Myofascial Techniques for the Thorax and Diaphragms

by Liz Hoffmaster Let’s look at the rectus abdominus (RA) muscle and a role it plays in our lives. We are a culture obsessed with core work. In truth, 95% of all abdominal core work is done with severely or mildly bulging abdominals. You have to wonder why one would want to do this? The…

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Deep Massage – An Advanced 20-hour Training is coming up

What is Deep Massage as we teach it? It is NOT just deep tissue (though it overlaps with it). Deep Tissue is a common term, but it has become quite problematic. Often clients want you to hurt them! And often therapists hurt themselves, working too hard to fulfill those expectations. The truth is this. It…

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A Brief History of Anatomy Trains

Tom Myers, the founder of Anatomy Trains, says: “I developed the Anatomy Trains during the 1990’s as a game for students to play when I was teaching Fascial Anatomy at the Rolf Institute . All the books you can find put forward the ‘single-muscle’ theory, but Ida Rolf kept saying, “It’s all connected through the…

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The Philosophy of Dimensional Massage Therapy

Dimensional Massage Therapy is the name of the unique bodywork taught by Nancy Dail. Nancy is Director of Maine’s Downeast School of Massage, author of Kinesiology of Manual Therapies, and nationally renowned teacher in practice for 40 years! Here is a link to an extensive article giving you insight into Dimensional Massage Therapy and the…

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Restore your energy

by Brenda Young A few years into my massage practice I noticed that some clients drained my energy while others boosted it. Then I learned about transference and countertransference, and how an energy exchange occurs between the client and therapist. This was fascinating to me but I still didn’t know how to get rid of…

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Do you get headaches?

by Jason Hammond I always ask my clients this simple question. If they get headaches frequently, I want to let them know that I can help. This is great way to increase your benefit to a client and to build your practice! Many people suffer from frequent or occasional headaches and don’t mention them during…

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Trauma and the Body – A Vignette

by Gregory Gaiser My first experience as a health care professional working with trauma happened in the early 1990s with a woman I’ll call Roberta. Roberta was in psychotherapy at a local women’s center which specialized in treatment for childhood sexual abuse and rape survivors.  Roberta’s story was particularly tragic as she had been born…

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Bodywork: Finding what you didn’t even know was there

by Keith Vencill, LMT, CDMT Clients often reveal that the most intense areas discovered during the session are exactly that: unearthed, previously unknown tension and pain. Around this pain and because of it, compensatory movements and postures can grow.  These very pragmatic structural and energetic arrangements are temporary adaptations, but can linger long after they…

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Ritchie Mintz

by David Lauterstein I’m not sure you all know that we have a delightful and very special workshop coming up on March 30. It is a don’t-miss experience to for all bodyworkers and massage therapists in Central Texas! This remarkable class is called Fascial Explorations – and the Streams of Life. It features Ritchie Mintz,…

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Weave

 by Jason Bratcher In the previous article on the Austin Massage blog I focused on the “Deeper” aspects of Lomi Lomi (it’s a great read and I encourage you to read or reread it and blend it with this new article.) Since Lomi Lomi means to “Weave”, amongst its other definitions, I thought I would…

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