Posts Tagged ‘massage continuing education’
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…
Read MoreMassage 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…
Read MoreMassage 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.…
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 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…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Rhomboids
Origin: Minor: Medial border of scapula above spine, Major: Medial border of scapula below spine Insertion: Minor: C7 & T1, Major: T2 –T5 Action: Retraction of scapula (Excessive: pain between scapula) Antagonist: Serratus Anterior and Pectoralis Major The usual mechanistic approach to rounded shoulders is to strengthen the rhomboids thus theoretically “squaring” the shoulders. This…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Introduction to the Torso
The word “torso” comes from the Latin word “thysus” meaning stalk or stem. The spine within the torso forms a kind of fifth limb within us. The vertebral column runs through the center of the body, up through the neck and becomes the cranium. The muscles, the organs, the bones and other tissues of the torso surround…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Levator Scapula, The Saga
Origin: C3-5 Insertion: Superior angle of the scapula Action: Lifts scapula and/or extends the neck (Excessive:“Knot” or upper scapula) Antagonist: Inferior fibers of trapezius The levator scapula is a cable-like muscle that is usually overworked by our tendency to hunch our shoulders up. In the life of the levator scapula, this means it’s constantly tugging on the superior angle…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Latissimus Dorsi
by David Lauterstein Origin: sacrum, iliac crest, L5-T7, R 10-12, inferior angle of scapula, Insertion: Intertubercular grove of humerus, Action: Extension,medial rotation of humerus, adduction of humerus, depression of shoulder girdle, lower fibers depress ribcage, especially in coughing. Just as it may be said that we reach out from our guts –insofar as pectoralis major…
Read MoreZero Balancing: Special Donkeys
By Zanna Heighton Zero Balancing has been my inspiration for over 25 years. There’s not much you can’t work out with the Zero Balancing principles that its originator, Dr. Fritz Smith, teaches alongside the manual skills. When I started looking at the principles closely, I came to the conclusion that they resonate with the…
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