Massage
Massage is an age old art of working with and on the body, focussing on soft tissue manipulation to achieve a good therapeutic outcome. Whether that outcome is relaxation, loosening of tightness, relieving of gnarly congestion is part of the beauty of this process. Working with all the nuance and complexity of our bodies, using that informed hands on approach, a combination of years of experience, training and awareness alongside the deepening of intuitive knowing and understanding of what the body is telling me beyond any text book lets me work in a way that brings back space.
Think about it, when you’re feeling stressed, when you’re feeling tight and restricted - say your neck is clicking or your shoulder just doesn’t want to rotate fully in a comfortable way, there is a reduction in space. and space brings about movement, and fluidity and flow. I have been a practicing therapeutic massage therapist since 2005, and honestly, I adore my work still, probably even more so as time passes by. Working therapeutically with the body that brings in the years of practice, experience and training to the fore gives for a knowledgeable, technically grounded, intuitive experience. Someone recently told me that coming along for a massage with me felt like meditation. I couldn’t agree more (and was also very chuffed that there was congruence between massage in the giving and receiving). You’ll get a safe, respectful and therapeutic experience when you come along for therapeutic massage, just as it should be. Read on to get more of a flavour of my own practice and stance.
A little more info?
I am qualified in a range of bodywork modalities. I’m a grounded, technical, knowledgeable, intuitive, hands on massage therapist and work with the soft tissue alongside a focus on fascial* release. Every body, every day, any time is different, which means that I combine the best form of bodywork therapy that is designed around you and your needs as they are at the time. Simply put, we can do some remedial work around your neck and shoulders, but we can also do some head massage and we can add in some essential oils if you fancied it. When you book a massage with me, you're getting me and all my experience, not a basic schema depending on a label.
* fascia is the clingfilm like substance that wraps around all our vital organs, tissue and bones, keeping everything together where it should be. It’s phenomenal stuff and we’re learning more and more about just how important it is to us.
Now. Before you head off to explore the different modalities I can draw on to work with you, let me put a caveat on it all by saying that they’re not mutually exclusive - you can have some remedial, deep tissue work and relaxation and reflexology - you are purchasing my time, my expertise and part of that expertise is about developing a truly unique to you session based on how you are feeling and what is most therapeutic and resonant with you. So the explanations of different sessions below is to be used as a guide . The value is in our conversation to get a session that is perfectly curated just for you.
Integrative types of wellbeing:
► Astrology infused wellbeing
This is an applied, informed approach, using astrology as a starting point of exploration and analysis to inform your therapeutic session. This is a very specialised offering, so to get a more rounded and fuller picture, pop on over to Astrology Infused Wellbeing to get more details.
► Deep tissue massage
This type of bodywork is typically when you need deeper soft tissue work to relieve a niggling area of discomfort or tension. A wee heads up - it’s deep tissue because the therapeutic approach goes into the deeper structures of the soft tissue and works therapeutically with the fascia, not so much a full on assault with sharpened elbows
► Aromatherapy
Bespoke aromatherapy and will happily create a blend to suit your needs. This type of massage is often associated to a more 'relaxing' stance. I disagree, I believe that aromatherapy can and should be used in whatever presentation you come along with.
► Swedish massage
Seen as a general-purpose massage. Developed in Sweden. Go figure the name. A decent all round functional bodywork session to free up tightness and help that body flow again.
► Head massage
This massage focuses on your upper back, neck, scalp and head. Think of the scalp as the tourniquet for your tension - releasing the tension in your scalp gives space for the rest of it to unravel too. It's a deeply relaxing, therapeutic bodywork.
► Reflexology
Reflexology is a clever, intuitive system that works on particularly points on the hands and feet which are associated to different parts of the body. It is a wonderful and relaxing session, and can allow for work to be done on areas that feel too tender to be touched directly.