Posts Tagged ‘deep massage’
Massage Therapy, Torture, and Loving Life
My new client said, “I’m here because I don’t like to be touched”. “Uh-oh!” I thought, “Now this’ll be interesting.” I noted to her that since touch is what I do, she might think twice about doing the session. No, she said, she understood what I did –this discomfort with touch was an issue she…
Read MoreMassaging 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…
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 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 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 More7 Reasons: Deep Massage vs. Deep Tissue
What Is the Difference Between Deep Massage and Deep Tissue? By David Lauterstein Massage therapists performing Deep Massage generally work without lubricant (unless there is a painful feeling of stretching the skin). Using lubricant causes the therapist to slip over the tension and, to compensate, they have to use tremendous pressure not to slip. This often causes…
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: Hamstrings
by David Lauterstein, LMT Origin: Ischial tuberosity; medial 1/3 linea aspera (short head of biceps femoris) Insertion: Semimembranosus: medial condyle of tibia, Semitendonosus: proximal, antero-medial aspect of tibia, Biceps Femoris: head of fibula Action: Extention of hip, flexion of knee, medial or lateral rotation of lower leg, (Excessive: Hyperextended knee) Antagonist: Quadriceps These interesting muscles…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Masseter
by David Lauterstein The masseter is the muscle runs from the cheekbone to the lower jaw. It is one of the primary muscles you chew with. It is helped by the “Dirty Harry” muscle – the temporalis – which runs from the side of the skull to the lower jaw just in front of your ear. Interestingly…
Read MoreDimensions of Touch: Part Two
by David Lauterstein In a “virtual” age, a time greatly affected by the pace of computers and their powerful yet imaginary realities, each individual’s unmet hunger and the social need for the actual becomes more and more urgent. Touch is a medium of actual reality. Touch is a medium of living reality, just as light…
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