The Jacuzzi is up and running

I am happy to announce that the hot tub is finally operational and ready for use!  Special for the month of November, book your 60 or 90 minute massage and receive a complimentary 15-20 minute soak before your body work (valued normally at an additional $10).  Book now for this special deal by visiting http://kevinorourke.massagetherapy.com/contact-information and sending your request for appointment. Be well!

Massage for Anxiety and Depression

It goes without saying that many of us seek massage in order to relax, de-stress, and feel good in our bodies. But did you know that semi-regular bodywork can actually help manage anxiety and depression? As an integrative part of overall health care, many studies show that holistic therapies such as acupuncture, watsu, and circulatory massage can be beneficial strategies for managing these disorders. Here is a short article explaining how and why it works.

Massage Therapy for Anxiety and Depression - Sarah Robson, RMT

Heated Stone Massage

One of my favorite modalities of massage involves the integration of heated stones.  The long, sweeping strokes of the warm stones, combined with the healing focus of traditional lomilomi, conjures the feeling of deep tumbling waves on the ocean and places the mind and spirit in a state of blissful relaxation.

My path to learning heated stone integration began about 2 years ago, and as a practitioner, it is one of my most treasured experiences.  After months of mastering the technique, I began collecting my stones one by one from the rustic cliff-side beaches of San Diego.  Each one has a unique shape, heft, and voice that I have learned to partner with to create a massage that is designed to transport the mind, body, and spirit into the healing arms of the ocean.  Perfect for a cool, cloudy morning in San Diego.  If you have never experienced heated stones as part of your massage, I urge you to treat yourself to this beautiful art form.

For more information, see the following article from Massage and Bodywork Magazine.  To book your next session, visit my website today to schedule your outdoor heated stone massage.

Craniosacral Therapy explained

One of the modalities that I work with in my training as a bodyworker is Craniosacral Therapy. CST is often misunderstood as purely "energy work".  In fact, it is much more somatic in nature.  While tuning in to the intrinsic rhythm and pulse of cerebrospinal fluid within the body, CST focuses on holding space for the somatic "creature nature" of the human organism, allowing relaxation, postural correction, and healing to arise on its own without gross physical manipulations of the body and its structure.

Here is a great article with some background on Craniosacral Therapy, its development and effectiveness in treatment, and some scientific reasoning for why and how it works.

Re-Entry

Vacation time is such a great way to reset and reward ourselves for hard work.  I have just returned from a fantastic two weeks in New York City and beautiful green Michigan, where I reconnected with good friends and close family, pampered myself with pedicures and a night on Broadway, and had a once in a lifetime experience attending the traditional Hindu wedding of my new niece and nephew.

Time away from home can certainly take its toll on a body though, whether sleeping in unfamiliar hotel beds, riding amusement park rides at Cedar Point, or walking along Fifth Avenue and the Brooklyn Bridge.  I will be easing back into my own work and home today by receiving a relaxing Watsu session from my friend and fellow bodyworker Keith Anderson at the Wave Academy. If you are a water baby and have never tried this form of bodywork, you are in for a treat!

Emotions in the Body

Here is an interesting article published in a 2013 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America that details locations where certain emotions are most often "felt" in the body according to a sampling of 700 individuals over 5 different experiments.  Somatosensory Feedback suggests that physical sensations of tension, temperature change, and even chronic pain may be experienced in these areas as a result of emotional trauma.  Massage has long been known to effectively treat many emotional conditions.  This study may actually help pinpoint where massage may be most effective in treating some of these emotional conditions and the physical discomfort associated with them.

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/2/646.full.pdf