Deep tissue massage aims to reach the deeper layers of soft tissue and fascia and can help the release of chronic tension and pain. The treatment is often performed hands-free, allowing your practitioner to target problem areas using their elbows, forearms and knuckles.
Distinct from other treatment forms, a deep tissue massage is typically slow, strong and targeted. Despite the common misconception, it does not need to hurt to help but should feel comfortably within your personal zone of tolerance. In fact, clients often report a profound sense of wellbeing after a treatment.
Going beyond the purely clinical, outcome-based approach of other treatment types, a Holistic Massage seeks to address discomfort by rebalancing the whole person. A holistic treatment aims to recalibrate both the physiological and emotional root causes of discomfort in the body rather than ‘fixing’ the symptom directly.
For the practitioner, a holistic treatment not only means seeing and treating the whole of the person, but also perhaps bringing the totality their own experience to the treatment. It offers both practitioner and client the opportunity to discover the story within the tissue and to integrate body, mind and spirit.
It is ideal for the person looking to work deeper and it can offer relief from, amongst others, non-specific pain and tension, stress, anxiety, depression or sleep disorders and can be a powerful resource for clients curious about the mind-body connection.
Connective tissue or fascia surrounds and connects all the structures in the body, from the largest organs to the smallest vessels and bones. It has unique viscoelastic properties and is richly innervated with neuroreceptors, making it one of the most important (and overlooked) sensory organs in the body.
Fascia can become stuck and restricted after physical or emotional trauma and injury, restricting muscle function and movement. Therefore, treating the fascia can often be the missing link in resolving chronic pain that has not historically responded to other forms of massage.
Uniquely distinct from other forms of bodywork, myofascial release uses sustained gentle stretches and very slow, intuitive strokes using no lubricant to help connective tissue return to its healthy viscosity and flexibility, thereby allowing muscles to naturally relax and optimum range of movement to return to the body.
Clients often report a deep sense of wellbeing resulting from the deep ‘melting’ sensation so typical of this beautiful work. Using both direct, structural release and indirect fascial release, this treatment can be incorporated into a deep tissue massage or booked as a series of standalone treatments to aid pain management, postural alignment, circulation issues or sports-related recovery.
Rosen Method Bodywork is a gentle form of relational touch therapy that can be described as a nurturing and mindful enquiry into the connection between your body and mind.
Using a deep listening touch and sensitive dialogue, the practitioner invites the client to enter a safe, unconditional awareness of their own internal experience, where together they explore the relationship between tension and holding patterns within the body and the core beliefs motivating these patterns.
Tension in the body often reflects a deeply held belief about ourselves - often connected to a self-limiting narrative we have adopted in our past. When we contact these with compassion, our bodies naturally release and unwind as we consciously integrate the truth of ourselves.
This natural integration allows us to feel more of ourselves, allowing us an expanded sense of possibility, freedom, health and wellbeing.
'With touch, there is an awareness in the cells of the body that bypasses intellectual knowing...Touch seems like a sword cutting through red tape, finding the core of the barrier, of the suffering, of the holding' (Marion Rosen)
