Glossary
Dance/Movement Therapies
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.
Dantien
The area of the hara, approximately two finger-widths below the navel, is called the lower dantien (or tanden). Dan means the medicine of immortality; tien means field. It is the field of the elixir of life, sometimes also called the “Sea of Qi.” The Ren Chong, kidney, stomach, liver, and spleen channels pass through it. The qi of the organs and meridians of the entire body collect in the lower dantien, like a vast storehouse of power.
(Adapted from “Hara,” by Kondañña, Massage & Bodywork, June/July 2001.) See hara.
Deep Tissue Massage
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.
Degriefing
Degriefing is the process of recognizing the mental and physical pain that accompanies grief and treating it with a combination of somatic therapies and psychotherapeutic tools. Degriefing can be used to unlock and remove grief from an individual’s body, and thereby heal not only physical symptoms, but mental and emotional wounds as well. It combines effective verbal counseling therapies with individualized physical care. The techniques used in the degriefing process are intended to ease a person’s emotional distress, mental anguish, and physical discomforts. The goal of degriefing is to unlock blockages that have developed in the body and shift them to a more harmonious state.
Do-In
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.
Dynamic Spinal Therapy
Dynamic spinal therapy was developed by Rolf Ott in Rapperswil, Switzerland, in the 1980s. The technique works with the body’s posture and energetic (acupuncture) system and consists of three parts:
- The ear reflexology test comes from France and Germany and is a form of ear acupuncture. The ear provides information about the body’s energetic state. A therapy stylus is pressed along specific lines, some of which are more sensitive than others and provide the therapist information. Acupuncture meridian harmonization balances the energetic system. The focus is on chi flow to stimulate the personal healing process. With the therapy stylus, certain meridians are traced on the skin surface.
- In the second part, the pelvis is checked while being rotated, and specific stretches are applied.
- Afterward, the client lies face down on the Swiss therapeutic cushion, resting like a person floating in water. This position offers complete relaxation. The body is gently rocked in several different ways, the gentle rhythmic motion prompting relaxation and inducing trust. The just-stretched muscles get reprogrammed, and the rocking moves the joint helping to build them.
The therapy is applied for joint problems, migraines, arthritis, foot conditions lumbago, herniated disks, spinal nerve irritations, scoliosis, sciatica, psychological problems, stress, and many more. A treatment usually takes 30-40 minutes.