Bodywork: Hands-On Healing

Ø      Multi-faceted Benefits!

Ø     What is Bodywork?

If you teach an individual to be aware of his physical organism and then to use it as it was meant to be used, you can often change his entire attitude to life. -- Aldous Huxley

Multi-faceted Benefits

The field of bodywork was one of the most accessible new approaches to health that emerged out of the 60s.  "Before then," one woman recalls, "I don't think I knew anyone who went for a massage or saw a bodywork practitioner."  Now, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, massage therapy is the third most sought after alternative medical treatment in the country (after relaxation techniques and chiropractic).  Tens of thousands of licensed bodyworkers provide more than 75 million treatments a year.

Rather than being cures in themselves, these methods appear to help your body heal itself by facilitating circulation and dissolving stress. 

Various types of bodywork may also help strengthen the immune system, making you more resistant to disease.  some proponents go further and claim that these techniques may enliven the body's inner intelligence, its natural tendency to be healthy and whole.

Research does indicate that massage increases the flow of oxygen and nutrients to every cell in the body.  During a massage a body's own natural painkillers (endorphins) are released into the bloodstream, helping to subdue pain.  Mental calm increases, along with a feeling of emotional well-being.  However, its tremendous popularity is due mostly to personal recommendations.  "People who walk into a massage session stressed and anxious and walk out an hour or so later relaxed and radiant are its best advertisement," one enthusiastic client said.

What is Bodywork?

It just means rubbing here and pressing there, right?  It's not quite that simple.  There are so many different types of bodywork that a single definition is all but impossible.  Here we use "bodywork" as a catchall term to include conventional massage (lying passively on a table while a massage therapist kneads your muscles) as well as non-massage methods of working with the body.  Some involve dance-like movement, others use pressure on points on the body to redistribute energy flow.   To simplify, we'll break bodywork down into four broad categories:

• Massage - systematic, hands-on manipulation -- rubbing, kneading, pressing -- of muscles and soft tissues.  Common types are Swedish, Deep Tissue, and Sports massage.
• Asian - bodywork systems are based on the principle that the body has a vital energy or life force circulating through it that must be kept free-flowing and dynamic for health to be maintained.  These systems include both pressure point techniques, such as Acupressure or Tui na, Shiatsu and Marma, and movement methods, such as Tai Chi and Qigong.
• Movement re-education or somatic education methods - aim to consciously re-educate the body toward more healthy and natural posture and movement.  Though they work with both structure and energy, the main focus of these methods is on function -- how the body moves and performs its many activities.  The Alexander Technique, the Feldenkrais Method, Tragerwork, and Ortho-bionomy are among the most popular and effective of these systems.
• Energetic systems - are based on the principle that a vital energy runs through and around the body.  But most of the systems in this category that we'll look at were developed in recent decades in the West.  Members of this family include but limited to Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, Polarity therapy, Craniosacral, Pranic Healing Touch, and Reflexology.

To see more in-depth info on any of these techniques click on therapy category above.

Be true to yourself.  If you're feeling uncomfortable or threatened in any way, you should look elsewhere.  Watch out for any therapies that don't respect your value system or where you feel that your autonomy isn't respected.  Even though you're going to an expert or practitioner for their guidance, you should feel that the process involved a free exchange of ideas.

Always tell your doctor if you are using an alternative therapy or if you are thinking about combining an alternative therapy with your conventional medical treatment. It may not be safe to forgo your conventional medical treatment and rely only on an alternative therapy.