Acu-Yoga is a system of exercises integrating the knowledge of two holistic methods of health maintenance—acupressure and yoga. Both relax muscular tension and balance the vital life forces of the body. Yoga does this through controlling the breath while holding the body in certain postures. Acupressure does this by directly manipulating body energy through a system of points and meridians. Each Acu-Yoga posture naturally presses and stretches certain nerves, muscles, and acupressure points, awakening the meridians and releasing the tension in the points so that energy (chi) can circulate freely. This energy is the source of all life, and its flow is the key to radiant health. The process balances the body and stimulates it to heal itself.

Acupuncture is an ancient Asian healing technique based on the Taoist philosophy of balancing energy meridians within the body, thus allowing the body to heal itself. Fine needles are painlessly inserted at key points corresponding to body organs to relieve pain and cure disease and dysfunction. Related techniques include the use of low-voltage electric current (electro acupuncture) or massage at key points (acupressure).

This noncompetitive Japanese martial art aims to harmonize energy with that of a partner or opponent in order to achieve both physical and emotional mastery through peaceful resolution. Aikido literally means the path to the coordination of body, mind, and spirit. Aikido is a defensive system of continuous, circular motions, combining many of the fluid, dance-like movements of t’ai chi along with more subtle, stylized techniques. When practiced properly, successful defense is achieved through minimal action. Originally seen as a combination of religion and martial arts, aikido was created by Morehei Ueshiba in the early twentieth century.

The Alexander Technique is movement education in which the student is taught to sit, stand, and move in ways that reduce physical stress on the body. Alexander Technique teachers use gentle manual guidance and verbal cues to improve students’ posture and movement patterns. A lesson or group class typically involves basic movements such as sitting, standing, walking, bending, reaching, carrying, and lying down. It may also involve more specialized activities such as playing a musical instrument, working at a computer, etc.

The teacher’s manual guidance stresses the adjustment of the head, neck, and torso relationship. In beginning lessons, the teacher closely monitors the student. Later, the student learns to monitor herself, ultimately learning a unique self-management process, an understanding of balance and dynamic postural control.

F. M. Alexander, an Australian actor, developed the technique in the late 1800s as a result of attempting to solve his own physical problem of losing his voice on stage. He discovered that misuse of the neuromuscular activity of the head, neck, and spine caused maladaptive functioning and that this movement could be corrected. As he began to teach his technique, he found that his students’ overall health improved and that the technique could be used to address a wide array of problems.

Click here to find an Alexander Technique practitioner.

Amma (sometimes spelled anma) is the traditional word for massage in the Japanese language. It comes from the Chinese tradition of massage, anmo, a form of bodywork that is based on the principles of Chinese medicine and is more than 5,000 years old. When anmo was brought to Japan, the technique was further refined into its own therapeutic art form, amma.

The amma techniques encompass a myriad of pressing, stroking, stretching, and percussive manipulations with the thumbs, fingers, arms, elbows, knees, and feet on acupressure points along the body’s 14 major meridians. Amma brings to Western culture the ancient art and wisdom of traditional Japanese massage. Through the structure of kata (choreographed movement), amma teaches the importance of rhythm, pacing, precision, and form in massage.

Unlike Western massage, amma utilizes no oils and can be done through clothing with the client either sitting or lying. This makes amma an extremely flexible style of massage suitable to a wide variety of client needs and environments. Shiatsu—a style of bodywork popularized after World War II—was developed from the amma tradition.

Both pets and performance animals experience soft-tissue damage in their daily lives just as humans do. Therapeutic massage provides significant relief, stimulates healing, and promotes stress reduction and relaxation. Other benefits include enhancing performance by increasing range of motion, maintaining muscle tone and joint flexibility, increasing blood and lymph circulation, increasing oxygen to reduce muscle spasms, flushing toxins from muscles and joints, improving disposition, preventing injuries, stimulating areas affected postoperatively, recovering from skeletal and muscular surgery or injury, relieving muscle pain by releasing endorphins, and relieving discomfort from arthritis, lameness, and hip dysplasia. Animals also can receive pre- and post-event massage for competition. See equine massage.

Applied Kinesiology is a healing system that evaluates and treats an individual’s structural, chemical, and mental aspects. It employs muscle testing and other standard methods of diagnosis. Applied Kinesiology therapeutically utilizes nutrition, manipulation, diet, acupressure, exercise, and education to help restore balance and harmony in the body and maintain well-being throughout life. (From Alternative Healing, by Hugh Burroughs and Mark Kastner, Halcyon, 1993.)

Dr. George Goodheart, a chiropractor in Detroit, Michigan, discovered the technique in 1964 during a patient treatment. After applying a few seconds of deep pressure on the man’s severe muscular dysfunction, he found the problem was eliminated. Dr. John Thie developed a simplified version of Applied Kinesiology called Touch for Health in 1970.

The use of essential oils (extracted from herbs, flowers, resin, woods, and roots) in body and skin care treatments is known as aromatherapy. Used as a healing technique for thousands of years by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, essential oils aid in relaxation, improve circulation, and help the healing of wounds.

Specific essential oils are blended by the aromatherapist and added to a carrier oil, such as almond oil, to be used during the massage. Each oil has its own unique characteristics and benefits. Aromatherapy diffusers are utilized to fill the massage room with the scent of the oils.

Use of this technique declined as the modern pharmaceutical industry developed. However, the French chemist Gattefossé revived the art by coining the term aromatherapy and by publishing a book on the subject in 1928. Click here to find an Aromatherapy practitioner.

This barefoot massage technique was developed by massage therapist Ruthie Piper Hardee in 1995 as a result of her own scoliosis and disk pain, associated with bending over the table to deliver deep-tissue massage. Bars are used above the head for leverage, and lubricant is essential for its application. The technique uses deep compression effleurage strokes that glide over the body.

The resulting movement may help relieve pain resulting from chronic soft-tissue damage. Correct application will provide deep relaxation while stretching chronic shortened muscles of the body.

Correct application of two-footed strokes near the spine creates a “push, pull, pumping” effect on the intervertebral disc space and can relieve irritation on the spinal nerve. No anxiety should result from this application, and client range of comfort is maintained at all times. Additional information is available at www.deepfeet.com.

Aston Patterning is an educational process, developed by Judith Aston in 1977, combining movement coaching, bodywork, ergonomics, and fitness training. It can be helpful to individuals seeking relief from acute or chronic pain or for those wishing to improve their posture and increase the efficiency of their movement patterns, either in activities of daily living or complex activities, such as athletics or the performing arts.

• The movement work, neurokinetics, has two divisions. The first part involves instruction in the most efficient way to perform the simple activities of daily living, and then progresses to complex activities. The second part teaches the client how to use movement to decrease accumulated tension in the body.
• The bodywork includes Aston massage, myokinetics, and arthrokinetics. The massage is a specialized form based on Swedish massage, utilizing a three-dimensional touch that helps to release functional holding patterns from surface to bone. The bodywork is used to make new movement options available, and the sessions are followed with a movement lesson to assist the client in understanding how the tension had been created and how to maintain the changes achieved.
• The ergonomic training shows the client how environment affects the body’s alignment, dimensional integrity, and degree of effort required to perform activities, and identifies the role the environment plays in the current complaint. The client is trained to modify or negotiate with less-than-optimal ergonomic situations.
• The fitness training includes vertical and horizontal loosening, toning, stretching, and cardiovascular fitness. The loosening moves address specific areas of tension that, when released, assist the client in achieving the best alignment and dimensional integrity before working out. Toning teaches the client how to address specific areas that are less toned in comparison to the rest of the body, resulting in an even distribution of muscle tone throughout the body. Stretching is taught in a way that doesn’t borrow dimension from an adjacent body segment while working a specific area.

Click here to find an Aston Patterning practitioner.

Attunement is a non-touch (or light touch) approach to healing, employing spiritual techniques (prayer and meditation) to restore one’s naturally vibrant energetic and physical well-being. Attunement balances the flow of energy through the endocrine glands, organs, bones, and other tissues of the body—establishing alignment between the body, mind, and emotions and harmonizing these elements with the “spirit,” described as the radiant source of life and healing.

Sharing attunement with clients invites them to occupy a sacred energetic or vibrational space characterized by stillness and peace, where healing at all levels can occur. This life-giving process is the doorway through which an individual may enhance or recover health of body, mind, and spirit.

Developed by Edward Bach in the early 1900s, Bach Flower Remedies is a system of 38 flower essences used in conjunction with herbs, homeopathy, and medications that seeks to correct emotional imbalances by working on the subtle body instead of the physical body. The pattern in the subtle energy fields of the living plant influences the subtle energy fields of the human being. In prescribing flower essences, the practitioner assesses the whole individual, focusing on the disposition or negative emotions of the person, such as fear, impatience, or overconcern. An essence or combination of essences is then chosen to facilitate change and administered orally.

The use of waters to restore and revitalize the body is known as balneotherapy. It has been used to improve circulation, fortify the immune system, relieve pain, and treat stress.

Based on the parent education program of infant massage developed by Virnala McClure, BART is a program of stroking for individuals with, or at risk for, developmental delays. Designed to empower parents and instill parental confidence, as well as nourish the bond between parent and child, BART aids in relaxation, normalization of muscle tone, respiratory and gastrointestinal functioning, sensory integration, and behavioral organization.

A combination of corrective stretches involving the fascia, cartilage, and joints, Berrywork was created by and named for Lauren Berry, a physical therapist.

This bodywork combines marine algae exfoliation, herbal treatment, and light massage.

Biofeedback utilizes a system of sensitive instruments that relay information about the physical condition of the body. Used as a primary therapy, or in conjunction with other methods, biofeedback provides deep relaxation and stress management skills to prevent stress-related disorders and illness. These skills, including deep breathing and guided imagery, offer self-regulation and control over mental, emotional, and physical processes. The principles of biofeedback can be traced back to the 18th century.

Biomagnetic touch healing is a light touch complementary healing method that employs the index and middle fingers of each hand to lightly touch specific points on the body. The combination of correct points, light, and butterfly-like touch activates the body’s own inherent healing ability and is subtly motivated.

Nerve impingement in cross-linked connective tissue is a major cause of chronic and sports-associated pain. Through trauma (injury), compression, tension, free-radical damage, pollution, and more, cross-linking of connective tissue is formed. These threads of connective tissue adhere to adjacent strands, thereby decreasing range of motion, reducing joint space, impinging nerves, and generally shortening the body.

The BioSync method releases collagen cross-linking by unwinding these locked and hardened strands, thereby restoring the body’s length, flexibility, and function and allowing regeneration and revitalization of the whole system. Developed by Mark Lamm, NMT, it is a sophisticated system of neuromuscular rehabilitation and reeducation and has been successful with a wide range of muscular and trauma-related challenges. It is complementary with existing medical and rehabilitative procedures.

Developed by Yamuna Zake, this is a highly organized system of structural therapy/bodywork. This yoga-based therapy works the joints in every possible position to create length and space.

Body-Mind Centering is a movement reeducation approach that explores how the body’s systems contribute to movement and self-awareness. Developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, the approach also emphasizes movement patterns that develop during infancy and childhood. Body-Mind Centering incorporates guided movement, exercise, imagery, and hands-on work. The approach can be used with infants, children, and adults to resolve movement problems and facilitate the “body-mind dialogue.” (Adapted from Holistic Health Directory.)

Developed by chiropractor/acupuncturist Dr. John Veltheim, BodyTalk is based on bio-energetic psychology, dynamic systems theory, Chinese medicine, and applied kinesiology. It has been extensively tested and used in clinics and hospitals in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

BodyTalk is used to address a range of health problems including fibromyalgia, infections, parasites, chronic fatigue, allergies, addictions, and cellular damage. By integrating a series of tapping, breathing, and focusing techniques, BodyTalk does not require diagnosis and therefore is within the scope of practice of LMTs and bodyworkers.

Its intent is to help the body synchronize and balance its parts (organs, endocrine, lymph, brain, meridians, etc.) so they communicate effortlessly and heal themselves. It strengthens the body’s innate knowledge of how to repair itself.

A hands-on, drugless, noninvasive method of relieving muscle-related pain, Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy emphasizes a speedy, cost-effective recovery and active client participation for long-term relief. Myotherapy relaxes muscles, improves circulation, and alleviates pain in all parts of the body while increasing strength, flexibility, coordination, stamina, and energy. It improves posture, gait, sleep patterns, and work and play performance. The first 90-minute session includes an extensive and vital history. Subsequent treatments are one hour and include self-help techniques. Clients are cleared for treatment by a physician, which ensures the pain is not due to anatomical pathology requiring medical attention.

Created by Paul and Gail Dennison, Brain Gym (also known as Educational Kinesiology or Edu-K) is a sensorimotor program based on research by educational therapists, developmental optometrists, and other specialists in the fields of movement, education, and child development. Brain Gym consists of 26 targeted activities similar to those performed naturally by young children as part of the process of brain development. Brain Gym prepares learners with the physical skills they need to read, write, concentrate, organize, and otherwise function effectively in the classroom or the adult workplace.

Breath therapy, which can ease anxieties and reduce stress, is the use of respiratory exercises to open lung passages, oxygenate the blood, and cleanse the body by eliminating gaseous toxins. The client is encouraged to breathe deeply while the therapist works the appropriate muscles.

Developed by Jeffrey Budzeky, RN, Budzek Medical Massage Therapy is designed to relieve acute and chronic pain resulting from muscle, nerve, and joint disorders. This multi-modality therapy is based on the specific sequence of twelve different bodywork techniques and addresses eight different aspects that affect the body simultaneously.

Cathiodermi is a rejuvenating treatment for the skin that provides deep cleansing and oxygenation of outer tissue layers, removing impurities and stimulating regeneration. The treatment involves the use of galvanic and high-frequency currents from an electric machine to provide electric stimulation in a low-voltage dose.

Champissage is the modern name for India's ayurvedic method of head massage, stimulating the circulation to the scalp and nourishing the hair roots. Originally, the technique only included the head. Today, however, this modality usually includes massage of the shoulders, upper arms and neck, and face and ears. Along with increased blood circulation, it also stimulates the movement of lymph, thus having a cleansing effect, as well as proving to be an invaluable technique for relief of eye strain, headaches, insomnia, lack of concentration, and lethargy. Typically ayurvedic oils are massaged into the scalp. However, this procedure can also be done without any oils or creams.

See qigong.

Christopher Method Sound-Wave Energy Therapy was introduced in 1995 and is a non-touch therapy that works on the multiple energy fields of the body to reinforce and release energy, thereby contributing to balance and well-being on the emotional, psychological, and physiological levels. It gradually realigns all levels of energy that run through the body. Tiny sound-wave vibrations are passed through the practitioner’s aura to the recipient’s energy field where they resonate through each of the multiple fields of the body to clear blocked energy, restore and reinforce natural polarity, and align and reinforce proper energy flow.

A system that uses specific color rays to treat the body and mind. Color therapy is based on the notion that organs and systems vibrate at certain frequencies. By applying a particular color ray on an area, the correct vibration will be restored, bringing health.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) incorporates a large group of healthcare practices and treatments that are considered outside of, or supplemental to, the scope of conventional medicine. May involve either mental or physical techniques, and some therapies may include use of herbs, meditation, and/or massage.

This form of neuromuscular reprogramming and therapy combines massage techniques with muscle testing in order to help people learn how to use their muscles with greater strength and less effort. Conscious bodywork is used to treat persistent joint and muscle pain and to treat restriction of movement caused by injury. (Adapted from Holistic Health Directory.)

Developed by John Pierrakos, core energetics is the unblocking and releasing of emotion in order to self-heal both physical and mental disorders. According to core energetic theory, combining bodywork, psychotherapy, and the spiritual can activate a greater consciousness and assist clients in getting through the varying layers of energy to be able to reconnect with their core and their innate capacity for love.

Craniosacral therapy (CST) is a gentle, noninvasive method of evaluating and enhancing the function of a physiological body arrangement called the craniosacral system. Developed by John E. Upledger, DO, OMM, this manual therapy enhances the body’s natural healing processes and has proven effective in treating a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction. The roots of this therapy are in cranial osteopathy, developed by Dr. William G. Sutherland.

The craniosacral system consists of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. It extends from the bones of the skull, face, and mouth—which make up the cranium—down to the sacrum or tailbone. Since this system influences the development and function of the brain and spinal cord, any imbalance or dysfunction in the craniosacral system could cause sensory, motor, or neurological disabilities. These problems may include chronic pain, eye difficulties, scoliosis, motor-coordination impairments, learning disabilities, and other dysfunctions of the central nervous system.

Craniosacral therapy encourages the body’s natural healing mechanisms to improve the functioning of the central nervous system, dissipate the negative effects of stress, and enhance health and resistance to disease.

The craniosacral therapy practitioner uses a light touch to assist the natural movement of fluid within the craniosacral system. Therapists generally use only five grams of pressure, roughly the weight of a nickel, to test for restrictions in various parts of the craniosacral system. It’s often possible for the evaluation alone to remove the restriction and allow the system to correct itself.

Click here to find a craniosacral therapy practitioner.

Also known as ice therapy, this modality uses the application of cold hydrotherapy in the form of ice packs and cold water immersions to alleviate blood flow, swelling, and inflammation with the contraction of blood vessels. Used in conjunction with heat, cryotherapy can increase circulation, and, hence, remove wastes and toxins from an injured area.

Dance/movement therapies focus on personal expression to enhance emotional and psychological healing. Using expressive movement as a tool, this modality lends itself to treatment of the physically disabled, as well as clients with histories of abuse and addiction.

Techniques that utilize deep-tissue/deep-muscle massage are administered to affect the sub-layer of musculature and fascia. These techniques require advanced training and a thorough understanding of anatomy and physiology. The muscles must be relaxed in order to effectively perform deep-tissue massage, otherwise tight surface muscles prevent the practitioner from reaching deeper musculature. It helps with chronic muscular pain and injury rehabilitation, and reduces inflammation-related pain caused by arthritis and tendinitis. It is generally integrated with other massage techniques. Click here to find a Deep Tissue Massage practitioner.

This is a system of self-massage promoted most recently by Michio Kushi. More than 5,000 years ago, Chinese Taoist monks observed it was instinctive for a person to touch or hold an injured or painful body part, a form of self-healing. They developed a system called tao-yinn: tao meaning the way and yinn meaning a gentle approach. The name has evolved to Do-In, and the technique is used to sustain overall health, as well as treat specific physical problems.

Similar to reiki, Earth Energy Healing involves channeling energy through laying on of the hands.

Endermologie utilizes a computerized machine that massages tissues under suction to improve blood flow and lymphatic drainage, thus speeding the healing process. Use of the machine allows the therapist to cover a larger area more quickly and with less effort. Endermologie is also used as an effective method to treat cellulite, stretching tight tissue bands and stimulating circulation to flush out toxins.

The practice of soft-tissue manipulation applied to horses. See animal massage. Click here to find an equine massage practitioner.

This is a healing through the energy field which flows through and around us, and chakras or centers of energy. Each of the seven major centers vitalizes its related endocrine gland(s). It is possible to map and measure this field and to assist in the restoration of good health through working to rebalance the energy field. Therapists have learned to sensitize their hands and inner perception to examine the energy field in detail to find alterations in the flow of energy. The therapist does not touch the client, but works variable distances from the body. The client remains fully clothed.

Derived from eu, meaning good, and tonus, meaning tone or tension, eutony was developed by Gerda Alexander of Germany during her work in Denmark in the mid-twentieth century. It is based on the theory that there is a constant interaction between muscular tone and psychic activity. Acting on muscle tone can affect the whole being and regulate the breathing, circulation, etc. Clients learn how to adjust their tonus through the observation of sensations in various situations. Clients will explore the body’s perceptions—from the skin to the bones—in movement, in relaxation, during activity, and at rest. Professional training is an individual process lasting four years, the last year being devoted to practicum and exams.

The fascial system is one continuous, laminated, connective-tissue sheath that spreads without interruption throughout the entire body in a three-dimensional web. Fascial mobilization allows therapists to locate and address restrictions in the fascial system that are causing asymmetries, postural malalignment, abnormal tensions, and pressures that can lead to pain and dysfunction. The goal of fascial mobilization is to produce a well-balanced, symmetrical, and mobile body within the skeletal, soft-tissue, and craniosacral systems.

Feng shui (translated as “wind and water”) is the Chinese system of balancing the energy patterns of the physical environment. A composite of mystical beliefs, astrology, folklore, and common sense, the Chinese concept of feng shui blends ancient wisdom with cultural tradition.

The laws of feng shui provide for positioning homes/businesses and designing room and office layouts in ways that promise to enhance the quality of their occupants’ lives and businesses by channeling energy in positive ways. These principles strive for creating balanced, peaceful dwellings by bringing together the external and internal and living in harmony with natural and man-made environments.

Good feng shui promises occupants health, happiness, prosperity, and long life—a conscious connection between the outside environment and the world within. These same principles can also be applied to the human body (called min xiang shue) to promote inner character and restore harmony to areas of imbalance. Through meditation and daily exercises, min xiang shue can allow a deeper self-awareness and regeneration.

This aquatic treatment is performed in water heated to body temperature. The therapist and the client work as a team, following the client’s innate intelligence as her body guides the work. With the water allowing uninhibited movement, the body moves freely to release old holding patterns, blockages, and restrictions and then repatterns into wholeness.

This therapy requires two practitioners to simultaneously massage the client’s left and right sides, making sure to mimic the other’s motions and to exert equal pressure for a balanced experience.

The Grinberg Method is a systematic educational method that teaches people to mobilize their own strength and vitality in pursuit of their well-being. It shows people how they can achieve much more in their lives simply by paying more attention to their bodies.

Also known as visualization, guided imagery is a relaxation system utilizing imagination and thoughts to improve one’s physical, mental, and emotional health. Often involving a process of listening to music or a person’s voice, the participant can take hold of imagery, symbols, and deep feelings to stimulate the body’s immune system, fight disease, and improve overall health. Many seriously ill patients use this technique to imagine the destruction of their disease and/or disorder.

Using hands-on bodywork, body awareness, and movement, Hakomi Integrative Somatics enables people to discover the habitual, automatic attitudes (both physical and psychological), by which they generate patterns of experience. Particularly helpful in working with the effects of trauma and abuse, emotional pain, and limiting belief systems, this gentle therapy teaches clients to follow the inherently intelligent processes of the body and mind.

Clients are educated in the nuances of inner body sensations and learning to track the ever-changing flow of wordless information that is the language of the body. It is precisely this awareness that becomes a powerful healing tool, as it naturally expands the “somatic sense of self” and heals the various forms of dissociation from the body.

Hands-on bodywork is used experimentally to help clients gain awareness of inner experience, specifically inner body sensation and patterns, emotions, images, memories, or thoughts. Unconscious attitudes are brought to consciousness where they can be examined, understood, and changed. By working physically and psychologically, the transformative shift can take root on both levels simultaneously.

This system of sensory-awareness and neuromuscular education makes it possible for a participant to recognize, release, and reverse chronic pain patterns resulting from injury, stress, repetitive motion, or habituated postures. Hands-on methods teach how to relieve tension quickly, lengthen and relax muscles, reduce pain, and regain comfort.

Combining the hands-on methods (clinical sessions with a practitioner) with somatic exercises (done by oneself) expands the range of benefits. Click here to find a Hanna Somatic practitioner.

This practice uses sound to create balance and alignment in the physical body, the energy centers (chakras), and/or the etheric fields. It is a vibration applied by an instrument or the human voice and can be understood as a field of energy medicine. The primary question in this field is: What are the correct resonant frequencies of the body?

Developed by Carol Komitor and adapted from the Healing Touch program, Healing Touch for Animals (HTA) is an energy-medicine modality combining philosophies, techniques, and applications to promote energy balance and healing of animals. Also called the Komitor Healing Method, HTA works on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels and is used to help treat injuries, illnesses, surgeries, wounds, behavioral problems, and stress-related issues.

Developed by Dave Leflet, HEMME (which stands for History, Evaluation, Modalities, Manipulation, and Exercise) is a soft-tissue therapy designed for practitioners in a clinical setting. It relieves pain by restoring alignment and improving myofascial dysfunction. HEMME is a conglomeration of the most proven techniques found in physical medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic work, and physical therapy, and works successfully in treating chronic low back pain and soft-tissue injury.

This subtle technique, developed by Charles Daily, DC, allows the practitioner to quickly locate specific holographic touch points that are referenced to the individual’s on-going process. As in reflexology, where the entire body is represented on the foot, these touch points correlate to whole-body microsystems. Through very light and specific digital contacts, a piezoelectric effect is created within the crystalline connective tissue memory system for instantaneous memory reframing. This self-assembly process enhances subtle self-observation within the individual. It increases individual somatic awareness and releases self-limiting beliefs and tension patterns that have been stored within the body/mind continuum.

A 15-minute HMR session spontaneously generates coherent waves of cellular resonance in the connective tissue matrix and releases information logjams that can rob the individual of necessary vital capacity.

Holotropic means "moving toward wholeness." Developed by Dr. Stanislav Grof, a psychiatrist working with people in uncommon states of consciousness, and by Christina Grof, a transpersonal teacher, this is a simple, yet powerful technique for self-exploration and healing based on combined insights from modern consciousness research, depth psychology, and perennial spiritual practices.

The method activates uncommon states of consciousness that mobilize the spontaneous healing potential of the psyche. Sustained effective breathing, evocative music, focused energy work, and mandala drawing are components of this subjective journey. Virtually all ancient and native traditions recognize the psychological and spiritual healing potential of states of consciousness that differ from what we call “ordinary.”

Holotropic Breathwork is a powerful method of self-exploration and healing. This work can be useful for artists wishing to facilitate their creativity, persons seeking a deep level of healing, or those seeking to explore their inner self and/or the transpersonal dimensions. It may lead to a spiritual opening and transformation.

Developed by Tomezo Hoshino, a Japanese-born Argentinian, Hoshino Therapy is a nonintrusive massage and movement system to relieve and prevent musculoskeletal pain and restore vitality. It recognizes 250 vital acupuncture pressure points directly over the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that relate to the biomechanical functioning of the body. Pressure and body warmth are applied by the first joint of the thumb and with full-hand contact to reverse the hardening of the soft tissues. Therapy is combined with daily exercises called Hoshino Action.

This therapy, though similar to reiki, uses the English language instead of symbols. It involves setting up and normalizing polarities, as well as bringing universal energy into structures of the body. It is the mental manipulation of human energy to affect changes in one’s self and in others.

Although ancient Greece and Rome both adopted the beliefs that water had healing properties, it was the Romans who first integrated hydrotherapy into their social life, building temples and baths near natural springs. Father Sebastian Kneipp from Worshofen, Bavaria, was the father of modern-day hydrotherapy in Germany. Various hydrotherapy massage techniques exist and are generally utilized by massage/bodywork practitioners, physical therapists, physicians, and spa technicians. These include underwater massage, herbal baths, thalassotherapy, Kneipp therapy, Vichy treatments, Scotch hoses, and Swiss showers. Click here to find a Hydrotherapy practitioner.

Qualified instructors teach parents how to properly massage their infants. Infant massage is also utilized in hospital neonatal care units. This specialized form of touch is successful, not only in the critical weight gain of premature infants, but also in creating a strong bond between parent and infant and exposing a young child to the benefits and pleasures of touch. Click here to find an Infant Massage Instructor.

Insight Bodywork, developed by Kondañña Barry Kapke, is a floor-based energy work that seamlessly integrates massage, movement, and meditation. Earthy, gentle, and spontaneous, its integrative approach to somatic discovery and education facilitates energetic balance and flow, brings awareness to embodied experience, and supports the body to find greater ease and ability. Insight Bodywork utilizes acupressure and myofascial techniques, giving maximum support to the body while mobilizing joints, moving into slow deep stretches, integrating with soothing brushes and holds, and, when appropriate, energizing through shaking, rocking, swinging, or dropping. It is a work that is both playful and sacred in its approach.

This practice indicates a combination of various massage, bodywork, and somatic therapy techniques utilized by a practitioner in the course of a session. Click here to find an Integrated Massage practitioner.

Alternative and conventional (allopathic) methodologies are combined to stimulate the person’s natural healing response.

Intuitive Work is a way of incorporating the perceived and received information that extends beyond the five senses, transcending what is considered ordinary thinking patterns and reasoning processes. The four main media by which intuitives receive and perceive information are clairsentience, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and knowingness (impression or inspirational thought).

The challenge for bodyworkers is how to respectfully incorporate intuition into their work while demonstrating responsibility/respect to the client. While the science aspect of bodywork focuses on the technique of touch (information accessed through the left hemisphere of the brain), the art aspect of bodywork focuses on how to touch with care and sensitivity (information accessed through the right hemisphere of the brain). As obvious tools for listening, hands touch with the intent to hear and see—information accessed through the temporal lobe. These three parts of the neurological system are considered the intuitive network.

Developed by Charlotte Vandergrift, Isometric Muscle Balancing is based on the muscle testing positions used in kinesiology. Balancing and strengthening the 42 major muscles are accomplished by isometric action, producing a feeling of lightness and an increase in energy. A 45 minute to one hour session also includes instruction in creating and maintaining balance and proper postural habits, as well as attention to diet and attitude.

These two practices form an integral part of traditional martial arts training that emphasizes a concern for physical well-being. Restoration therapy has been practiced in Japan for more than fifteen hundred 1,500 years. It is a combination of amma, shiatsu, osteopathy, herbal medicine, and suggestive healing techniques. To be a successful practitioner of restoration therapy, a thorough knowledge of anatomy and physiology is imperative, as well as knowledge of pathology, dietetics, psychology, and herbal medicines.

Jin Shin Jyutsu physio-philosophy is an ancient art of harmonizing the life energy in the body. Born of innate wisdom and passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth, the art had fallen into relative obscurity when it was revived in the early 1900s by Master Jiro Murai in Japan. After clearing himself of life-threatening illness, Master Murai devoted the rest of his life to the research and development of Jin Shin Jyutsu, gathering insight from a range of experiences and resources including the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Things).

The resulting knowledge of Jin Shin Jyutsu was then given to Mary Burmeister who brought it to the United States in the 1950s. Burmeister began teaching the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu to others in the early 1960s and today there are thousands of students and practitioners around the world. Jin Shin Jyutsu brings balance to the body’s energies, which promotes optimal health and well-being and facilitates a profound healing capacity. It is a valuable complement to conventional healing methods, inducing relaxation and reducing the effects of stress.

Jin Shin Jyutsu employs 26 “safety energy locks” along energy pathways that feed life into our bodies. When one or more of the paths becomes blocked, the resulting stagnation can disrupt the local area and eventually disharmonize the complete path of energy flow. Holding these energy locks in combination can bring balance to mind, body, and spirit.

Jin Shin Jyutsu can be applied as self-help and also by a trained practitioner. A Jin Shin Jyutsu session generally lasts about one hour. It does not involve massage, manipulation of muscles, or use of drugs or substances. It is a gentle art, practiced by placing the fingertips (over clothing) on designated safety energy locks, to harmonize and restore the energy flow. This facilitates the reduction of tension and stress that accumulate through normal daily living.

Click here to find a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner

Kinesiology is the study of the principles of mechanics and anatomy related to human body movement, specifically the action of individual muscles or groups of muscles that perform specific movements. Applied kinesiology involves muscle testing to assess a client’s condition. Click here to find a kinesiologist.

This is a deep-tissue modality that includes massage strokes, body movement, stretches, pressure point therapy, yum yang therapy, and Korean energy work. Gentle on the practitioner, Korean Martial Therapy (KMT) may be performed with the client on a table, the floor, or in a chair and may or may not incorporate the use of oils.

Derived from Hapkido and traditional Korean medicine, KMT began as self-therapy stretches that were found useful for keeping warriors in top condition and helping them recover quickly from injury.

Kriya is defined as spontaneous energy movement. Kriya Massage, developed by Kamala Renner in 1980, emphasizes the intuitive aspect by the practitioner in flowing with the kriya movement while performing the massage. It is an art form that integrates the universal, life-affirming flow of energy between the practitioner and client, with any classical massage techniques integrated into the dance.

Kriya Massage is a bodywork dance with the individual creating her own style in harmony with four universal forces. The strokes and techniques are a combination of energy work, Swedish, neuromuscular, and somato-emotional release work done in a connected smooth pattern.

The experience of a Kriya Massage is one of stepping out of time and space as a means of taking inventory of one’s condition, then allowing the subconscious to shift and adjust programmed responses to life. The healing quality of Kriya Massage is accomplished by transforming attitudes. Giving, as well as receiving, a Kriya Massage is a regenerating experience.

(Adapted from Holistic Health Directory.)

Stones of all shapes and sizes and varying temperatures, ranging from zero to 140 degrees, are used during LaStone massage therapy to elicit physical healing, mental relaxation, and a spiritual connection to earth energy.

• Warm stones encourage the exchange of blood and lymph and provide soothing heat for deep-tissue work.
• Cold stones aid with inflammation, moving blood out of the area, and balancing male/female energies.

Stones are placed in varying positions on the body for energy balancing or may be used by the therapist for specific trigger-point work. The alternating heat and cold of thermotherapy brings the entire body into the healing process, with a rapid exchange of blood and oxygen and alternating rise and fall of respiration rate as the body seeks homeostasis.

LaStone therapy requires less effort from the practitioner’s own body and delivers healing warmth to the hands, benefitting the therapist, as well as the client. Founder Mary Harrigan drew from the wisdom of ancient healers in using thermotherapy as the basis for her approach.

Click here to find a stone massage practitioner.

Life Enrichment Therapy (LET) was developed by Mark Hendler. It focuses on touch as a therapeutic agent. Touch is seen as a process of self expression for individuals seeking self growth and finding meaning. Through massage, a person opens up in a refreshing experience.

LET is an interpersonal approach between therapist and participant based on the premise that touch has value. Life enrichment occurs throughout life. Through massage and touch, awareness, and other tools, persons explore what it means to be human.

Lomilomi—Hawaiian for "rub rub"—is described by teacher Aunty Margaret Machado as “the loving touch—a connection between heart, hand, and soul with the source of all life.” This system of massage utilizes very large, broad movements. Two-handed, forearm, and elbow application of strokes, which cover a broad area, is characteristic of lomilomi. Oils are used in the application of cross-fiber friction techniques.

Although it is similar to Swedish massage in many ways, lomilomi also uses prayer and the acknowledgment of the existence of a higher power as an integral part of the technique.

Aunty Margaret was the first to teach lomilomi in a formal, classroom situation; previously the training was passed on within families by kahunas or shamans. Click here to find a lomilomi massage practitioner.

Developed by Ted Looyen, this technique is a painless approach to deep-tissue therapy, working with the connective tissue and fascial components. It is a combination of several restructuring systems, including Rolfing, postural integration, and Aston-Patterning.

Developed by Charles W. Wiltsie III, lypossage is a combination of manual deep-tissue massage, lymphatic drainage, and the principles of structural integration, used to combat cellulite. An alternative to liposuction and body contouring machines, lypossage enhances firmness and tone and increases skin resilience and smoothness.

The treatment requires a series of sessions because the reduction of cellulite is only temporary unless treatment is continued. When combined with diet and exercise, lypossage produces a lifting effect in areas prone to sagging.

This is a combination of macrobiotic diet, philosophy, and shiatsu. Macrobiotic shiatsu makes use of the classical Asian meridians. The feet are utilized considerably in the application of this method.

The strokes applied in manual lymph drainage are intended to stimulate the movement of the lymphatic fluids in order to assist the body in cleansing. This is a gentle, rhythmical technique that cleanses the connective tissue of inflammatory materials and toxins, enhances the activity of the immune system, reduces pain, and lowers the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

The most widely taught and generally accepted form of this technique was created by Dr. Vodder of Austria and requires advanced training and precise movements.

Massage, or massage therapy, is a system of structured palpation or movement of the soft tissue of the body. The massage system may include, but is not limited to, such techniques as:

• Stroking
• Kneading
• Gliding
• Percussion
• Friction
• Vibration
• Compression
• Passive or active stretching within the normal anatomical range of movement
• Effleurage (either firm or light soothing, stroking movement, without dragging the skin, using either padded parts of fingertips or palms)
• Petrissage (lifting or picking up muscles and rolling the folds of skin)
• Tapotement (striking with the side of the hand, usually with partly flexed fingers, rhythmic movements with fingers or short rapid movements of sides of the hand)

These techniques may be applied with or without the aid of lubricants, salt or herbal preparations, hydromassage, thermal massage or a massage device that mimics or enhances the actions possible by human hands. The purpose of the practice of massage is to enhance the general health and well-being of the recipient.

Massage does not include the diagnosis of a specific pathology, the prescription of drugs or controlled substances, spinal manipulation or those acts of physical therapy that are outside the scope of massage therapy.

Maya Abdominal Massage is a noninvasive, external, massage technique. It guides internal abdominal organs into their proper position for optimum health and well-being. Maya massage improves organ function by releasing physical and emotional congestion from the abdomen.

The technique applies anatomy, physiology, herbology, and naprapathy along with Ancient Maya healing techniques to address common female complaints such as painful or irregular periods, varicose veins, lower backache, infertility, and more. The techniques also address male complaints such as prostrate swelling and inflammation, frequent urination, and impotency.

The technique works by relieving congestion and blockages to improve the flow of chi and fluids of the circulatory, lymphatic, and nervous systems to prevent the progression of chronic disease symptomology.

Dr. Rosita Arvigo, DN, developed Maya Abdominal Massage after apprenticing with Don Elijio Panti, the last of the traditional Maya shamans in Central America. The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Massage combine modern science with traditional healing and wisdom to produce a holistic path to physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Performing medical massage requires a firm background in pathology and utilizes specific treatments appropriate to working with disease, pain, and recovery from injury. The therapist may work from a physician’s prescription or as an adjunct healer within a hospital or physical therapy setting. Click here to find a medical massage practitioner.

Relaxation techniques, meditation, and easy stretching exercises are combined to allow the client to become mindful in order to access inner sources of power. By being fully mindful and awake in life, clients may cope more effectively with stress and illness.

Multi-Dimensional Movement Arts (MDMA), water version, is the art of using movement in the medium of water to create dynamic balance. Specific actions, patterns, and waveforms promote reorganization, reeducation, rehabilitation, relaxation, rejuvenation, and dynamic balance. This continuous process of attunement leads to heightened states of awareness.

During a typical session, the client is supported by flotation devices and moved in thermal water. Trained practitioners play with the various interconnections and influences of orbiting circles, spirals, and infinity signs, promoting vitality and health. A body in water is buoyant. The liquid environment changes auditory experience. One can move freely without using muscles. Travel and movement are distorted and experience is shifted from ordinary reality. This affects a person on many different levels: memories are jogged, holding patterns released, body parts awakened, and awareness stimulated.

This technique combines compression, extension, movement, and breath to give therapists a tool to provide relief from pain, treating such conditions as carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic low back pain, plantar fasciitis, sciatica, tennis elbow, knee pain, shin splints, frozen shoulder, hammer toes, piriformis syndrome, tendinitis, trigger finger, and much more.

Myofascial Release is the three-dimensional application of sustained pressure and movement into the fascial system in order to eliminate fascial restrictions and facilitate the emergence of emotional patterns and belief systems that are no longer relevant or are impeding progress. It is an effective therapeutic approach in the relief of cervical pain, back pain, fibromyalgia, scoliosis, neurological dysfunction, restriction of motion, chronic pain, and headaches.

First, an assessment is made by visually analyzing the human frame, followed by the palpation of the tissue texture of various fascial layers. Upon locating an area of fascial tension, gentle pressure is applied in the direction of the restriction.

Click here to find a Myofascial Release practitioner.

Myomassology is an integration of techniques including basic Swedish massage, aromatherapy, reflexology, shiatsu, iridology, herbology, energy balancing, ear candling, and craniosacral therapy in conjunction with instruction in nutrition, meditation, yoga, tai chi, and qigong. Click here to find a Myomassology practitioner.

Robert Petteway developed the Myopractic system after 30 years in the healing arts. His experience in structural integration, biomechanics, acupuncture, Oriental medicine, and a wide variety of muscle therapies contribute to the system. He worked with physicians, surgeons, and chiropractors for more than 20 years to develop this therapeutic model.

It combines three basic techniques: compression stretching, which achieves deep relaxation and relieves tension, spasms, and holding patterns; clearing methods, which use the myopractic covered thumb and framing techniques to clean obstructions from soft tissue (e.g., trigger points, scar tissue, muscle bundles, and old bruises); and separating techniques to release myofascial adhesions, separate fascial planes, and rebalance muscles.

Myopractic muscle therapy integrates its own unique style of energetic work, Swedish, sports, trigger point, myofascial, and even structural integration techniques into one system. It teaches user-friendly, pain-free therapy for both client and practitioner. This is accomplished using the therapist’s body weight and leverage, rather than relying on size and strength. Myopractic posture balancing evaluation identifies the source of chronic pain misalignments in the body’s structure and realigns them.

Myopractic treatments focus especially on misalignments in the lower body, particularly in the feet, ankles, and the hips. Addressing lower-body misalignments often relieves tension injuries in the upper body.

The system also espouses that a therapist can clear their clients only to the degree they themselves are clear. Therefore, training seminars focus on clearing the therapist, as well as learning new techniques.

See Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy.

With influences from osteopathy and chiropractic, this system of treatment uses soft-tissue manipulation to release tension and balance energy flows in the body. The practitioner uses palpation to explore the tissue, looking for rigid, contracted areas of the body, then begins repetitive, rhythmic, thrusts to gently stretch the contracted connective tissues.

Sessions usually last 30 minutes, focusing mainly on the ligaments near the spinal column. Diet, exercise, and postural adjustments help improve circulatory and nervous system function.

This technique is a holistic healing system that utilizes the best of American kinesiology and European neural therapy. Neural kinesiology recognizes and assesses the need for therapies in each of four primary categories: neurological, structural, biochemical, and psychological.

Neuromuscular Integrative Action (NIA) is an expressive fitness and awareness movement program and a holistic approach to health. It combines movements from t’ai chi, yoga, martial arts, and modern ethnic dances. NIA uses a variety of movements blended with the conscious use of mind and energy, combined in a total fitness program.

This comprehensive program of soft-tissue manipulation balances the body’s central nervous system with the musculoskeletal system. Based on neurological laws that explain how the central nervous system initiates and maintains pain, the goal is to help relieve the pain and dysfunction by understanding and alleviating the underlying cause.

Neuromuscular therapy can help individuals who experience distortion and biomechanical dysfunction, which is often a symptom of a deeper problem. It is also used to locate and release spasms and hypercontraction in the tissue, eliminate trigger points that cause referred pain, rebuild the strength of injured tissues, assist venous and lymphatic flow, and restore postural alignment, proper biomechanics, and flexibility to the tissues.

Click here to find a neuromuscular practitioner.

See Thai massage.

Ohashiatsu is a method of bodywork offering both giver and receiver a complete experience of self-development and healing. Combining Eastern healing philosophy and techniques with psychological and spiritual components, Ohashiatsu expands awareness of self and others through movement, meditation, and touch.

As a holistic method, Ohashiatsu emphasizes sensing and working with the overall energy flow throughout the body to create balance and relieve aches, tension, stress, and fatigue. Studying and practicing Ohashiatsu helps to develop a balanced condition of health and well-being encompassing body, mind, and spirit.

Oncology massage refers to massage tailored to the needs of individuals with cancer. This specialized practice requires therapists to be fully educated in and pay close attention to the physical, emotional, and psychological needs of clients in all stages of cancer: diagnosis, treatment, recovery, survivor, or terminal. Training in oncology massage covers appropriate bodywork modalities for cancer clients, includes precautions for radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery, and covers physiology and pathology.

Onsen is a Japanese word meaning at rest or at peace. It is a state of mind, but can also be a state of body. Developer Richard Phaigh translated it to mean balance, particularly length and strength balance in soft tissue, to form the basis of this new protocol.

Onsen includes three key components: muscle energy technique, post-isometric relaxation, and transverse friction massage.

Combining some elements of sports and medical massage, orthopedic massage integrates ten modalities to treat soft-tissue pain and injury. Emphasis is placed on understanding both the injury and its rehabilitation criteria. Three basic elements adhered to, despite the technical diversity in treatment, are assessment, matching the treatment to the injury, and adaptability of treatment. Click here to find an Orthopedic Massage practitioner.

This system of comprehensive medical care goes beyond conventional medical philosophy to include an emphasis on structural balance of the musculoskeletal system. Osteopathic physicians use joint manipulation, postural reeducation, and physical therapy to normalize the body’s structure and promote healing. Most medical conditions are amenable to osteopathic healing. In some cases, osteopathy has been shown to resolve illnesses resistant to surgery and other medical approaches.

This therapy involves a fusion of hatha yoga, bodywork, and psychotherapy. It is holistic art based on the ancient science of yoga, combining elements of contemporary body/mind psychology with assisted yoga postures. It is a totally client-centered process, and it establishes inner balance by awakening the healing life force within.

This technique utilizes massage, mud packs, wraps, baths, water, and steam therapies, and/or inhalation treatments using natural herbs and floral extracts, plant oils, and seaweeds.

This acupressure technique requires several practitioners to apply pressure to specific acupoints for up to two hours in order to remove blockage and stimulate emotional release within the meridians. The technique was developed by Karen Peterson and John Walsh.

Postural integration and energetic integration were developed by Jack Painter in the late 1960s and have spread to Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Australia. These approaches focus on the unity of tissue, feeling, and awareness. Breathwork, deep fascia manipulation, emotional expression, and meditation are used in a unique synchronicity.

The two methods are similar, but postural integration focuses on systematic work with layers of fascia, while energetic integration focuses on melting bands of body character armor. The client will experience not only extraordinary energy releases and tangible changes in body shape and flexibility, but also major shifts in awareness and feeling.

When performed by a trained perinatal specialist, many methods of massage and somatic therapies are both effective and safe prenatally and during labor and postpartum periods of women’s pregnancies.

Prenatally, specific techniques can reduce pregnancy discomforts and concerns and enhance the physiological and emotional well-being of both mother and fetus. Skilled, appropriate touch facilitates labor, shortening labor times and easing pain and anxiety.

In the postpartum period, specialized techniques rebalance structure, physiology, and emotions of the new mother and may help her to bond with and care for her infant.

Specialized, advanced training in the anatomy, physiology, complications, precautions, and contraindications is highly recommended, and many practitioners require referrals from physicians prior to therapy. Click here to find a pregnancy massage practitioner.

PUSH Therapy was designed to eliminate pain originating from chronic tension. Therapists learn Soft Pressure Stimulation to treat tissue on a layer-by-layer basis. Techniques are administered with the therapist’s body in a completely relaxed state—no muscular force is required—and without using the hands.

The PUSH Treatment Plan teaches therapists to eliminate chronic tension using four unique and dynamic therapeutic tools:

• Treatments that follow specific treatment protocols that ensure consistent results
• Self-treatment methods that help maintain results between treatments
• PUSH Mobility Training that replaces rigid muscle patterns with new supple patterns and make the positive changes permanent
• Specific education that teaches clients how pain and tension develop, and how to prevent its return.

PUSH trainings modules are dynamic and educational. Each student who takes the trainings is taught how to eliminate chronic tension, eliminate pain, and enhance athletic performance, all while maintaining a completely relaxed state and without using the hands.

Qigong Meridian Therapy (QMT) is a natural healing system. It is derived from traditional Chinese medicine. QMT is based and focused on the concept of qi. Qi is vital energy, the unseen life force that courses though the body, enabling it to perform its functions, and which permeates all of nature.

The purpose of QMT is to release the innate healing ability of clients so their body can maintain health and resist disease. In QMT treatments, specific hand techniques are used to guide healing energy, which stimulates the meridians and certain points along or near the meridians. The QMT treatments serve to remove energy blockages, balance the overall qi of clients, and increase their energy.

This hands-on healing method offers spontaneous adjusting of proper alignment of the body. Principles behind Quantum-Touch involve resonance, intention, attention, breath, and innate body intelligence. Using various breathing techniques and meditations, a light touch is applied to activate the body’s own healing process.

Radix, also referred to as Radix Neo-Reichian Education, is an instructional method designed to teach the client how to release emotions held within the muscular structure of the body. Emphasis is placed on working through old traumas and moving into unique, new experiences of body/soul connection.

The two guiding principles of Radix are safety, in which the student may explore deep, painful issues in an atmosphere of trust and comfort; and exploration, primarily of the somatic experience.

Charles Kelly, PhD, developed Radix, combining techniques and principles from Reichian and Gestalt therapies, Erickson’s hypnotherapy, bioenergetics, and the Bates Method of vision training. Radix teachers include certified professionals licensed by the Radix Institute and adjunct teachers who incorporate this method into their therapy practice.

The Rayid Method is based on the meaning of formations in the iris of the eyes. Hereditary, behavioral, and attitudinal traits with their impact on mental, emotional, and physical health are demonstrated in these formations. The method addresses the causes behind symptoms, so maximum health can be achieved on a longer-term basis. This method identifies an interaction between mind and body, seeing the imbalances and suggesting corrective balancing lifestyles and support activities that enable the immune system to work its marvels.

Reflective healing is a form of energy healing in which the therapist uses a combination of guided imagery and energy body manipulations to heal a specific physical organ or joint. Noninvasive physical touch of energy centers is important in this process of repatterning the etheric body. Extensive intuitive development and energetic training are required by the therapist.

Sometimes referred to as zone therapy, this bodywork involves application of pressure to specific reflex areas in the feet, hands, and ears that correspond to other parts of the body, with the goal of stimulating body organs and relieving areas of congestion.

Similar to acupressure principles, reflexology works with the body’s energy flow to stimulate self-healing and maintain balance in physical function. This technique is used to reduce pain, increase relaxation, and stimulate circulation of blood and lymphatic fluids. It is especially useful in stress-related illness and emotional disorders.

Reflexology is also convenient in cases where an area of the body is traumatized or diseased to the extent that direct manipulation is not appropriate. Click here to find a Reflexology practitioner.

Reiki healing is a hands-on energy healing art. It originated in Japan in the early 20th century. The founder of the system, Mikao Usui, had a life-changing experience of light and energy that he recognized as reiki—sacred life force—and that awakened his innate healing abilities. Usui developed a system of practices that enabled others to become effective healers.

In a reiki healing session, the practitioner, trained to access and serve as a channel for the life force (ki or chi), places her hands on or just above the client’s body in order to activate healing energy within receptive points on the body. The practitioner’s hands move progressively with a passive touch through 12 positions on the body, remaining in each position for three to five minutes. As a harmonic flow of energy is strengthened, within the client and practitioner, healing occurs through the return of physical, mental, and spiritual balance. Click here to find a Reiki practitioner.

Reposturing dynamics is a system of stretches and massage techniques designed to restore balance and flexibility to the body. Reposturing dynamics is participatory, with lots of breathing and many stretch positions. There are exercises or additional stretches available to support the rebalancing process. It can be intense and emotional at times, as stress is unloaded from each muscle group. The client is always in charge of how fast and far she progresses in any one session.

Restoration therapy has been practiced in Japan for more than 1,500 years and has proven successful in the treatment of migraine headaches, nervous tension, general fatigue, and muscular aches and pains. Professor Seishiro Okazaki was the foremost exponent of restoration therapy in America. He founded the Kodenkan Dojo, Ju-Jitsu School, and Nikko Restoration Sanatorium in Honolulu in 1929.

The therapy is a combination of amma, acupressure, shiatsu, chiropractic, osteopathy, and herbal medicines. Restoration therapy is divided into four age groups, and to be a successful practitioner of restoration therapy, a thorough knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, dietetics, psychology, and herbal medicines is imperative.

A method to reorder the major body segments, Rolfing was founded by American biochemist Dr. Ida Rolf in the 1940s. Rolfing utilizes physical manipulation and movement awareness to bring head, shoulders, thorax, pelvis, and legs into vertical alignment. It allows more efficient use of the muscles with less expended energy by lifting the head and chest and lengthening the body’s trunk. A sense of lightness and greater mobility often result from Rolfing.

Treatments are offered in a ten-session series, as well as advanced sessions. See structural integration. Click here to find a rolfer.

Founded by Ilana Rubenfeld, this method integrates elements of two great body/mind teachers, F.M. Alexander and Moshe Feldenkrais, together with the Gestalt theory and practice of Fritz and Laura Perls and the hypnotherapy of Milton Erickson. The Rubenfeld synergy method uses many avenues, including verbal expression, movement, breathing patterns, body posture, kinesthetic awareness, imagination, sound, and caring touch to access reservoirs of feeling.

See chair massage.

SHEN (Specific Human Energy Nexus) Therapy was developed by American Richard Pavek. It is a form of energy healing which aims to release emotions trapped in the body, leading to freedom from pain and tension

SHEN teaches that most emotions are held in the torso, at four main sites: the heart, the solar plexus, the kath (below the navel), and the root (the perineum).

The practitioner places hands in paired positions on a fully clothed client lying on the table. The practitioner ascertains the locations of somatically held emotions and determines an appropriate physio-emotional release plan. A naturally occurring energy flows from the practitioner’s hands through the emotional centers of the client’s body in a precise way to discharge debilitating emotions.

Developed in Japan, shiatsu is a finger-pressure technique utilizing traditional acupuncture points. Similar to acupressure, shiatsu concentrates on unblocking the flow of life energy and restoring balance in the meridians and organs in order to promote self-healing. With the client reclining, the practitioner applies pressure with the finger, thumb, palm, elbow, or knee to specific zones on the skin located along the energy meridians. The treatment brings about a sense of relaxation while stimulating blood and lymphatic flow. The benefits of this treatment may include pain relief and a strengthening of the body’s resistance to disease and disorder. Click here to find a Shiatsu practitioner.

Soft-tissue release (STR) is an injury treatment technique developed in Europe. Methods are based on European osteopathy techniques, along with insights from quantum physics.

STR deals directly with the reasons for soft tissue dysfunctions and subsequent referred pain and nerve entrapment. In acute conditions, STR affects the insidious way scar tissue is formed, and in chronic conditions, STR breaks up the fibrotic and adhered mass of scar tissue to quickly allow the muscle to return to its natural resting length. Once the muscle or muscle group has returned to the original resting length, there is an immediate release from the pain induced by the inflammation response.

The client is positioned so that the muscle begins to stretch in a very specific direction or plane. When the exact location of the injury has been defined, a determined pressure is applied directly into the affected tissue or along a specific line of injury. At the same time, the client is given a set of instructions that now engage the antagonist of the muscles involved. The muscle is extended from a fixed position in a determined direction under a pinpoint of pressure. Decrease in pain and increase in range of motion are often immediate, offsetting any minor discomfort experienced.

Click here to find a Soft-Tissue Release practitioner.

A ten-session system of bodywork, SOMA neuromuscular integration works the fascial network to release chronic, stored structural aberrations; to effectively realign the entire body; and to facilitate the change process. The three brain model theory and holographic body reading, as part of the SOMA theoretical framework, assist the practitioner to analyze each individual blueprint, personalize needs, and design the session for each structure. SOMA work includes extensive guidance tools (movement, journaling, drawing interpretation, and other mind/body integrating tools) for training bodywork practitioners and for educating clients.

Somatic Experiencing is a body-awareness approach to trauma, developed by Dr. Peter Levine.

According to the Foundation for Human Enrichment (www.traumahealing.com), Somatic Experiencing is "based upon the realization that human beings have an innate ability to overcome the effects of trauma" and "restores self-regulation, and returns a sense of aliveness, relaxation and wholeness to traumatized individuals who have had these precious gifts taken away."

This work has been applied to combat veterans, rape survivors, Holocaust survivors, auto accident and post surgical trauma, chronic pain sufferers, and even to infants after suffering traumatic births.

"Somatic" means "of the body" and is often used to denote a body/mind or whole-body approach, as distinguished from a physiology-only perspective.

Using the media of sound (music, tones, vibrations, etc.) as tools for healing, sound therapy enables the realignment of natural body rhythms. Therapy may include, but is not limited to, the use of Tibetan singing bowls, chimes, acutonic tuning forks, rattles, and drums.

Spinal release allows therapists to correct distortions of the central nervous system and restore the body’s center of gravity. The therapist works with techniques that address the eight muscle groups of the lower back. Practitioners also focus on the soft-tissue release procedures for the neck and back as they help identify curvatures of the spine and other dysfunctions.

Sports massage is designed to enhance athletic performance and recovery. There are three contexts in which sports massage can be useful to an athlete: pre-event, post-event, and injury treatment.

• Pre-event massage is delivered at the performance site, usually with the athlete fully clothed. Fast-paced and stimulating, it helps to establish blood flow and to warm up muscles. During the massage, the athlete generally focuses on visualizing the upcoming event.
• Post-event massage is also delivered on site, through the clothes. The intent here is to calm the nervous system and begin the process of flushing toxins and waste products out of the body. Post-event massage can reduce recovery time, enabling an athlete to resume training much sooner than rest alone would allow.
• When an athlete sustains an injury, skillful massage therapy can often speed and improve the quality of healing.

Click here to find a Sports Massage practitioner.

Developed by osteopath Lawrence Jones, this noninvasive treatment helps decrease protective muscle spasms and alleviate somatic dysfunction in the musculoskeletal system. By using palpation and passive positional procedures, the therapist practicing strain/counterstrain therapy can help restore pain-free movement. The position that relieves the referred pain is held for 90 seconds. After resuming the original position and pressing the trigger point, the referred pain is gone. The client is often asked to bend or twist like a contortionist to secure a comfortable position.

Based on the work of Dr. Ida P. Rolf, structural integration is based on the idea that the entire structural order of the body needs to be realigned and balanced with the gravitational forces around a central vertical line representing gravity’s influence. Therapeutic intervention is directed toward the myofascial system—the ligaments, muscles, tendons, and surrounding connective tissues. A practitioner of structural integration has a ten-session cycle of work, in which different angles and degrees of physical pressure are used to stretch and guide fascia to a place of easier movement. The process is not intended to cure symptoms; its goal is to create a more resilient, higher-energy system, free of inhibitions due to past trauma.

See Rolfing. Click here to find a Structural Integration practitioner.

A combination of neuromuscular reeducation, hands-on application, qigong, Taoism, and meditation, Syntropy Insight Bodywork acts directly on the nervous system to dissolve chronic patterns of pain and tension. The practitioner helps to access and empower the client’s innate healing ability by focusing on what is functioning well in the body and expanding on it. A noninvasive practice, Syntropy can be used exclusively or as an adjunct therapy.

T’ai chi chuan is an ancient Chinese martial and healing art. Most obviously characterized by the slow motion manner in which its choreographed movement patterns are carried out, t’ai chi chuan is more accurately defined by its attention to correct body alignment and structural detail. T’ai chi chuan practitioners move slowly and with a minimum of overt muscular effort, opting to rely instead on exact positioning of the body’s structural components to facilitate the transfer of force through the body. This efficient transfer of force reduces stress on both the body and mind. T’ai chi chuan principles apply globally to walking, martial application, bodywork, or any other activity for which economy of motion and efficiency of effort desired.

Tantsu Tantric Shiatsu was invented by Harold Dull, who also created Watsu, or water shiatsu. Tantsu brings Watsu’s in-water nurturing and power back onto land.

In a Tantsu session, the giver cradles the receiver with their whole body. No oil is used; the receiver lies fully clothed on the floor, while the giver kneels or stands beside the person. Like shiatsu, Tantsu is based on point work and powerful stretches to release chi (life force) along the body’s meridians and in the energy centers, or chakras. Tantsu focuses on connecting the chakras and freeing the natural movement of energy along the spine.

Learning to give a Tantsu session involves the giver in a process that leads to a deeper connection with others and with one’s own centers and flows of energy. (Definition adapted from Dull’s book, Bodywork Tantra On Land and In Water, Harbin Springs Publishing, 1991.)

Tera-Mai Seichem translates from Sanskrit as "action of compassion." This healing art uses the universal elemental energy rays of earth (reiki), air/ether (angelic light), fire (sakara) and water (sophi-el).

This treatment uses the therapeutic benefits of the sea and seawater products to restore health and vitality to the skin and hair. The treatment may include seaweed and algae paste spread on the body, and being insulated with sheets or blankets. Seawater baths may include massage with strong, underwater jets or manual hose massage by the therapist.

Developed in 1989 by Karen Peterson and John Walsh, Tibetan point holding focuses on prolonged holding of acupressure points to generate emotional release. Lengthy holding allows the client to address internal thoughts as they arise. As many as five practitioners are used to hold pressure points on the client for up to two hours. Treatment needs are assessed through iridology or kinesiology.

Developed by Iris Burman and Sandy Friedland, TouchAbilities Essential Connections is a universal skill set and philosophy for bodywork practitioners. This skill set includes the core techniques that are common to all modalities, incorporating physical manipulation of soft tissue as well as dynamic interaction with the body’s mental and energetic fields. Philosophically based on the idea that the body is a multidimensional blend of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual qualities, TouchAbilities encourages an “in the moment” dialogue between bodies to support optimal function. Its objective is to identify areas where actions, waves, and flows are obstructed or distorted and to apply techniques that reestablish a more functional dynamic.

Trauma touch therapy was developed to address the needs of clients affected by trauma and abuse, including sexual and emotional abuse, battering, the trauma of war, surgery, or criminal violence. Focused on empowering the client, this technique combines therapeutic movement and breathwork with psychotherapeutic elements to bring body and mind together in holistic healing. The pace of therapy is determined individually according to the client’s need. Relearning touch from a healthy perspective is a major focus of the therapy. The trauma touch training program was developed in 1993 at the Colorado School of Healing Arts.

Tui na (pronounced t-weigh na) is a Chinese system of manual therapeutics with a wide range of techniques and indications. The term first appeared in the Ming Dynasty text Pediatric Tui Na Classic in 1601, and combines the names of two of the hand techniques, tui meaning to push and na meaning to lift and squeeze. While traditional Chinese medical precepts form its theoretical basis, clinical experience governs its application.

Tui na facilitates healing by regulating the circulation of blood and qi (vital energy), which controls body function and enhances resistance to disease. Practitioners recognize more than 365 hand techniques, although these techniques can be generally grouped as pressing, rubbing, waving, shaking, percussion, or manipulating. Techniques range from light and soothing to strong and invigorating. Click here to find a Tui Na practitioner.

Unified Field Therapy (UFT) has discovered that beyond the body, beyond energy, lies a matrix of consciousness that permeates every aspect of our world. This dynamic, ever-expansive matrix forms a single field from which all conscious life flows. This field is called the unified field.

All physical, mental, emotional, and energetic patterns known to our world originate from this single source. Present in our every experience, these patterns form the very fabric of our reality. The most subtle shift or change in these patterns can yield immense expansion in our consciousness and bring enormous transformation to one’s life. Utilizing this knowledge, UFT directly accesses the unified field to initiate shifts within a conscious system.

Clients remain fully clothed and are asked to lie face up on a massage table in a comfortable position with eyes closed and attention focused internally. The therapist then begins to evaluate, palpate, and integrate fields of consciousness surrounding and permeating the client. This can be done in a hands-on or hands-off application.

Sessions last approximately 40-60 minutes. Clients must define for themselves how their consciousness integrates and changes as a result of this work. For this reason, therapists are trained not to define or project their perceptions or expectations onto a client’s experience. Therapists often request that new clients follow up within 48-72 hours after the initial visit to discuss any additional shifts that may have occurred in the interim. (Adapted from www.unifiedfieldtherapy.com.)

Vibrational Healing Massage Therapy (VHMT) is a bodywork therapy designed to restore one to fluidity. It is like massage therapy, providing touch techniques and distinctions that help people live in their bodies as a liquid process, freeing pain as we have known it.

VHMT works with the physical structure to free up past tensions and stresses that have been held in the body. This reawakening of the nervous system restores circulation to injured areas, moves energy and emotions, and helps in the release of chronic pain or stiffness.

There are approximately 16 basic techniques that serve to align, loosen, and connect the body so tensions can reverberate freely. Special sensitive stretching, rebounding, and torquing are some of the techniques that help clients become aware of where they have been holding. Practitioners and recipients alike begin to feel not only their vibrations move within them, but also new circulation of their basic metabolic fluids flowing to once-rigid areas.

As they listen to people’s body rhythms and frequencies, practitioners of VHMT facilitate a clothes-on massage therapy that is rhythmic and fun. VHMT includes new distinctions of awareness in thinking, speaking, walking, standing, and sitting, which allow for fully-connected and communicative bodies. These concepts are:

• The Fluid Body Model—a body of knowledge where we experience being in our bodies in a whole new way, acknowledging and honoring the fluid, evolving processes that we are.
• Disease as a Strategy—a self-responsible way of thinking that allows us to access self-healing and growth.
• The Language of Healing—a way of speaking responsibly about our bodies and lives, so that when we speak, we are causing and accessing healing and transformation to happen.

Based on the piezoelectric properties of the human skin, Vitaflex is a specialized form of manual stimulation at specific reflex points throughout the body, using the pads and nails of the fingers in a rolling motion to produce therapeutic electrical voltages and currents. Vitaflex massage can be used as a modality in and of itself, but also works well as an adjunct to aromatherapy with the application of essential oils. Vitaflex is a part of the raindrop massage protocol.

Watsu, or aquatic shiatsu, began at Harbin Hot Springs where Harold Dull brought his knowledge of Zen shiatsu into a warm pool. Zen shiatsu incorporates stretches that release blockages along the meridians—the channels through which chi or life force flows.

Dull found the effects of Zen shiatsu could be amplified and made more profound by stretching someone while having them float in warm water. By supporting, rocking, and moving the whole body while stretching a leg or arm, Watsu lessens the resistance there is when a limb is worked in isolation. When the whole body is in continual movement, each move flowing gracefully into the next, there is no way to resistantly anticipate what’s coming next. Warm water and the continuous support it provides are ideal for freeing the spine.

Click here to find a Watsu practitioner.

This is a massage modality that enhances the free and natural movements of the body through gentle, sustained stretching and applied pressure. Gentle vibration and energy work with the chakras is integrated into a gracefully flowing sequence. Unique positioning with props is incorporated to facilitate myofascial stretching without strain. Yogassage has been compared to Thai massage on a table, as it blends elements from both the Eastern and Western cultures of bodywork.

This style was developed by Shizuto Masanuga, who proposed the treatment of meridian extensions beyond those recognized in the classical Chinese view. He also developed the widely-accepted two-hand style, where one hand moves, applying pressure, while the other provides stationary support.