Bodywork and its Benefits

Bodywork -- aka: manipulative therapy--teaches you to realign and reposition your body for relaxation and pain relief.

Unlearning the Bad and Relearning the Good

Maybe you're working against yourself.

If you're like most of the human race, you've learned unnatural ways to move or hold your body. (Or maybe injury or stress has forced you into them!)

You end up misaligned--down to the bones! Two of the most well-known forms of manipulative therapy are massage and chiropractic. I've got a few pages detailing these two already on the site.

Chiropractic Care--visit to a practitioner's office

Video interview with Liv Hansen--chiropractic assistant

Visiting a Massage Therapist--how to prepare and what to expect

You might want to branch off here and watch the interview of my massage therapist, Anne. She answers the five key questions that should be helpful in your search for a practitioner of alternative health. Simply click on the photo below at right. To return here, close page.

Learn More!

Read on for some other forms of bodywork:

Definitions

• The Alexander technique --which focuses on proper alignment of the head, neck and trunk. Emphasis: improve health by increasing awareness of proper posture.
• The Trager approach--relearning natural movement through gentle rhythmic motions called psychophysical integration, again, to teach awareness of body movement (called Mentastics).
• Reflexology--stimulation of pressure points on the sole of the foot, or hand, to treat chronic pain, bowel malfunctions, stress, etc. Read more!
• Deep tissue massage--to treat chronic tension in deep muscles of the body. Expectation: relieve pain and increase flexibility.
• Rolfing--this form of deep tissue massage realigns the tissues that cover and connect all muscles and body organs (fascia). Goals: improve flexibility and energy, relieve pain, and reduce muscle tension.
• Dance and movement therapies--include much of the above, plus creative and expressive art elements. For more information on yoga, see Yoga you Can Do!
  

  or, the page on T'ai Chi.
  

• The Feldenkrais method--a very slow, gentle manner of moving that increases flexibility and coordination. Intention: increase your awareness of body movement, and develop new patterns of movement. There's a 47-second video just below for demonstration.

Add Bodywork as a Complement to your Health Routine

Using any of the above forms of bodywork, together with direction of your conventional physician, makes for an integrated and holistic health approach to life.

My own experience includes chiropractic care, massage and Feldenkrais. I was amazed how simply and quickly my neck and shoulders relaxed and became supple with the Feldenkrais movements...

...especially since that's where I carry most of my body tension. To do theses movements, you merely need the instructions (A student loaned me her book of exercises to sample.) and a generous amount of time, since moving slowly, smoothly and several repetitions are required.

Learn more: Research, News & Statistics page

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