Massage for Enhanced Wellness

Quiet a few people have been asking me lately why I do massage.

I consider that our body is a reflection of our life … our thoughts, emotions, experiences and much more. I believe that each point on our body corresponds to these aspects. Hence, as promoting ‘holistic’ well-being, I practice various modalities of ‘body-work’ to help re-connect to our essence, become more grounded, centered and to integrate our various experiences.

Are you taking good care of your body?

If we think about it, we have our body for the whole of our life, so we need to do the best we can to take good care of it. We may see our body, more-so as the temple in which we dwell. Now is the time to start taking the best care of your well-being. Regular massages are a great way to take good care of our ‘temple’ and enhance our well-being.

What Happens in a Massage?

Massage is much more than just working with our muscles. Actually, much of massage is working more-so with our fascia. Our fascia is the fibrous connective tissue found throughout our body. Beyond just the physical, our fascia carries like an electrical wiring system through-out our body. Our fascia is one interconnected system, from our head to our toes. When this fascia loses its suppleness, pain can be transferred from one area to another. Myofacial massage is about helping to rebalance this fascia.

Massage as Exercise
Often not considered, a sedentary lifestyle, with physical inactivity may actually cause our fascia to become tense. Good stretches and active physical movement helps our fascia to be more supple. Healthy fascia is essential for inflammation control, wound healing and pain relief. Massage may act as a type of exercise, working the fascia to come more alive.

Fascia Tensegrity
Basically, our fascia is a connected system that holds our body together. Our fascia system is now considered as a sort of tensegrity system. This basically means that it controls or regulates the integrity of tension throughout our body. In general, the power of our fascia is a vastly underestimated component of your body. By massaging specific reflex or trigger points we can help to maintain good balanced tone throughout our body.

Massage as a Meditation

With more and more people wanting to include meditation in their life now-a-days, yet are finding it difficult to do. Massage may be considered as a great solution. A massage can allow our mind to become more connected to our body, become more integrated , at one, more centered, calm and relaxed. This is what we aim to achieve in meditation.

‘Holistic’ body-work

As a ‘Holistic’ body-worker’ I employ a whole series of integrative modalities as a way to compliment each other and to help the body regain better alignment with well-being.

Remedial Massage Therapy uses an array of massage techniques that works with the superficial tissue, fascia and the deeper muscle structures of the body for long-lasting results. Modalities practiced may include the likes of cranial-sacral work, TMJ, accupressure or shiatsu, stretching, pulsing, body-unravelling, polarity-therapy and much more.

What makes a good Massage?

Everybody may have different ideas of what makes a good massage, yet everyone may benefit from a massage in some way. A good massage can do much more than just relax your muscles.

After massaging an estimated tens of thousand people over 28 years I decided to ask my clients, “What makes a good massage?” I’ve received many interesting replies.
What makes a good massage is …
• One lady expressed how a good massage helps her to get ‘in – touch’ with her body, it’s a sort of re-awakening experience of sensations that had gone to sleep.
• One businesswoman stated; she looks for results, in a way of improvement of health, as what is the benefit of a good bank account, and going away on trips if we are not well enough to enjoy it. Success in life includes good health and that is what I’m looking for in a massage.
• One woman who was a health professional, replied sensitivity, the skill of feeling the tissue and knowing just how firm to work and when to work back. Technique is everything.
• “Yeah”, it’s a great way to relax, letting those tight muscles unwind”, says one fellow who works physically hard all week.
• It’s the technique , replied another massage therapist.

Benefits of Massage

There’s been many studies on the benefits of massage. One study was conducted by
researchers, sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, found that a single session of massage had significant benefits.A Swedish massage showed measurable biological indications stress relaxation. The study was published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

Massage as a Healing Touch
Maybe, ever since the origin of man, we’ve used touch in some way to assist with healing.
Now-a-days, the primitive power of touch can still be just as powerful as ever. I believe that touch may be our most primitive form of communication. Through touch we may relay intention, feeling, good will and support to achieve desired results.

How Remedial Massage Therapy helps

Remedial Massage therapy may help to relieve stress, tension, pain and improve overall flexibility. Studies have shown remedial massage to be helpful in many conditions, including headaches, TMJ syndrome, sciatic and low back pain.

A Remedial Massage Therapist may assess what might be causing your symptoms and tailor a plan aimed to alleviate them. This type of massage may involve firm pressure, stretching and kneading, as well as some relaxation techniques.

Therapeutic modalities may assist with improved outcomes such as improved posture, pain management and enhanced performance.

Swedish Relaxation Massage may assist in relaxing and de-stressing your body and mind. It consists of more gentle, flowing strokes and muscle kneading. This type of massage imparts you with a feeling of overall well-being.

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a series of ‘Hands-on’ energetic techniques including Reiki-Seichem, ‘Cellular Stress Release’ and a combination of other associated modalities to help with relaxation, release of physical tension, stress and pain.

To book for Bodywork/Massage/Reiki at Burleigh Heads – on the Gold Coast please phone Empowering Wellness on 0755359833 … or at Ashgrove Chiropractic Centre – in Brisbane please phone 0733666373