March/April 2003, Issue 102

Body & Spa: Flower Power!
by Karen Menehan, Editor

Flower essences have been used for thousands of years--but, like so many other natural therapies being rediscovered, they are just now making inroads into Western healing practices. Although still on the far fringes of allopathic medicine, flower essences--water infused with the vibration of specific types of flowers, which effects healing on the emotional, or energetic, level--are being increasingly utilized by massage and energy-work therapists to aid clients' whole-body health. Some therapists are training to become flower-essence practitioners, and offering complete essence consultations as an adjunct to massage. Others apply essences by misting, or by blending them into massage lotion. Another option is to offer pre-made flower-essence tinctures and kits for client use at home.   Read the Full Article.

The Great Chain of Being
Part One: The World of the Infant
Sarah gets on the massage table every week. And every week, she cries. She never says why she is crying, and she always comes back. As she feels the warmth of the massage therapist's hands and the consistent tone of his voice, Sarah begins to relax. Sometimes, she curls into a ball and only lets him touch her back. By the end of the session, most often she says she feels "put back together" and goes out to face another week in the world.

This contact between Sarah and her bodywork therapist is not casual. They are in a healing relationship-and it is only through relationship that human beings thrive. Literally, touch is imperative to survival. From conception, we are a set of potentials being molded and remolded, responding to a constantly changing environment. Our early caregivers are that environment, and we depend on them to provide a safe container for healthy development. We come to know ourselves through being known by others.

Touch Communication
Kirsten Steen knocks on the convalescent-center door before entering the room, quietly calling her elderly client's name. She leans over the hospital bed to gently awaken her client and lets her know their weekly massage session is about to begin.

Steen dots the client's milky-white skin with almond-oil-based lotion and then applies feather-light strokes to sinewy arms, hands and fingers. The client, an 85-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer's, occasionally responds to Steen's touch with serene smiles and soft purrs. The woman isn't verbal, but she is able to follow the practitioner's requests to take hold of the bed rail or move to her left side so Steen can massage her back.

Ortho-Bionomy
Dancing in the Still Point
My body is stiff after a restless night of sleep following a 10-hour drive from Tucson to Santa Fe. Now, lying on a massage table at the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts, my mind ruminates in overdrive, in that way it does when not surrendering to exhaustion. Ursula Hofer, an Ortho-Bionomy practitioner and instructor, studies me quietly. In her soothing voice, accented with shades of her native Switzerland, she asks me to relax into the process.

I'm not sure I can do this--relax. My spine seems to slump, enmeshed within the arch of my pelvis; a jab of bone and tissue throbs deeply, the painful presence of sciatica. In this quiet room I have an excruciating awareness of how I resist, including my mind's inability to relax the structure that encases it. Hofer applies gentle pressure to my hips, then knees. Something in my body stirs, connecting with her peaceful presence as she gently manipulates my stubborn body.

Body Wisdom, Part Two
An Interview Between Tom Myers and Deane Juhan
A handful of innovators have emerged as leaders in the somatics field, for their contributions to body-based therapies, and for their insights into the self-healing capacity of the human organism. Over the next two issues, we will feature a conversation between two of these legends, Thomas Myers and Deane Juhan, which began in Massage Magazine's January/February issue.

Massage Reduces Headache Frequency

Aromatherapy Eases Agitation in Severe Dementia

The Educated Heart
How Supervision Can Nourish Your Practice
Supervision. This might sound like someone telling us what to do, which may not sound appealing to massage therapists. We like to fly by the seat of our pants, we want to use our God-given intuition, we're doing just fine on our own, thank you--and we certainly don't want anyone telling us how to run our practices.

But lately the massage field is catching on to the fact that good supervision can nourish us and make our work easier. It can free us to do our best work. Supervision for massage therapists is an idea whose time has come.

Self-Breema
Fatigue, aching neck, back
pain and tight muscles.
These symptoms could describe our massage clients, but too often we therapists find ourselves in this condition, wishing we could receive a massage after every one we give. Most of us have experienced burnout at one time or another. We worry if we can make a living doing what we love. We want to help our clients with their problems, but forget to take care of ourselves. How do we address these problems? We blame ourselves, or try other modalities, or spend our time and money receiving bodywork. The good news is that it is possible to serve our clients and be vitalized instead of drained by the experience. Massage therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, physical therapists, nurses and others are discovering the benefits of Self-Breema exercises and the applicability of the Breema principles to their work and to their lives. Just like I did.

Pages from History: Trade Tools, Part Two
by Robert Noah Calvert

The electric vibrator was introduced in 1902 and thus began the broad marketing of vibrators to the general public. But the introduction of electric devices did not hinder the development and marketing of manual tools. Read the Full Article

SpaTalk: Spa-Management
Opportunities for Massage Therapists
by Diane Trieste

Where are we going to find the people to run it all? The biggest challenge for spas today is finding competent managers who understand the industry.
Read the full Article