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Building a Massage & Bodywork Practice: Part 1

So, you have your newly acquired Certificate from an accredited massage school and its time to fill the coffers with the steady flow of economic support that you dreamed of when you first decided to embark on the bodyworker’s journey. Or you have been at it for awhile and things aren’t going quite like you expected and you are wondering why? There is no “how to” blueprint that will apply to everyone and all their needs. There are obviously too many variants in goals and desires for that to be accomplished in one template.

So let’s explore the one question that was posed to me as a teacher of deep tissue massage and cranial work in the three schools where I taught. “How do I get my practice built?” And for the seasoned players, “How do I turn up the heat a little bit on my my tepid practice?” There are many underlying thoughts flying under the “conscious radar” which I believe need to be addressed.
[Read more…]

The Tensegrity Model and the Massage Therapist

tensegrity-model-massage

Rolfers have for many years the incorporated the concept of the tensegrity model of Buckminster Fuller, a friend of Dr. Ida Rolf, into their conceptualization of bodywork. Fuller gave the world these insights from his architectural concept of the geodesic dome. We see the concept also displayed in structures like tents and sailing ships. What defines this model is a continuous tensional network (tendons) supported by a discontinuous set of compressive elements called struts. What is important about this for us as bodyworkers, beyond the obvious, is the discovery by Dr. Ingber of the Harvard medical school in 1993. He and his colleagues demonstrated how tensegrity is involved in the regulation of cell and tissue architecture. His work describes a network of structural systems and energy informational systems and how the body and its numerous parts including the cells are in actuality a tensegrity system.

[Read more…]

States of Consciousness

Changes that Accompany Our Work

Many times since this journey of mine has begun, I have experienced changes in the consciousness of people on my table though our hands on work. I would say the most powerful aspect of our work is its impact not only on the physical ease of our clients’ bodies, but the changes in awareness that inevitably accompany the work.

We know that various forms of trauma, both physical and emotional, reduce the functionality or plasticity of the tissues. It’s unavoidable playing in the gravity fields! Our job is to sort that out through a series of sessions that restores plasticity to the connective tissues and creates a more economical and fluid organized structure. Hopefully, that gives folks a greater sense of ease of motion that is clearly recognizable because of our client’s relationship with our work. That is often the most obvious change that happens quite quickly. But, for those of us that have been on the “trail” for awhile, we are also very aware of the states of consciousness that accompanies those physical changes! Dr. Rolf’s beliefs revolved around the concept that the more fluidic and aligned a body was in space, the more the inner states were available to the client.
[Read more…]

The Yellow Brick Road For Healers

 

I have often observed in my own practice, that a similar applied technique can yield completely different results. One client walked away feeling almost “healed” and another, well the impact in that session was no greater than that of a fart in a tornado. So, throughout my journey I have have been searching for techniques that might bring greater results. A technique that may have nothing to do really with the tools from either of the two disciplines that I practice. Rolfing has specific ways to apply tools of the trade, and cranial work brings a whole completely different set of rules and tools. In cranial work we talk about field dynamics and the practitioner fulcrum from which all the work unfolds or streams forth. Rolfing requires a quality of attention because fascial envelopes move throughout the body and our touch must be able to discern far from the place of contact. Those who know very little about Rolfing miss the subtleties of her art form. Cranial work is often thought of as purely energetic and also miss the subtle awareness of the practitioner must embody. When I was first taught cranial approach from the Upledger Institute there really was no emphasis on practitioner fulcrums. It was essentially following the purported moves of the bones, and then “adjusting” them sequentially. The Biodynamic Cranial training changed most of that.

When I was just started to ‘wear the healer’s robes” at the Rolf Institute, I heard a story about Dr. Rolf who had been involved in a study conducted by Dr. Valerie Hunt at UC Davis in the 60’s or 70’s. I am not sure of the dates. Roselyn Bruyere, who is the famous healer intuitive, was asked to observe various healers perform their art during this study. Roselyn’s part was to observe the flow of energy from the hands and field of each participant. She said, that she had never observed anyone “run” so much energy out of their hands as Dr Rolf. Hearing this story while I was a newbie at the Institute, I intuitively understood their was much more going on in the work then just techniques that could border on harshness, especially since many of my teachers also practiced cranial and visceral work. [Read more…]

So, You think That Deep Tissue Massage is Deep?

The world views Rolfers as the Marquis de Sade of the massage profession. It has been interesting as Rolfer, who has been a part of that community for 26 years, to observe a tug of war between those who believe the technique shouldn’t be painful and those who who think painful touch is a part of the process. Much like the martial arts tradition of hard and soft styles. Each often scoffs at the other in condescendence. Its the Peter Melchior versus Emmet Hutchins syndrome. Rolfers who have been plying the trade for awhile know exactly what I am talking about. Some love it light and some love it hard to the point of masochistically brutal. Its a strange species and a strange world I inhabit. I would have to say being a practitioner of Cranial Sacral therapy for almost 21 years in tandem with my Rolfing work, that I tend to live more in the soft style. That being said, I do bring my client/patients to their edge from time to time Rolfing them, but I believe they would say Rolfing Structural Integration is not a painful process…just a wee bit intense on occasion.

I think that if you meet hard tissue with hard force you aren’t connecting to the person and the tissue pattern that you are trying to unveil, will elude you. Minimum touch at the most effective point, which I am sure would probably correspond with an acupuncture point, sets in motion a wave of beneficial effects. Because all connective tissue is connected as we now know, much like a geodesic dome, we can effect deeper tissue with a lighter focused touch. Banging away at hard connective tissue will ultimately cause problems to the practitioner and probably not achieve the desired result. I like to “push” wait for a response, potentially push a wee bit harder, but then aim the tool in a slightly different direction and listen carefully for the response. Sometimes I will softly touch the resistant tissue and wait, oftentimes the tissue responds to my passive attitude and relaxes. The body has the innate wisdom and knows way more what it needs then a hard external force being applied by a practitioner of the massage genre. Our touch only awakens the homeostatic response which their body is capable of mustering at that moment.  [Read more…]

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