Recently, thanks to a wonderful massage therapist named Tammy Howell who is a graduate from the Center for Massage in Asheville, I’ve been able to start providing some new services in my day spa with advance notice. Among these include Couples Massages, which is an ever-growing trend in the spa industry.

There are many times when I am in the mood for a spa day in which I want to experience it alone. Sometimes peaceful solitude is simply what I desire, and to go experience the quiet ambiance of the spa with my favorite book in hand to read in between treatments is, indeed, very rejuvenating and relaxing. But what about being able to share the experience with someone else? Maybe a friend or your partner who, for whatever reason has been leery of bodywork because of shyness or just the mere uncertainty of what happens during a massage. Spa culture in East Tennessee is relatively new to most. What better way to introduce a friend or family member to the wonderful world of therapeutic massage and spa therapies then to go to the spa together?

It can be a very romantic gesture for a man to book a couples’ retreat and a lovely dinner afterward to celebrate an anniversary, her birthday, or “just because”. That way, not only does she get a great massage, but he can too, and they can share the experience simultaneously, in the same room. Ladies, you can be romantic too… so it is something you could surprise HIM with as well!

Women enjoy being together, going out to lunch and going shopping with each other. But going to the spa together can be a fun and different way to relax and have a day out. Most recently, I’ve had mother/daughter come in for a spa day together, and some friends who wanted to share the spa experience. While couples massage with 2 tables in the same room is mostly for romantic couples… you can still bring a friend and enjoy massages, facials or body treatments in separate treatment rooms since we now have another therapist available to provide services.

So, next time you want a massage but would like to bring a friend, or, if you want to bring your partner, call ahead and we can get you set up with multiple treatments or couples massage. Maybe you could bring mom to the spa for Mother’s day! You can treat her and yourself all in the same day!!
It is a terrific way to spa!

The first thing you may be asking yourself is, “What the heck is Somatic Therapy?” It is a term I never heard until I enrolled in massage school. The word Soma means “body experienced from within.” If you think about that, it isn’t too difficult to put two and two together.

Biologists are beginning to realize that all cells in the body have the capacity to store information in their cytoskeletons (the nervous system of the cell). This includes information regarding memory, otherwise known as “tissue memory”. Any physical or emotional trauma we’ve experienced in our lives can be stored in muscle and tissue cells. Ask yourself this: have you ever had to deal with an unpleasant person who, after they leave the room also leave you with a pain in the neck or a wrench in your stomach? Do you ever find yourself at work in the middle of the day, leaning over your keyboard or desk with your shoulders tightened up and contracted? Do you even KNOW if you do? I’d say most of the time, you don’t. Let’s try an exercise to see. Do this NOW: take several deep, long and slow breaths… long exhales. As you do this, release your shoulders and roll them around a bit… now your head. Surely you probably noticed that you just released some tension… and all because you merely brought some awareness to that stressed, neglected area. Inner awareness can do a lot!

Any time a trauma is experienced, small unconscious contractions form in muscle tissues… a protective reminder of painful experience. Where physical injury is concerned this contraction will remain even as tissues heal, leading to further chronic pain. It can even spread to other parts of the body and, in response, the body may adjust and shift to strain patterns which can lead to chronic pain with no “known cause”.

Worries and stress build up and become outward physical manifestations. Maybe you were yelled at or scared by something or someone repeatedly as a child, and as a result, developed a “holding pattern” somewhere in your body, contracting a certain group of muscles. After years of continual adaptation to this, your conscious mind doesn’t even recognize that it can no longer relax. The contraction practically becomes an involuntary response. Trigger points develop, muscle fascia binds up and tightens. Aches, stiffness, and pain develop and worsen as time goes by as a result. (For those of you who have a hard time relaxing during a massage or at night before bedtime… this can mean you too).

Mind-body communication is a powerful healing tool. Many times on my massage table, clients have had an emotional release. Getting regular massage can help us become aware of our bodies and what is going on inside of them. After all, it is a well known fact that nurturing human touch is essential for healing and growth, and massage therapy is a beautifully orchestrated form of healthy touch. With Somato-Emotional Release in mind, massage can trigger memories that we may have blocked out or otherwise forgotten. During our lives, we’ve become so wrapped up in schedules, relationships, family, work, and social activities that we become UNaware of our selves. Not just our emotions in many cases, but our bodies and in turn… we become detached from grief or pain in order to “move on” or keep going (or so we think).

However, awareness plus focus equals release. If we become aware, initially we want to shift away from and ignore this uncomfortable sensation or memory. Very traumatic memories can be extremely uncomfortable or painful if they come up. It is easy to want to revert back to the old habit of blocking it out or running away. During massage, we are in a safe environment which allows us to STOP; become aware and focus on these forgotten matters that need attention, and remain focused on them. This can help us to acknowledge what happened, honor it and let it go… to become at peace with our past experiences, people, or events in our lives that have injured us. Also, you should never be afraid to ask your therapist for feedback or guidance about what you are feeling. She is working WITH you to guide you through this healing process.

True healing can only come from mind-body communication.

Awareness + Focus = Release. When we can acknowledge, grieve, honor it and let it go up and out of us… then we can experience TRUE HEALING.

We can then cope with life from a place of wisdom within.

When your individual identity is grounded in somatic reality, you can say: “I know who I am by how I experience myself.”

NAMASTE Beth

Ahhhhhh… March. Spring will be here, officially, in less than 3 weeks. It has gotten a tad warmer in recent days which has been wonderful. Often our minds turn to spring cleaning at this time of year. We go through our winter clothes, decide what to put away, what to give away and what we need to keep out to wear just now. We thoroughly clean our house. We have an “Out with the old, in with the New” sort-of-feeling that makes us feel like we need to get RID of the ICK and stagnation that has built up over the past year. I think that is another reason we feel so obligated to get back into (or at least into better) shape this time of year, as I wrote in my last post, “Getting in Shape”.

But what about the inside of our bodies? How many of us think about going on some sort of a fast or maybe a detox to clean out our insides? Some of us are just too busy or other factors prevent us from getting that serious about it. But what can you do? I ask you to consider Hydrotherapy.

Hydrotherapy is surely one of the oldest, safest and least expensive forms of treatment for many common ailments. The Greek Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” wrote about hydrotherapy and mineral baths as treatments for many diseases.

Today, Hydrotherapy is mostly understood to mean the treatment of illness through the use of water. The concept of Hydrotherapy is to rid the body of toxins that may be inflicting joint pain, inflammation, and other attacks on the systems of the body. It is used to relieve symptoms of:

• Arthritis and other joint problems (The buoyancy of the water relaxes the muscles, and supports and reduces stress on the joints which encourages freer movement. Relaxing the muscles helps to increase their range of motion.)
• Back pain
• Insomnia
• Muscle weakness
• Sports Injuries
• Poor circulation
• Stress
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Cellulite
• Anxiety
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Colitis and Gastritis
• Sciatica
• Fibromyalgia
• High Blood Pressure
• Migraines
• Varicose Veins

The pressure of the water literally massages the body, stimulating lymph drainage. Lymphatic drainage is important, because within and of itself promotes detoxificatoin of the body, reduces swelling, relieves sinusitis, bronchitis, and chronic pain. Lymphatic drainage can also regenerate tissues around wounds, stretch marks, scars and wrinkles, highten the immune system, reduce adiposis and cellulite tissue and has anti-aging effects! (Of course, you can get a lymphatic drainage massage or stimulate lymph flow in other ways; but that’s another article all-together.)
Hydrotherapy works by the water motion stimulating the touch receptors on the skin, relieving tight muscles and releasing chemicals that we produce in our body called endorphins. The hot water relieves fatigue and prevents stiffness. You experience a weightlessness which supports your body and lifts your spirits!

Various salts, herbs, oils and other additives can be very healing and can contribute to your overall hydro-bath experience. At Grace Healing Therapies, you have a wide range of choices to help you acheive your desired results.

This month, I’m extending my previous Special for an Aromatherapy Bath and Body Refiner plus Healing Massage for only $99! This will only last until March 15, 2007. For more information on our Spa Bath Oasis, visit our Hydrotherapy page.