Massage Is Sedating

     Where CranioSacral treats the CranioSacral System, and Lymphatic Draináge the lymphatic and immune system, Massage focuses on the muscles, cardiovascular and circulatory system. It can, for example, relieve tired muscles of the build up of lactic acid burn from heavy anaerobic respiration. (It's best to warm up before sprints! - J.N.)

    After the massage the client may feel sedated and need a few minutes to walk about a bit before going to their car.

     Expect to feel very relaxed for several hours after your nurturing massage, and more effective when you arrive back to work.

Massage Is Considerate

     Massage can always be done with kindness and consideration of each person who arrives to rest on the table in the midst of a busy day.

     This massage often integrates other nourishing modalities, including:

     One of my teachers, the perceptive and highly skilled, Bernard Treynt of the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts (NMAHA), calls his Massage Therapy practice in Santa Fe, "Touch Art."

This is the Art of Touch

An Ancient Chinese Story

     This is one of my favorite stories about massage. It was told to me when I first started Massage Therapy in a room filled with candlelight.

     It so occurred once upon a time and a very long time that was, a Stepmother and her daughter hated each other. Hate is said to be as old as it is new and it was no different with these two. All their domestic life was disharmony and struggle. When the Stepmother wanted the Daughter to prepare and cook the food, the Daughter wouldn't. And when the Daughter wanted the Stepmother to prepare and cook the food, the Stepmother wouldn't. So neither would eat food.

     It was well known in that part of Ancient China that the worst thing for a person's health was an unhappy domestic situation or an unhappy work situation. (The second worst thing for anyone's health, back then, was a diagnosis! Check it out! -JN) And as the story goes, their lives were a constant misery. Father was away on a journey and soon their skin began to stink and they began to starve.

     One day they gathered up the strength to go to the Wise Chinese Doctor. They told him they didn't know why they were suffering. He looked at them and invited them to eat with him. They soon began to feel better. Before the meal was over he prescribed daily massage for the Stepmother, and the Daughter was the one instructed to give her the massage.

     Day in and day out the Daughter massaged her Stepmother. It was very hard at first. The Stepmother had hurt her before and had made her suffer. But each time it got easier for both of them. Soon they discovered they could be best of friends. They even began to prepare and cook the food with each other every day!

     They went back to the Wise Doctor to thank him. He smiled and nodded his head. They sat quietly together. He said, "It is impossible
to hate the person you massage each day, and impossible to hate the person who gives you massage." The Stepmother and daughter were surprised. They did not want to hate each other anymore.

     Our story ends here.

Massage the Planet

     Now, as I review this story, I wonder if it really does end here?

      There is so much needless suffering and hatred on this beautiful blue water planet.  Why not massage the planet?

     Like the story (above) it is easy to hate someone we haven't met.  It is hard to hate someone we have met in a pleasant setting.

     What are good manners?  Does anyone remember?  Good manners are based on respect for others and putting others at ease.

     Easier said than done?  Actually, it's simple and we know it.

    We can begin to massage the planet just by performing one kind action for another person each day.  Just one kind action.  It doesn't matter if we know the person or not. 

     If one person does one kind action, then another will perform one kind action, then another and then another until it goes all around the world.

     You need not be a Massage Therapist to massage the planet!

     It has been said in days of old that the highest giving is the giving that is done without anyone else knowing about it.

Pregnancy Massage

     Believe it or not, being pregnant can be a time of the most radiant health, and of growth and redefinition of self. Whatever the mother's circumstances or condition, nurturing and gentle Massage Therapy can be of enormous benefit, and great solace and relief.

     "Pregnancy Massage," is most often performed in the Second Trimester of the Cycle when the baby itself is starting to kick and to exercise its own muscles. However, gentle massage and light touch CranioSacral therapy ca be performed well before the First Trimester is over.  We are not working just with the mother but also with the little one.

     There are three of us and not just two of us together.

     And a healthy and happy mother makes a healthy and happy baby.

     Unlike CranioSacral, Pregnancy Massage is often performed with soft pillows as support, with the mother in the side lying position: the mother is actually on her side. This position lends support to the abdominal and lower back areas, and to the growing child. The Mother is given room to get up and go to the bathroom as she requires, and each is massage is different for each and according to each one's needs and feelings at this time.

     Pregnancy Massage is different from, "Infancy Massage" where the Mother herself is professionally instructed in the massage of her Newborn. Massage Therapy or CranioSacral Therapy for Pregnant <others is of course not intended to replace any appropriate medical and prenatal care, and can be of enormous benefit as adjunctive care.

     Some of the benefits of Nurturing Pregnancy Massage are increased circulation to the mother, and also blood flow to the placenta giving the baby greater nutrients and increasing waste removal. Muscle tone can increase with regular Massage through the pregnancy, and muscle spasms and cramps released, and tendons and joints become more flexible, and the pelvis release, making for an easier and shorter delivery time.

     It could be when we impart nurturing to the Mother and the Little One we also impart nurturing and harmony to others making the Earth a more peaceful and pleasant place to live.

     CranioSacral combined with Massage provide a winning quality of care and comfort and are simply spectacular in result.

Why wait? Check it out now.

Ask your Midwife Or Doula Or Gentle Birth Advocate.