Massage and Bodywork

The physical body is our home, the tool that is ours to use in this life. It works incredibly hard, and has enormous capacity for self-healing, but all sorts of things interfere with that ability: negative emotions, electro-magnetic smog and nutrient-poor diets for a start.

The first thing to recognise is that symptoms are great! They are the body’s way of telling us that it needs some attention and they even tell us where to look. The clues to our healing lie in the symptoms that we present with: our job is to read them accurately and find the most appropriate way to correct the underlying imbalance.

For some people the first and most appropriate place to start treatment is the physical body: acute injury and trauma, joint aches and pains, stiff neck and shoulders will all respond well to hands-on treatment. Body massage techniques can help to release tight muscles, restore the flow of blood and allow toxins to be cleared via the lymph. Combined with gentle kinesiology manipulations they can help to ‘reset’ joints and restore symmetry to the skeleton.

The Scenar biofeedback device is without equal for speeding the healing of all kinds of wounds: mine has done dog bites, a circular saw slice and multiple road rash as well as more mundane injuries and operation scars! Not only can it quell infection, it stimulates healing and regrowth of all kinds of tissue, including nerves. It can do this because it reads the body’s own frequencies and supplies those which are required.

Another way of reading the picture presented by the body is through the Touch For Health treatment. This tests the response of muscles relating to each of the major meridians to find out where the energy is blocked or deficient. Simple massage and neuromuscular pressure techniques unblock the flow and help bring the body back into balance.

Problem areas that don't respond well to treatment might need to be tackled from an Anatomy Trains understanding. According to this theory propounded by Thomas Myers, all the muscles are connected through the fascial web, and a problem in one area may spread to another, like a pull in a sweater. Both Scenar and myofascial release work are effective at unravelling such problems and bringing freedom from pain and a return to full range of movement.

Physical body work is a great place to start a course of treatment and a holistic massage is a great way to end it and focus on the next challenge!