Deep Massage for the Trapezius: Therapy for the Sails of Life
We use our shoulders, arms and hands to take action. And, on the other hand, when we talk they are used expressively – they are parts of speech. We see also in writing and sign language an entirely linguistic use of shoulders, arms and hands. Massage itself meaningfully bridges these two worlds of action and…
Read MoreMassage Therapy – The Antidote to the Economy?
For years, I was fascinated with Systems-Centered Therapy and worked hard in a group. One thing I learned was that many of our fears are not based on reality. Rather, we often make negative predictions about what may happen in the future – a meeting might not go well next week, this new client might…
Read MoreWhy Choose the Life of a Massage Therapist?
I remember the exact moment in 1977 on a train in Chicago. I was working through the career-hunters book, What Color is Your Parachute?, and heard the words in my mind, “I guess I’m going to become a massage therapist!” And sure enough, that’s what I’ve been ever since. Here’s some of what I got…
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 MoreIf You Love the Body – poem for massage therapists
IF YOU LOVE THE BODY If you love the body you must know the bone that ribs and peoples it; deeper than flesh you feel the beauty. That will last, simply as stone upheaves in season where the winter rain rakes asters and drooping cornstalks from a hill. If you love the body you must…
Read MoreThe Meditation of Chair Massage
“Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, During all these waking hours, Let us establish mindfulness of good will, Called the highest state!” – Gautama Buddha Doesn’t lying down at night feel so good? Could sitting down feel as good? One place where sitting down feels as good as lying down is at the airport…
Read MoreMasters of Massage
Years ago I taught a workshop in South Dakota and there were two old-time massage therapists there – Floyd Hauk and Verne Jeffries. Both had that early American pioneer can-do attitude. Floyd talked about doing massage in the early days – working on Indians, on minor league baseball players, on farmers, housewives, and the full…
Read MoreMassage 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 More