Article Archive

Sound Healing

Working With the Body’s Rhythm

Sometimes we forget how powerful sound really is. Think for a moment of the sounds which have affected you and your life: your newborn son cooing for his mother; the ocean’s soft song of welcome; an eagle’s cry echoing off the canyon walls. There are also those sounds we’d much rather forget: a terrified child screaming ceaselessly for a parent; the relentless howl of a land-stalled hurricane; and yes, the sounds of terror that came crashing through to us via television and radio on Sept. 11, 2001.

Sound is indeed a powerful element in our lives.

Animal Massage

Touching All Creatures, Great and Small

How do you give an elephant a massage? No, it’s not a riddle. It’s what’s new in the zoo. When I asked that question of certified massage therapist Jill Deming, she replied matter-of-fact, “It’s very similar to massaging a horse. You use your knowledge of biomechanics so you don’t injure your body.”

The Roots of Disharmony - Part 1

The Six Excesses

The point of healing is to re-establish, and to help maintain, harmony. Balance, after all, is the normative state. According to Traditional Asian Medicine (TAM), the natural condition is the intricate and graceful dance whereby Yin and Yang, Blood and Qi, and the organs and the channels complement, support and counterbalance one another. It is in the disruption of this systemic equilibrium, or of the harmonious relationship between the body and its environment, that disease emerges.

The Wellness Factor in Spas

An Ounce of Prevention

Americans have a new perspective on health. Rather than waiting for illness to strike, more of us are taking steps to prevent it. The holistic approach to wellness is about enabling the body to heal itself and maintain homeostasis, and nowhere has that concept been more appropriately implemented than in wellness centers. These facilities come in all shapes and sizes, from coast to coast, running the integrative health gamut from medical centers aligned with spas to resorts offering multi-modal programs.

War and the Body

Serving the Survivors

As a survivor of torture I know how wounds of violation can live in the body and the mind. My recovery included bodywork, and so I know both its assets and liabilities in resolving shock of this magnitude. I am now both a practitioner and a teacher of somatic therapies for survivors, which has added substantially to my perspective on what it takes to rebuild one’s life from the pyres of hatred.

The Benefits of Taking the Waters

From Age-Old Practices to Today

For centuries, Europeans have flocked to spas for medicinal purposes. With roots dating back to ancient times, “taking the waters” is a traditional integrative approach, utilizing the benefits of balneotherapies such as thermal and salt water soaks and mud applications. In addition, spas offer physiotherapies including various forms of massage, CO2 applications (naturally carbonated tub baths or immersion in chambers), dietary regimens and health education.

Working with Challenging Skin

Using Tender Touch in Geriatric Clients

The nature of massage therapy means practitioners are constantly in contact with the client’s skin, the largest and heaviest organ of the body. Accounting for 16 percent of our total body weight, it is invaluable as it protects everything underneath it from disease, chemicals, bacteria, injury and the elements.

Water Works

News Note

Besides decreasing headaches, heartburn, constipation, fatigue and kidney stones, getting your fair share of water each day may help prevent serious illnesses including heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and asthma. One study at the University of Loma Linda, California, showed that people who drink five or more glasses of water every day cut their risk of suffering a fatal heart attack in half. Researchers believe because water, unlike other beverages, is absorbed immediately into the blood stream, it thins the blood and reduces clot risk.

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