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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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…

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Massage Therapy: Growing New Arms

The other day I working on a woman who has chronic complaints in her extremities. As I worked, I had a deeper insight into the origins of her pain, tension and discomfort. A Case Study: The Servers Some people are raised to do for others. Their own independent self-expression and the meeting of their own…

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Anatomy Review: Massage for the Scalenes

The scalenes are actually the uppermost of the intercostals muscles, those muscles lying between your ribs that assist inhalation and exhalation. However, big surprise, there are no ribs in the neck! Actually a number of books say the scalenes attach to the vestigial ribs of the cervical vertebrae. That is, little buds appear on the…

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The Calling of Massage Therapy

There are those people who are drawn to play music, and they can not go a day or two without wanting to pick up the guitar. There are those who love writing. Finding words for their experiences gives their lives an essential, deeper meaning. Similarly there are those who are drawn to touch. Touch is…

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Massage for the Sinuses

I live in Austin, one of the allergy capitals of the world. And every few years, particularly when our cedar trees bloom, I bloom too – into sinus infflammation. What is sinusitis? Sinusitis is usually a response to allergens or viruses. Our sinuses are hollow spaces in the bones of the head – the maxillae,…

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Anatomy 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…

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David Lauterstein: Massage Therapy Hall of Fame 2011

By David Lauterstein, as published the World Massage Festival, which David has been nominated as a 2011 Hall of Fame inductee. I am David Lauterstein, Co-founder of The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School in Austin.  I have been a massage therapy teacher since 1982 and therapist since 1977. Here’s my story! I was raised in Chicago by…

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No One Knows How to Give a Great Massage

The great painter and sculptor, Alberto Giacometti, after years of doing abstract art, said he wanted to do a little life-drawing. “I had to make (quickly I thought; in passing) one or two studies from nature, just enough to understand the construction of a head, of a whole figure, and in 1935 I took a…

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Massage and Alternative Medicine

I wonder sometimes in articles on alternative medicine why massage isn’t mentioned more prominently. It is, BY FAR, the most utilized of all alternative therapies. I suppose that may mean it’s not “news”. But massage therapy and bodywork, especially when practiced at a high level, is so powerful. I suspect research will eventually show regular…

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