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Having just returned from another profound 120 minute massage (with Jacinda Philips) it is clear to me that it is superior to all other massage session lengths.  A 60 minute massage is good for addressing specific ailments–tight neck, sore low back, and/or injuries from car accidents.  90 minute sessions are great for complete work in several areas of the body while it allowing the remainder of the body to be somewhat addressed also.  But 120 minutes not only allows for all quandrants of the body on both sides to be addressed, it provides enough time and continuous contact for transcendence to occur.

Transcendence into what?  In Chinese medicine the facia–that lattice-like network of tissue connecting all of the structures inside our bodies (bones, muscles, organs, vessels, etc.)–is considered an organ.  They call it the “triple-burner” or “triple heater.”  It is in this “organ” that they Chinese believe the unconscious resides.  It makes sense then that with continuous massaging of the skin and facia, insights, questions, images, and solutions often surface.  Myself and others have had similar experiences during shorter length massage sessions, however 120 minutes is usually a sure bet to transcend normal consciousness and drop down into deeper connection with the you beneath your persona and ego.  It is there that cues to the meaning and purpose of life reveal themselves.  Please give it a try and tell me what your experience is like.

I find myself energetically calibrating to a new level of sublety and receptivity because of deep constitutional shifts I’ve experienced as a result of my work with master herbalist and acupuncturist Dr. Kamto Lee–one of Portland’s finest Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners.  I am sensing energy more clearly now and have increased confidence in my intuition during massage sessions.  Since enrolling in massage school 10 years ago I’ve always felt graced with the gift of competent touch.  However now, in large part because of my work with Dr. Lee, I feel my original gifts amplified and expanded.  What does this mean for you the receiver?  An enhanced experience on the table.  My work remains firmly grounded in deep tissue massage, Shiatsu massage, and Swedish massage, but there is an added undercurrent of intention and depth which allows for a more accurate reply to your body’s needs.  Please come experience what I’m attempting to articulate.

I’ve been thinking about liminal space, the space between, for instance, release and holding, action and non-action, breaths.  It is the amorphous and transitional state of flux, or idle, or nothingness.  The Greek god Hermes, endowed with the power of crossing boundaries between worlds is often seen in cairns–those rock stacks frequently marking paths and trails.  Ironically, moving from liminal space and crossing thresholds often feels like unmarked territory.

And yet, if we are patient enough, the Way (as Taoists speak of it: not right, wrong, better or worse, but rather simply alignment with what is) emerges.  But how do we know it when it comes?  In my experience, first I must enter into stillness.  From that point, after nothing happens for some time, the way into the next moment emerges.

As a therapist I listen–with my hands of course, but  also with my whole body energy which often sits in my heart.  As a massagee, when I am on the table I listen by allowing the therapist’s touch and pressure to soothe me.  Sometimes that means breathing deeply into a focused pressure point, other times it means not breathing for a very long time and allowing my system to absorb the still and deep compression of an elbow or fist.

The process, whether giving or receiving, is always marked by what is natural–what feels right at the deepest level in the moment.  When I am patient enough, the way into the next moment comes subtly, yet clearly.  Action and movement of this kind is referred to in the Chinese tradition as Wu-wei, or effortless action.  It is neither doing nor not doing.  It is rather being in accordance with what is most true.

This is the simple truth: it works to relieve chronic pain.  By pressing memory cells while engaging surrounding tissue, the body keeps the benefits of the massage instead of sluffing them off after a couple of days.  This is especially true for chronic pain syndromes like sciatic nerve impingement, frozen shoulders, neck pain, low back pain, chronic spinal muscle pain, and hyper-contracted hip flexors.  Memory cells are usually located where muscles insert into bones, which is also often the point that overlaps two acupuncture points.

The effect is, like the name suggests, that the body fails to remember where it was (the painful position) before treatment, and instead remains where it is (the correct, and non-painful position) after treatment.  This way of working varies markedly from traditional Swedish massage and deep tissue massage that offers only temporary relief.  After a few days with those techniques you find your body in the same kind of painful position it was in before your massage.

When the memory points of Tui Na massage are used during treatment your body experiences immediate relief that lasts.  Often times four treatments alleviate 90-95% of the initial pain.  When I was introduced to this technique I was doubtful, but after having experienced their effectiveness on my body and on the bodies I work with, there is no doubt as to the gift they offer: pain-free functioning.

If you’re in cronic pain, whether its neck, shoulder, back, or hip, and you’ve tried everything else without effect, I encourage you to come in, like many have already, and feel the benefits of returning to life without pain.

If I had to break it down, I could artificially create three sections of my massage work.  In truth, my sessions usually blend all three types.

The first type of massage work is the traditional table massage in which various types and amounts of pressure (i.e. fast, slow; superficial, deep) are applied directly to muscles. The goal in this type of massage is to contact muscles with just the right amount of pressure to disburse tension and relax muscles.  This kind of massage session restores supple fluidity and function to the body.  Massage modalities used in this type of massage include: Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, Shiatsu massage, Lomi Lomi massage, Thai massage, Tragger massage, and Hot Stone Massage.

The second type of massage I offer comes from traditional Chinese medicine’s visceral manipulation, otherwise known as Tui Na massage. This work is EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE for resolving specific pain caused by sciatic nerve impingement, frozen shoulders conditions, neck pain, low back pain, chronic spinal muscle pain, and hyper-hip flexor contraction. Combining acupressure and precise manual muscle movement, conditions that would take  months to resolve with traditional massage and trigger point therapy, often improve 60-80% after the FIRST TREATMENT.

The third type of massage work I offer, usually towards the end of most massage sessions,  restores the wholeness and integration of the body by realigning subtle structures.  This work is based on the osteopathic method of manual manipulation therapy from which cranial-sacral work emerged.  By connecting with and following the intelligence that governs cerebral spinal fluid pulse, lymphatic drainage, and other micro functions essential to the body’s wellness, your system is, in a sense, rebooted to its orignal settings.