As Asian Bodywork is becoming more mainstream in the spa and wellness industry, an increasing number of clients are asking about the Integrated Thai-Shiatsu massage therapy sessions I offer.

Being prepared for what you can expect during your massage session when you walk into it is a very important part of how you will feel when you walk out of it, so to learn more about Thai-Shiatsu, check out these great YouTube massage videos. Each is an excerpt of a massage session demonstrating the Thai and Shiatsu aspects of the Integrated Thai-Shiatsu bodywork modality.

Thai Massage

What you are not seeing in the above is the Shiatsu aspect of an Integrated Thai-Shiatsu massage session. The main difference is the amount of "point" work or acupressure involved.

Shiatsu Massage

Thai Massage and Shiatsu Massage, apart, are wonderful ways to reconnect with your body and surrender to your breath. In an integrated form, they are simply that much more powerful.

Try one today, and let us know what you think!

Labels: asian bodywork, integrated thai-shiatsu massage, massage therapy, shiatsu, shoshin shiatsu, thai massage, thai-shiatsu

Whether you have never received professional massage before or if you have received years of therapy and are trying out a new massage modality, communicating with your massage therapist is very important. 

Labels: communicating with your massage therapist, massage, massage session, massage therapy, talk to you rmassage therapist

According to the American Psychological Association, 54 percent of Americans say they are concerned about the levels of stress in their lives, and the same percentage say they are concerned about the effects stress has on their health.

Massage is One Way

Swedish massage is an excellent way to cope with stress. By the nature of what it is - a quiet time during which nurturing touch is administered by a professional massage therapist - it reduces anxiety and promotes calmness. People who receive regular massage sleep better and are able to handle stress more readily.

But massage is external resource, something to seek outside ones self.

Digging Deep is Another

However, there are many survival stories - people who go down with a torpedoed ship, break their leg alone on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, and so on - that indicate humans have an internal resource. In Deep Survival accident journalist Laurence Gonzales writes about the "thought behavior" that allows certain people to pull through some of the most stressful situations possible.

An LMT's Top Three Thoughts

Gonzales provides twelve steps to surviving stressful situations. Many times, massage clients who are going through stressful situations of any degree are at their lowest when they make it to the table. Massage therapists can provide relief through touch, and though it is out of the scope of practice of a licensed massage therapist, LMT, to counsel, the client can certainly participate in the process of relief. Clients: consider the following three steps.

• Think, Analyze and Plan: Survivors organize. They assess the situation and formulate a plan to handle it. Emotion only plays a role in this set insofar as it might be helpful to the overall plan. (Another of the steps is using your anger). By devoting their energy to problem solving, survivors are able to keep motivated and stay focused on surviving.
  
• Enjoy the Survival Journey: Approach the stressful situation as you would a challenge or a competitive sport. In other words, make surviving, dealing with your stress, a game, not a chore. A deadline, a divorce, an accident, an illness - whatever it is - it is still part of your life. You might as well enjoy it.
  
• Do Whatever Necessary: Here is a good analogy for "doing what's necessary": Through chemotherapy cancer patients nearly kill themselves to live. They value life enough to risk it. Whether or not you are dealing with stress on that scale, the principle still applies. Do what it takes to get through.

Check out The Twelve Rules of Survival that Gonzales says each survivor uses to get through the most horrible accidents life. Apply them to your stressful situation. Then, book a massage.

Labels: massage therapy, reduce stress, stress, survival, Swedish massage

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay Reporter Content provided by HealthDay

TUESDAY, Sept. 16 (HealthDay News) -- For people coping with advanced cancer, massage therapy may offer some relief from pain and depressed mood, according to a new study.

Reporting in the Sept. 16 Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers found that people who received massage from a licensed, specially trained therapist reported greater improvements in pain and mood symptoms than did people who received simple touch. However, these improvements didn't last over time.

"Our goal was to see if massage therapy compared to simple touch would be beneficial," said the study's lead author, Dr. Jean Kutner, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.

Measuring patient outcomes immediately after massage sessions, her team found that "massage was better than simple touch for pain and mood," she said.

"But, on a weekly basis, there was no difference between the groups," she added. "So, massage was better in the immediate time frame, but didn't appear to have a sustained effect."

The study included 380 adults with advanced cancer. All had at least moderate pain, and most were receiving hospice care. The types of cancer included lung, breast, pancreatic, colorectal and prostate.

About half of the group received at least one massage therapy session, while the remaining half was given "simple touch" therapy. Simple touch consisted of having a therapist place both hands on the patient for three minutes at 10 specific body sites. The massage therapy was done by licensed therapists trained in oncology massage who had at least six months' experience in cancer massage.

The therapists in both groups were asked to keep talking to a minimum and to simply provide instructions or answer therapy-related questions. No music or scented oils were used.

The therapists interviewed patients before and after each session, asking about pain and mood. The patients were then re-interviewed three weeks later to assess if the therapy had any long-term effect. Pain was rated on a scale of 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain). Mood was rated on a scale of 0 (worst mood) to 10 (best mood).

After massage therapy, mood scores immediately increased by an average of 1.58 points and pain scores decreased by 1.87 points. In the touch therapy group, mood immediately improved by an average of 0.97 points and pain decreased by an average of 0.97 points.

After three weeks, however, there were no statistically significant sustained changes, according to the study.

"If massage helps people with advanced cancer feel better, then I'd say great, do it," said Dr. Jay Brooks, chair of oncology and hematology at Ochsner Health Foundation in Baton Rouge, La. Brooks does recommend that anyone with cancer, especially those on active treatment regimens, should check with their doctor before getting a massage.

Kutner said that, although massage appears perfectly safe from this study, they didn't include people who had a high risk of bleeding or fractures.

If massage therapy is something you'd like to try, she advises finding a qualified therapist.

Kathleen Clayton, a licensed massage therapist and a spokesperson for the American Massage Therapy Association, agreed. "Make sure the person giving you a massage knows what they're doing. They need to be a licensed massage therapist and someone who has taken courses in oncology massage," she said, adding, "Massage can be a form of symptom relief and can improve your quality of life."

One caveat, however: Many insurance companies don't reimburse for the cost of massage therapy. But, Clayton said, some do, so be sure to check with your carrier.

More information

Read more about massage for people with cancer at the University of California San Diego.

Labels: cancer, massage austin, massage study, massage therapy, oncology massage

Simply put, Thai-Shiatsu massage is a combination of Asian Bodywork modalities.

Asian Bodywork uses the energetic philosophy of Chinese Medicine to reduce stress, promote health and overall wellness. It is also one of the four branches of Chinese Medicine - the other branches being Acupuncture, Herbology and Qigong - and has been influenced by all of the major Asian countries - most notably China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Bodywork's Integrated Thai & Shiatsu Massage

Clients should come to Thai-Shiatsu sessions in loose, comfortable clothing. Clothing will remain on throughout the session. The bodywork, which is composed of light stretches and compression will be performed on the floor on a massage mat. Bolsters, pillows and blankets should be available, as needed, as the client will be moved into many different positions during the massage.

Shoshin Shiatsu - Shoshin Shiatsu originates with traditional acupressure, Zen and Thai bodywork and is based on awareness and working of the classic 14 meridian channels of Chinese medicine.

Shiatsu is a traditional, hands-on Japanese therapy translating literally. Shi means finger and atsu means pressure.

Thai Massage - Thai massage is known in Thailand as "nuat phaen boran," literally, meaning the ancient-manner massage. According to Wikipedia, Thai massage originated in India and is based on Ayurveda and Yoga. It is believed that Thai massage art was actually brought to Thailand over 2500 years ago.

Thai massage techniques, using the thumbs, elbows, palms, forearms, feet and knees include: rocking, rhythmic muscle compression, assisted yoga positions and stretching. Therapists work along energy meridians called Sen lines. Three of the Sen lines run along the same areas as the yogic nadis, the Indian version of energy lines, affecting specific chakras or centers of energy.

You'll know how amazing this modality is the second your massage therapist lays a hand on you. It is an intuitive and incredibly focused work. If you've had a Swedish massage that left you wanting more, if you felt like your therapists wasn't paying attention to you, try a Thai and/or Shiatsu session.


Bodywork provides custom massage therapy and bodywork in the Austin area.

Labels: asian bodywork, massage austin, massage therapy, shoshin shiatsu, thai massage, thai-shiatsu

According to a Morning Edition story by NPR's Tovia Smith, "little luxuries" like those in the spa and wellness industries are holding strong. In Little Luxuries Faring Well in a Flagging Economy, Smith covers a day spa whose sales are up 10 percent and a wellness center with packed dance classes. Apparently, people are skipping the vacations and more extravagent luxuries for massage, yoga and, yes, liquor.

It's not hard to believe - that massage therapy might be more recession-proof than not. Frustration, anger and stress seem to be the emotions of the moment with employment down, credit impossible and the stock market slipping and sliding. If it is any indicator, the Smash Shack's business is growing. (The Smash Shack is a California business for angry people who feel the need to smash things).

Before you go smashing your china against the side of your house, you should know massage - the healthier version of booze - is a great way to feel better immediately when things go awry. It affects you physically, of course, by increasing ciruclation and easing muscle tension. But it also helps on another level - a chemical level.

According to one study done by the Touch Research Institute (TRI), published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, immediately following a massage depressed moods, anxiety and the stress hormone cortisol were each reduced.

Want to keep your job? Another of the Touch Research Institute studies indicates receiving regular therapeudic touch just might improve job performance. A TRI study, reported in the International Journal of Neuroscience, done on adults who received regular massage indicates brain patterns "consistent with enhanced alertness." These adults were also able to complete math problems more quickly and anxiety and stress were down.

Dopamine, which is associated with pleasure, and seratonin, which in a round-about way, is responsible for restful sleep, are both increased with massage.

So go out and get a massage, right? Yes!

The really great news about all of this is that there are plenty of massage therapists offering "recession specials," as well. Just google massage recession specials or massage discounts and see what pops up for your area.

Packages are also always a good buy if you can make the up-front investment. Then, package purchased, all you have to do is commit to a time for your "little luxury."

Check out the following:
Tovia's article on Little Luxuries.
The Smash Shack and NPR's Story on Anger.
An Emotional Time in the Workplace.
Studies done by the Touch Research Institute.

Bodywork provides custom massage therapy and bodywork services in the Austin area.

Labels: improve job performance, massage benefits, massage is recession-proof, massage therapy, reduce anxiety, reduce cortisol, reduce stress