Clearwater Massage

Confirmed By Science: Massages Can Improve Your Mental Health

It’s no secret that massages can bring one a lot of benefits, but how many of you actually knew that they are also good for your mental health, in many ways? According to multiple pieces of research, you should consider massages part of your toolkit of strategies to maintain solid mental health, as the latter is considered as one of the biggest issues of the 21st century, but ignored by many people. Therefore, let’s take a few moments and discuss the positive impact massages can have on your mental well-being, shall we? It can stimulate the production of feel-good hormones, responsible for alleviating depression Depression is one of those conditions which can be not visible at all, able to make people feel like they don’t even get out of bed. However, according to several studies, there is a strong correlation between massage therapy and alleviation of many depressive symptoms. Specifically, it was proven that one of the main massage benefits is affecting body chemistry, thus increasing serotonin and dopamine, the […] Continue reading

How Massage Therapy Can Supercharge Your Health

Lately, people are looking forward to discovering ways of staying healthy until a late age, which is nothing but great news. We all know how important is to pay your doctor a visit regularly or stick to a daily – if your schedule allows it – exercise routine, combined with a healthy diet. On the other side, it’s less known that proper massage therapy, conducted by a professional, can also have a huge impact on one’s health. In fact, let’s take a few moments and see which are the essential benefits of this type of therapy! It relieves stress There’s no doubt that this is one of the main benefits massage therapy comes with. It was scientifically proven that being constantly exposed to stress can increase the risk of heart disease, but also diabetes or hypertension, so getting massage regularly is pretty much one of the best things one can try in order to deal with what’s called “the disease of the 21st century”. A massage session can be an […] Continue reading

Is It Actually Worth Buying Organic Food?

You’ve probably heard a lot about organic food lately, as it seems a real trend with a constantly growing fan base. In fact, this trend turned into a $43 billion business, with a lot of potential. But the interesting part is that a lot of people struggle to understand why the term “organic” actually means and if it’s worth paying more for food labelled like this. Technically speaking, “organic” refers to the way of growing and processing agricultural products. In the United States, organic crops must be grown without making use of any synthetic pesticides, as well as bioengineered genes, fertilizers based on petroleum, or based on sewage and sludge, in order to be labelled as organic. And this is not everything. The livestock raised for meat and dairy products should have access to an outdoor environment and receive organic feed, not to mention that it’s forbidden to inject them with antibiotics, growth hormones or any type of animal by-products, for the ‘organic’ label to be applied. As for the […] Continue reading

Ever Wondered How Often it’s Recommended to Get a Massage

Considering how often people complain about having a life filled with stress and body fatigue, there’s no surprise that massage saloons have more clients than ever. And these are just two of the main reasons why people are relying on such services to feel better. If you’re a fan of massage yourself, however, you should be aware of a few aspects before deciding to put massage therapy into your regular wellness program. The frequency of your massage therapy completely depends on both your physical and emotional needs, but also your stress levels. Is getting a massage way too often bad? The idea is that getting a massage regularly – a few times a week, that is – will allow you to experience several health benefits. Still, this may not be right for each individual! For example, if you have some injuries causing you pain or other back pains, you definitely need to consult a physician and see what it’s recommended in your case. Also, if you’re hoping to get rid […] Continue reading

Mother & Baby Massage Team

As my regular clients know, I have had the good fortune of being able to continue massage during my entire pregnancy, up until the day I gave birth to a baby girl, Isis, on March 29, 2013. My original plan was to have a friend’s mom babysit her or place into an infant care facility, but the babysitting fell through and the thought of placing her with a stranger in a facility this young didn’t seem as appealing after looking into it more.  Plus, I feel it’s important as a parent to get  bonding time  in with Isis as much as possible because she’s only a baby for a brief amount of time and I don’t want to miss out on it. Now Isis is 2 months old, and has been my massage sidekick for 1.5 months now.  I appreciate both the loyalty and patience of my clients who continued to come to me for massages despite Isis’s crying and fussing at times during a session.  Now she and I […] Continue reading

Thai Yoga Massage

Over this past year, I have been studying Thai Yoga Massage. I have over 65 hours of training in the Southern style through Dr. James’ Thai Yoga Center and Soma Veda Institute. Lydia Smith, the instructor, introduced the class to Southern Style Thai Massage as well as other complementary & holistic topics, such as Vitalism, veganism and Bio-Tapp therapy. Over the past weekend I completed over 15 hour of Northern Style Thai Massage training at the Orlando School of Thai Massage from instructor Rob Murray. He is well versed with the Thai culture as well at Thai massage for he started giving him mother Thai Massages in Thailand at the age of 6. I am honored to have to opportunity to work with a native Thai instructor in Florida and am excited about my journey onward into the art of Thai Yoga Massage. Continue reading

Proof of Additional Health Benefits from Therapeutic Massage

In spite of getting used world wide for many years in numerous people’s lives, massage therapy continues to be seen as an optional treatment.  This implies that its gains  basically are not recognized by most physicians and medical professionals despite the fact that physical rehabilitation  requires massage . Massage therapy can be performed by any person but for the best results,  the therapeutic massage should  be done by a skilled therapist. None the less, although a large number of specialists are skeptical regarding  to the advantages to massage,  they tend to agree that both relaxation and the reducing of painful muscular areas can be accomplished through massage.   Most trust that therapeutic massage might be beneficial in other ways such as: enhancing the defense system, reducing anxiety along with raising the metabolism. read more … Continue reading

Advanced Reflex Therapy – Day 2

I attended part 2 of the “Advanced Reflex Therapy” Workshop today. Just when I thought yesterday was an intense day of working on the feet and hands and other reflex points, today was even more brutal! Today’s focus was the shoulder and upper vertebra region of the spine and organs which may be associated with contributing pain and discomfort to that region. By the time class was over, the parts of my hands that received the reflex therapy work felt like they had been beaten up by a martial artist who knew Qi Gong! Although I won’t be using the techniques I learned at this workshop on all my clients (as it was truly torturously painful), it has re-enlightened me to the fact that there is no one modality of massage that’s the panacea for everyone’s physical ailments. One has to also take into consideration not only the muscles, but all the other anatomical, physiological and energy components involved in the client being treated. Continue reading

Advanced Reflex Therapy – Quick Pain Relief

Today is my first of 2 days attending a workshop on “Advanced Reflex Therapy” at the Grand Hotel in Clearwater, Florida.  The instructor, Dr. Art Brown, is a light-hearted, upbeat gentleman and also the founder of this simple, quick and easy methodology for lessening pain on the body.  It’s similar to Reflexology where the therapist works specific points around the feet, hands, scalp and ears, which correlate to other parts of the body that are the problematic areas.  By working these points on a client, one’s pain can reduce in specific targeted areas, as the focus of this modality is the nervous system. I learned pain reduction techniques for the lower body,  which included the sciatic nerve, hips, mid to lower back,  knees and feet.  And I kid you not, this can be a painful experience, as it was for me as well as the other students who attended.  Also, bruising, swelling and soreness are not uncommon at the points that have been worked as it’s a sign that the […] Continue reading

Why would someone want a “barefoot” Ashiatsu Massage?

Barefoot deep tissue, also known as barefoot compressive deep tissue, or barefoot sports massage, is a blend of Eastern barefoot techniques, such as barefoot Shiatsu massage, coupled with Western techniques, encompassing deep tissue, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, transverse friction and compression. This modality typically uses the heel, sesamoid, arch and/or whole plantar surface of foot, and offers large compression, tension and shear forces with less pressure than elbow or thumb, and is ideal for large muscles, such as in thigh, or for long-duration upper trapezius compressions. Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, which is a form of barefoot effleurage, combines western science and contemporary American ingenuity, for clients who enjoy deep tissue work using Swedish techniques performed by the massage therapists feet. There are bars close to the ceiling, which the therapist uses for balance in order to execute the footwork. This is a great intro to any type of deep tissue session. Continue reading