Swedish Massage: This is the most common type of massage. The pressure during a Swedish massage is light to medium. The whole body is usually massaged unless the recipient tells the therapist to focus on somewhere in particular. Kneading movements, long strokes, circular movements, and passive joint movements are used by the therapist during this style of massage.
Deep Tissue: Deep tissue is similar to a Swedish Massage. The pressure is greater and usually more specific in areas. The therapist will employ various techniques to get through layers of compromised tissue. This massage is recommended to anyone who feels like they need relief in the deeper layers of muscle tissue.
Myofascial Therapy: Fascia is layers of connective tissue beneath the skin that attach, stabilize, envelope, and separate muscles and their internal organs. This tissue is very strong and can hold up to 2000 lbs of pressure. During an acute injury this connective tissue will “seize up” to stabilize any compromised area in the body. This type of massage uses very slow sustained pressure to engage and release the fascial tissue. It is recommended to anyone that feels overly constricted in certain areas where range of motion is compromised and muscles feel tense and not fully utilized. This technique is considered to be more of a medical massage approach.
Trigger Point Release: Trigger points are congested areas of soft tissue that develop into painful spots in our muscles. These trigger points are not only painful in their direct area, but can also refer pain in other areas of the body. This type of massage is meant to focus on and release these specific congested areas. The sessions can at times feel uncomfortable and or painful but your therapist can communicate with you and keep you within your comfort levels. Once a trigger point is released the pain is usually resolved immediately.
Lomi Lomi Massage: This massage is restorative and almost hypnotic. The techniques used are long, flowing rhythmic strokes usually using the forearms. The word “lomi” in The Hawaiian language means “to pound.” Long ago Hawaiians would sentence someone to a Lomi massage as punishment to expel the “Dis-ease” from a person’s body that may have compelled them to commit a crime. The massage was MUCH more painful and the recipient would have to learn to breath through the massage. Nowadays the massage is more gentle.
Reflexology Massage: Traditional Chinese medicine states that there are specific points in the feet, hands, and ears that correspond and are directly connected to certain organs and various body systems. For instance the center of the foot corresponds and is said to be connected to the kidneys, and the bottom of the big toe is connected to the neck. Applying different pressure and movements on different points on the feet, hands, and ears can potentially offer a range of health benefits such as: immune system boost, back pain relief, improved digestion, relief from colds and bacterial infections, and much more.
Thai Massage: This type of massage originated in Thailand thousands of years ago. It is a very comprehensive and wonderful therapy. Thai massage can be done on the floor or on a massage table. It is most comfortable on the floor with a floor mat. A practitioner of Thai massage works a person’s energy lines or (sen lines) while also incorporating passive stretching, and compression techniques using their whole body ( including the feet and legs) in a systematic way to induce healing. During the passive stretching that takes place, the therapist and client subtly work together through the breath to get the most out of each stretch.
PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation): This technique in body work asks the recipient of the work to be actively engaged. Say for example someone has constricted/tight hamstrings. What happens is the therapist will ask the recipient to engage their hamstring by providing resistance into the therapist's hands or arms or whatever body part they are using. To start the recipient will be providing resistance at a range of motion for their hamstring that is not so challenging. After providing resistance for about 10-20 seconds the therapist will then move the recipients hamstring into a more challenging range of motion and repeat the previous step, and so on and so forth. The concept here is that the range of motion will immediately increase in slight increments. Once the true end range is accessed the client then will hold that position with assistance from the therapist for to up to 2 minutes.
RI (Reciprocal Inhibition): This technique is similar to PNF. The recipient of the body work is once again playing an active role. Our muscles often work in pairs to produce movement. There are agonist muscles and antagonist muscles. The agonist muscle contracts while the antagonist muscles relaxes. Let's say that the recipient has tight latissimus dorsi muscles. In the case of RI the therapist will ask the recipient to actively engage their opposing muscles to the lats which would be the deltoids, pectoralis muscles and even parts of the neck such as the levator scapula. The engagement by the recipient would be where they would actively use their antagonist muscle to make contact with the therapist while the therapist provides a little resistance. The range of motion for this antagonist muscle will get more challenging while holding these positions for 10-20 seconds. As the antagonist muscles are working (i.e. the deltoid) the agonist muscle (the latissimus dorsi) is inhibited and forced to open up more and relax with really no conscious effort.
Sports Massage: Sports massage uses different techniques found in all different modalities of massage. You do not have to be an athlete though to receive sports massage. Anyone can benefit from this. Sports massage uses a much faster flow that relaxes the muscles through a stimulating quick pace. Mobilization stretching is also used where a practitioner can warm the joints up by taking them through their full range of motion in a repetitive manner.
Craniosacral Therapy: This is a very gentle and deeply relaxing therapy that works specifically with the craniosacral rythym in the body. The craniosacral rhythm is the gentle flow of spinal fluid that pumps subtly from the top of the head to the base of the spine and creates a subtle rhythm throughout the rest of the body referred to as flexion and extension. The pressure used is about 5 grams which is about the weight of a nickel. This pressure allows the practitioner to sense the subtle rhythmic movement in the body and to locate specific dysfunctions within the soft tissue. The results from one session can be extremely helpful in relieving a range of more complex symptoms. Anything from a feeling of something feeling “off” or having difficultly relaxing and letting go, to severe injuries and challenging diagnosis. This therapy works deeply in the nervous system.
Deep Tissue: Deep tissue is similar to a Swedish Massage. The pressure is greater and usually more specific in areas. The therapist will employ various techniques to get through layers of compromised tissue. This massage is recommended to anyone who feels like they need relief in the deeper layers of muscle tissue.
Myofascial Therapy: Fascia is layers of connective tissue beneath the skin that attach, stabilize, envelope, and separate muscles and their internal organs. This tissue is very strong and can hold up to 2000 lbs of pressure. During an acute injury this connective tissue will “seize up” to stabilize any compromised area in the body. This type of massage uses very slow sustained pressure to engage and release the fascial tissue. It is recommended to anyone that feels overly constricted in certain areas where range of motion is compromised and muscles feel tense and not fully utilized. This technique is considered to be more of a medical massage approach.
Trigger Point Release: Trigger points are congested areas of soft tissue that develop into painful spots in our muscles. These trigger points are not only painful in their direct area, but can also refer pain in other areas of the body. This type of massage is meant to focus on and release these specific congested areas. The sessions can at times feel uncomfortable and or painful but your therapist can communicate with you and keep you within your comfort levels. Once a trigger point is released the pain is usually resolved immediately.
Lomi Lomi Massage: This massage is restorative and almost hypnotic. The techniques used are long, flowing rhythmic strokes usually using the forearms. The word “lomi” in The Hawaiian language means “to pound.” Long ago Hawaiians would sentence someone to a Lomi massage as punishment to expel the “Dis-ease” from a person’s body that may have compelled them to commit a crime. The massage was MUCH more painful and the recipient would have to learn to breath through the massage. Nowadays the massage is more gentle.
Reflexology Massage: Traditional Chinese medicine states that there are specific points in the feet, hands, and ears that correspond and are directly connected to certain organs and various body systems. For instance the center of the foot corresponds and is said to be connected to the kidneys, and the bottom of the big toe is connected to the neck. Applying different pressure and movements on different points on the feet, hands, and ears can potentially offer a range of health benefits such as: immune system boost, back pain relief, improved digestion, relief from colds and bacterial infections, and much more.
Thai Massage: This type of massage originated in Thailand thousands of years ago. It is a very comprehensive and wonderful therapy. Thai massage can be done on the floor or on a massage table. It is most comfortable on the floor with a floor mat. A practitioner of Thai massage works a person’s energy lines or (sen lines) while also incorporating passive stretching, and compression techniques using their whole body ( including the feet and legs) in a systematic way to induce healing. During the passive stretching that takes place, the therapist and client subtly work together through the breath to get the most out of each stretch.
PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation): This technique in body work asks the recipient of the work to be actively engaged. Say for example someone has constricted/tight hamstrings. What happens is the therapist will ask the recipient to engage their hamstring by providing resistance into the therapist's hands or arms or whatever body part they are using. To start the recipient will be providing resistance at a range of motion for their hamstring that is not so challenging. After providing resistance for about 10-20 seconds the therapist will then move the recipients hamstring into a more challenging range of motion and repeat the previous step, and so on and so forth. The concept here is that the range of motion will immediately increase in slight increments. Once the true end range is accessed the client then will hold that position with assistance from the therapist for to up to 2 minutes.
RI (Reciprocal Inhibition): This technique is similar to PNF. The recipient of the body work is once again playing an active role. Our muscles often work in pairs to produce movement. There are agonist muscles and antagonist muscles. The agonist muscle contracts while the antagonist muscles relaxes. Let's say that the recipient has tight latissimus dorsi muscles. In the case of RI the therapist will ask the recipient to actively engage their opposing muscles to the lats which would be the deltoids, pectoralis muscles and even parts of the neck such as the levator scapula. The engagement by the recipient would be where they would actively use their antagonist muscle to make contact with the therapist while the therapist provides a little resistance. The range of motion for this antagonist muscle will get more challenging while holding these positions for 10-20 seconds. As the antagonist muscles are working (i.e. the deltoid) the agonist muscle (the latissimus dorsi) is inhibited and forced to open up more and relax with really no conscious effort.
Sports Massage: Sports massage uses different techniques found in all different modalities of massage. You do not have to be an athlete though to receive sports massage. Anyone can benefit from this. Sports massage uses a much faster flow that relaxes the muscles through a stimulating quick pace. Mobilization stretching is also used where a practitioner can warm the joints up by taking them through their full range of motion in a repetitive manner.
Craniosacral Therapy: This is a very gentle and deeply relaxing therapy that works specifically with the craniosacral rythym in the body. The craniosacral rhythm is the gentle flow of spinal fluid that pumps subtly from the top of the head to the base of the spine and creates a subtle rhythm throughout the rest of the body referred to as flexion and extension. The pressure used is about 5 grams which is about the weight of a nickel. This pressure allows the practitioner to sense the subtle rhythmic movement in the body and to locate specific dysfunctions within the soft tissue. The results from one session can be extremely helpful in relieving a range of more complex symptoms. Anything from a feeling of something feeling “off” or having difficultly relaxing and letting go, to severe injuries and challenging diagnosis. This therapy works deeply in the nervous system.