I’ll be one of a few volunteers giving free massage and bodywork to the survivors and firemen of the Santa Barbara Tea Fire at Santa Barbara Yoga Center.  Lais da Silva, owner and founder of Santa Barbara Yoga Center, has been generous enough to organize a clinic at her beautiful and peaceful yoga center in an effort to promote healing in our community in the wake of this tragedy.
Please help spread the word to other professional healers and victims alike.  Roll your mouse over the “Share/Save” graphic below and …

Interesting video, showing Thai Massage in Thailand. Not much as far as production here, but I found it very interesting and although I’ve never been to Thailand, I imagine it to be very authentic.
Great also for clients who like Thai Massage, but think they’re not interested in compression massage. Watch the video and you’ll see that Thai Massage employs compressions!

Anne Tierney, one of the stretchers, sat on a chair near Torres’s head. Her partner, Steve Sierra, sat on a chair near Torres’s side, and the two proceeded to massage Torres’s shoulders and legs with their feet — sometimes standing on her body — so their hands wouldn’t tire and they could apply more force. After 45 minutes, they began Torres’s resistance-stretching sequence…

Compression massage is applied with the palms of the hand with a rhythmic motion, pressing on the muscle. In cross fiber massage, which can be applied with oil, strokes are done at 90 degrees across the muscle and tendon. It is more commonly done without oil, used on the belly of the muscle or on tendons by moving the skin over the muscle, not by rubbing the skin. This has many beneficial effects on the tissue systems, including the reduction of swelling, adhesions and micro-traumas, lubrication and the increase of blood flow.

The aim of this pilot study was to compare the effects of a single treatment of the ischemic compression technique with transverse friction massage for myofascial trigger point (MTrP) tenderness. Forty subjects, 17 men and 23 women, aged 19–38 years old, presenting with mechanical neck pain and diagnosed with MTrPs in the upper trapezius muscle, according to the diagnostic criteria described by Simons and by Gerwin, participated in this pilot study.

Hypertonic muscles soften and lengthen.
Muscles are cleansed.
Muscles receive more nutrients.
Nerves fire faster.
Muscle lesions heal faster.
Stretching the muscle fibers increases circulation.
Range of motion is increased.
Eliminates trigger points (Increases freedom of movement and range of motion.)
Brings recipient into parasympathetic dominance
Releases andogenous morphenes and canabanoids
Kenyon & Harris, Fix Pain ©2002

~Deep Tissue Massage is a type of massage therapy that focuses on relaxing, releasing, and realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue. It is especially helpful for chronically tense and contracted areas such as stiff necks, low back tightness, and sore shoulders. Some of the same strokes are used as classic massage therapy, but the movement is slower and the pressure is deeper and concentrated on areas of tension and pain.