In modern society, the Power of Touch Therapy in Massage & Bodywork is vastly under-appreciated, yet highly valuable…
Living On The Leading Edge of
Advanced Bodywork and Life Itself
As you get to know us, you’ll understand more about The Edge. It is one of our central keys to providing great bodywork for people and managing many of the aspects of your own life and self.
The short story is that too many people think that what some people call deep tissue therapy has to be painful to work. On the other hand, there are therapists who seldom, or never, work deep enough. This leads to many customer complaints that a therapist works either too deep or not deep enough.
But that’s different for every client, and the amount of pressure needs to be adjusted for each client, at different times. One level of pressure does not fit everyone, and it often changes quite a lot, even within the same massage or bodywork session.
Therapists who think they always know intuitively how much pressure is “just right” are probably kidding themselves much of the time. Yes, you will get better at intuiting how much is Just The Right Pressure. Yet there are always clients with “surprises” hiding in the soft tissues that almost make them jump off the table. Or as least be very uncomfortable.
The best results come when your Client is well within their Edges of pain, meaning they LIKE (or are neutral about) what they are feeling, and are not having to tolerate the pressure you are applying to their skin, muscles, and fascia.
Clients should be INVITING, not FIGHTING, the sensations you, the therapist, are stimulating in their body. Intensity of Sensation is fine. But NOT if the sensation is so much they start to RESIST what you’re doing.
They should be RELAXING into the pressure you stimulate with your therapy, not RESISTING it.
Therefore, the Goldilocks Rule works well. Some pressure it too much, some is not enough, and some is Just Right! It’s our job to help you learn to find and apply that just right pressure for each client.
Working With The Neurology Of the Body
Working with The Edge keeps you, the therapist, and your Client, focused on the internal relaxation and tension release process, making deep neurological connections, increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and results of your work.
For one thing, much of the power of touch therapy in massage & bodywork is their influence on the parasympathetic nerve system. This system is responsible for the healing, regeneration, rebuilding, and immune functions of the body. (That’s compared to the better known Sympathetic system, the Fright, Freeze, Fight or Flight system.)
The parasympathetic system responds best to light to medium stimulation, and not so well to high intensity stimulation. In fact, very strong stimulus tends to turn the parasympathetic system down as the sympathetic — the fight or flight — system turns UP.
So if you have a practice focused primarily on working with and healing the soft tissue issues of your clients, you’ll want to avoid working too deeply, too fast. Too much intensity of sensation, especially if it’s painful, can work against your beneficial and healing intentions.
Like much of what you’ll be learning with us, there’s A LOT more to power of touch therapy in massage & bodywork than that simple description describes.
Yes, our techniques treat the “deep tissues.” Many say we go far deeper into the muscle and fascia than most. The trick is to let the skin and surface tissues “release” first, THEN go deeper into the more superficial levels of muscle fibers, allowing the No Pain, MORE Gain process to work. THEN sink into the deeper muscle fibers.
It takes a little more time, but is far more effective and efficient. You’ll learn to deliver “deeper bodywork” with no significant levels of discomfort or pain necessarily involved.
Our entry level program will give you all the therapeutic tools you need to be a VERY successful practitioner.
The Power of Touch Therapy in Massage & Bodywork Is A Basic Human Need
The Power Of Touch is not, of course, exclusive to massage therapists. It is a basic human need existing within each of us. All human beings would be well-advised to learn about, understand, and incorporate (non-sexual) touch therapy in their interactions with their close family and even friends.
Many people, whether conscious of it or not, are touch deprived. Any kind of human physical contact can be beneficial. This is especially true of infants. It has been shown that their development is significantly improved if they experience more physical touch.
The Art Of Touch Therapy
Yet a massage therapist is further trained in the Art Of Touch; how to identify and effectively treat numerous indications of need for massage therapy while adhering to high standards of professional ethics and boundaries.
In today’s busy society the Element Of Touch is getting lost amongst responsibilities, skepticism and fear; and yet for many people, including in the medical profession, massage therapy is increasingly viewed as “Safe Touch” that can, ideally, bridge the gap between our reservations and requisite for human contact.
It is important to realize that human touch does NOT need to incorporate romantic or sexual elements to be useful and effective. In fact, it is often the non-sexual touch that produces more profound results.
Soft Tissue Issues
Some of the most frequently sought after massage & bodywork treatments address fatigue, stress, tension, muscle aches and pains, and a wide range of “soft tissue injuries,” all of which can potentially be reduced and/or eliminated through the proper use of professional massage & bodywork techniques and the Power Of Touch.
Frankly, we are often amazed at how many health issues are the result of what we call C.E.M.&.N.T. (chronic, excess muscle & nerve tension & stress) in the human body. For example, people experiencing digestive disorders can benefit from manual massage / bodywork therapy applied to the abdomen. Why?
Well the intestines within the abdominal cavity are constructed of smooth muscle fibers. They contract and relax too, to produce peristalsis, which pushes food through the small and large intestine. If these muscles build up too much tension and stress, their efficiency is reduced, causing reduction of proper metabolism. This simple basic factor can lead to many other digestive and health problems.
Public Acceptance of Medical Massage and Clinical Bodywork For Health Issues Is On The Rise
Statistics outlining the trends in massage therapy have shown consistent increases in the awareness and acceptance of massage therapy for these and many other needs, including many in the orthodox medical system. More physicians are recommending massage and bodywork to their patients all the time.
Thank You for reading our comments on the power of touch therapy in massage & bodywork.
