we can see with a little less muddiness “how it’s done”. In physics, it is…
Read MoreEnergy 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…
Read MoreEnergy and Integrative Massage in Recent History
When I began as a therapist in 1977, Swedish massage, Shiatsu, Rolfing, Aston Patterning, Reiki, Feldenkrais, Alexander work, Polarity, and Cranio-sacral therapy were what one mostly encountered. There was a broad umbrella under which they all easily co-existed. As the massage and bodywork field grew, its proliferation gave rise to new modalities, new educational standards,…
Read More3-D Massage – Disease, Disposition & Destiny
In my last blog piece, I outlined three realms of massage/bodywork – wellness, orthopedic, and holistic. We can also look at three purposes for massage and bodywork. These relate to the “3 D’s” – Disease, Disposition and Destiny. DISEASE People come to us with dis-ease. It may be a physical disease – an injury or…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreMassage 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…
Read MoreTouch Changes Everything! – Massage Your World
– David’s article from the Jan. 2011 issue of Austin All-Natural Magazine live consciously in touch this year… TOUCH CHANGES EVERYTHING Have you ever had a meal and afterwards realized you couldn’t really remember tasting it? How about touching? How many times a day do you touch things or people and are unconscious as you…
Read MoreMassage 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…
Read More