My Recipe, My Art:
I love to cook. Cooking is an art and I love good quality, healthy food that tastes good.
Just like a good food recipe, I utilize a specific “recipe” in Massage Therapy. My recipe is specifically designed to help prevent injury, speed up the recovery process, heal and reduce pain, align the spine, improve range of motion, and restore the body to neutral and natural anatomical position.
A great cook or chef would agree that recipes can be adapted or changed to meet the needs of the customer or the guest. Same with my recipe. I don’t follow exact points every time on every individual. Everyone has their unique needs and challenges and my recipe is adapted to meet those challenges. In other words, I probably won’t do the exact same massage every time. If I find a knot or tight muscle fiber that needs more focus, I will spend time attempting to resolve it.
My goal is to help you in the most efficient and effective way possible in the short amount of time we have in each session. I work WITH YOU not ON YOU to help restore balance, both mentally and physically. “Healing the Body and Mind Through Professional Massage Therapy” is exactly what I do.
I utilize the following techniques to accomplish these goals:
Deep Tissue/ Structural
When you hear Deep Tissue or Structural you may associate this with unbearable PAIN or DISCOMFORT or pain for days after the session is over. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
A good deep tissue massage should never be unbearable, bruise severely, or activate the body’s fight or flight response. Why? It is because this will only cause the tightening of the muscle tissue, which defeats the purpose of Deep Tissue/Structural work.
Some discomfort can or may occur but I refer to this as INTENSE or “Good Hurt” or “Good Pain” as opposed to “Bad Hurt” or “Bad Pain”. The more frequent you receive deep tissue work, the less likely you have discomfort and you see more and more benefits through subsequent sessions. Deep Tissue typically also refers to deep, more intense pressure and long strokes as opposed to shorter strokes or more focused pressure. This is one of the most effective techniques to maintaining optimal health. Working the tissue deeply helps correct postural imbalances, removes built up toxins, increases blood/oxygen flow which encourages faster recovery, and promotes increased range of motion and many other health benefits. My deep tissue technique is one of the most refined you will experience. I use broad points of pressure such as my forearm, back of my arm, my knees, and hands to accomplish your deep tissue goals.
Trigger Point Therapy
Similar to Deep Tissue in regards to accessing deeper muscle fibers and tissues but Trigger Point Therapy differs due to being a more intense focused pressure at one specific point in the tissue and this pressure is fixed or held for a certain amount of time. The goal is to help tell the tissue to let go or relax or break up the Adhesions. Adhesions or “knots” form in muscle and fascia for many reasons including stress, trauma (such as whiplash in car accidents), high physical activity that focuses on one muscle group or area, scar tissue, and more. Trigger Point Therapy breaks down these adhesions by following a specific and proven technique. I incorporated Trigger Point Therapy in most or all sessions due to the fact that most people have adhesions and tight muscle/fascial tissue.
Stretching
Lets face it. We don’t STRETCH enough! As we age or increase physical activity, stretching is crucial to maintaining proper range of motion, proper posture, keeping muscles as limber as possible to help prevent injuries, and encourages quicker recovery. Stretching is something I consider crucial as a part of your massage session. I stretch the shoulders and chest, the quads, hamstrings, hips, and calves. Additional stretches are included as needed for each individual client and their specific needs. Since we get so busy with our daily routine and forget to stretch, I like to focus part of the session using this important technique to maximize the benefits of your session. I also like to teach my client basic stretching techniques that you can apply at home to maintain good health between sessions. Please ask me if you would like to learn any specific stretches or techniques. If I am unaware of a type of stretch I will research it and follow up with you.
Swedish and Relaxation Techniques
I also will not forget to mention the importance of Swedish Massage and Compression as a beneficial part of your massage therapy session. This is crucial to help encourage relaxation (turn off the flight or flight response), stress reduction, warming and preparing the muscle tissue for deeper more intense work. It is also included throughout the session before and after each larger area is worked. It is a great way to prepare and then settle the tissue once it has been worked deeply, remove toxins, and encourage blood flow/oxygen to heal the areas that are worked. Other relaxing techniques include diffused essential oils, soothing handmade lotion made by ME that contain essential oils. I utilize calming music, a calm safe inviting atmosphere, and hot towels are included in each session or as requested. Some clients prefer to maintain the lotion application, in which case, the towels can be excluded. Optional add on services include: Hot Stone massage, Aromatherapy, Foot Scrubs, and CBD oil.
Intuitive Approach
Intuition is one of the most important aspects of my career as a licensed massage therapist. Bestselling author, Shakti Gawain defines intuition; “There is a universal, intelligent life force that exists within everyone and everything. It resides within each one of us as a deep wisdom, an inner knowing.” She describes the intuitive mind as being able to tap into an infinite amount of information, where we can enter into a deep storehouse of knowledge and wisdom that exceeds our own experiences.
Intuition and tapping into what I would call a Massage Therapist’s “Sixth Sense” only occurs when a therapist has thoroughly learned anatomy and physiology, practiced his or her technique many, many times, and has been able to connect with people on a deeper, more spiritual level. Being able to touch another human body and read their body, mind, and spirit through touch only occurs when one has mastered this art of Intuition. Many come to me because they know I can read their body and mind and help their body and mind heal themselves. True healing can only take place if the massage therapist is in touch with their own connection to the person they are working with. Since we are all human and are not always 100% focused, I won’t claim that I am always perfect at this. I continually strive to learn more about the human body, mind, and spirit and improve my intuitive connection with my client as to better be able to help them.