| Heather
Corwin |
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"What we achieve
inwardly will
change outer reality."
-Plutarch
me@BodybyHeather.com
626-421-6296
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OUR LIST |
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| Share the Healing of
Heather |
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AMBIANCE IS KEY
Is the scene conducive to your relaxation?
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The quality of communication between the practitioner and the
client is key. By all means, you should speak up about anything
that diminishes your enjoyment of, or ability to focus on, your
session, no matter whether the problem is the therapist's office or
her/his behavior. It's your session, and you have the right to an
environment that supports your relaxation.
Having said that, it's not always easy to assert yourself while
lying on a table. However, your practitioner is a professional and
is open to feedback. Your practitioner wants and needs to know and
would much prefer you mentioning it than choosing to not come back
again.
And you may learn something as well. Perhaps that lavender oil you
thought was too strong actually helps relaxation and will work
wonders for you in a more diluted form. Or maybe the exterior noise
is a problem only on Monday evenings, and you can be sure to avoid
booking your appointment then.
Fixing the Problem. The
situation may be something easy to remedy, like changing the music
or essential oils. But if it's something more complex, like
exterior noise from officemates, your practitioner may need time to
address the situation.
View the situation as an opportunity to provide important,
constructive feedback about the services offered as well a chance
to enhance the therapeutic relationship between you and
Heather.
Your therapeutic session is about you. Take responsibility for
communicating your needs, and your session will be all the more
healing for it.
by Nina
McIntosh
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Greetings!
I want to thank you for your business by sharing this
complimentary issue of Body Sense magazine.
www.abmp.com/bodysense/autumn-winter-2010
Body Sense provides valuable
information about how to make massage and bodywork a part of your
healthy lifestyle. Inside you'll find helpful articles on the
benefits of massage, popular modalities, and an interview with Dr.
Andrew Weil.
I am excited to discuss any of the information you find inside,
and happy to schedule your next appointment.
Be Well,
Heather
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| Body Image |
Learning to Love Who We
Are
The statistics are alarming. The majority of U.S. women--some
estimate more than 80 percent--are unhappy with their appearance.
At least 10 million young women, and 1 million young men have an
eating disorder. Girls as young as 6 and 7 are expressing
disapproval of their looks, and most fourth-grade girls are already
diet veterans. Most unsettling is the fact that more women, and
girls, fear becoming fat than they do dying.
Combating the Images. How
do you see yourself? Are you content with the person looking back
at you from the mirror each morning or do you frown in frustration?
Unfortunately, many of us are unhappy with the person looking back.
Whether it's lamenting about having a pear-shaped figure instead of
an hourglass, or exhibiting more serious, self-hating body
dysmorphic disorders, body image is under siege in our
celebrity-fixated society. While Madison Avenue continues to
airbrush photos of svelte, 120-pound supermodels for magazine
covers, others are trying to teach young girls to love their
bodies, beautiful imperfections and all. One way to combat the
Hollywood hype and to create an appreciation for the bodies we have
is through hands-on massage and bodywork.
Why Massage Affects Body
Perception. Being unhappy with our bodies has serious, and
sometimes lifelong, ramifications. Feelings of unworthiness and
self-loathing can set up a lifetime of self-deprecating behaviors.
What regularly scheduled massage allows us to do is "get back" into
our bodies and reconnect with ourselves. Massage can help us
release physical and mental patterns of tension, enhancing our
ability to experience our bodies (regardless of their shape and
size) in a more positive way. Just as it facilitates our ability to
relax, massage also encourages an awareness of the body, often
allowing us to more clearly see and identify destructive behaviors,
including overeating or purging.
Massage also creates a sense of
nurturing that is especially powerful when it comes to poor
body image. Accepting the nonjudgmental touch of a trained
therapist goes a long way toward rebuilding an appreciation and
respect for your own body. If we find acceptance for who we are and
how we look, we are giving ourselves permission to live comfortably
in the skin we have.
The Value of
Massage.Research shows that touch is a powerful ally in the
quest for physical and mental health. Not only does it help us be
more in tune with our bodies, it can also helps restore a sense of
"wholeness" that is often lost in our segmented, overscheduled
lives. When we regain that connection, it's much easier to remember
that our bodies are something to be cherished, nurtured, and loved,
not belittled, betrayed, and forgotten.
Valuable for every age and every body type, massage and bodywork
have innumerable benefits. Here are a few:
- Alleviates low-back pain and improves range of motion.
- Decreases medication dependence.
- Eases anxiety and depression.
- Enhances immunity by stimulating lymph flow.
- Exercises and stretches weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
- Increases joint flexibility.
- Improves circulation by pumping oxygen and nutrients into tissues
and vital organs.
- Releases endorphins--the body's natural painkiller.
Every Shape and Size
Whether a client weighs 30 pounds or 300 pounds, massage and
bodywork therapists are trained to appreciate all bodies, without
judgment, and to deliver the best care possible. As in any session,
a therapist's goal is to create an environment that feels safe and
nurturing for clients, all while delivering much needed therapeutic
touch. For heavier clients, some minor adjustments might be needed
in the delivery of the bodywork, but its nurturing, therapeutic,
nonjudgmental role will remain unchanged.
Through the Scars. We
also have to remember that a negative body image is not necessarily
about those few extra pounds on the hips. It might instead be tied
to the scars of past injuries and surgeries. Massage can help here,
too. For burn victims, research has shown massage can help in the
healing process, while for postsurgery breast cancer patients,
massage and bodywork can reintegrate a battered body and spirit. In
addition to softening scar tissue and speeding postsurgery
recovery, massage and bodywork for these clients is about respect,
reverence, and learning to look at, and beyond, the scars.
Finding the Stillness.
Experts say that when the tissues start to let go and relax under a
massage therapist's hands, profound shifts occur emotionally and
physically. A softening happens, and the brain and body begin to
integrate again. The chasm between body and mind that created the
eating disorder, or fueled the negative body image, begins to
narrow. In her book, "Molecules of Emotion," Georgetown University
Medical School professor Candace Pert explains that the body is the
"actual outward manifestation, in physical space, of the mind." She
says that if we generate negative energy in response to our
appearance, it can eventually find its way into reality.
Self-acceptance, then, is paramount for living well, and
massage/bodywork is a healthy path to get you there. Finding the
stillness in a massage session allows you to just "be," without
judgment. Partner that with the comfort that comes from allowing
your body to be nurtured by someone else, and we begin to remember
our value, regardless of our outward appearance, or what we
perceive it to be.
compliments of ABMP.com
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