Natural Resources Day Spa Tranquility Journal

Spring 2013

How to Introduce a Friend to Sharing the Benefits of Bodywork

When we experience something good, makes them want to pay for another one. it's natural to want to tell everyone about it. Massage is no exception. Here are Outline the Benefits Everything you some ways to share your enthusiasm for Most people are aware that massage is massage therapy. effective at relieving stress and promoting relaxation, but there are do can be done Gifting Massage myriad benefits you can highlight Gift certificates are a great way to share depending on your audience. For those with the people in your life. who suffer from low-back pain, a study better from a Looking for the perfect birthday by the Group Health Research Institute present? Purchase an hour gift in Seattle has shown that massage is certificate for them with your favorite more effective than medication at massage therapist. Thanking someone reducing pain. Some massage therapists place of for pet sitting? Reward them with a provide specialized sport massage, half-hour treatment. If it's something that might appeal to your your spouse or significant other that golfing buddy who needs to loosen up relaxation. you're hoping to get interested in this his swing and increase his range of healing therapy, perhaps a couple's motion. -Stephen C. Paul

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Describing the benefits you get from massage therapy could convince others to try it. In this Issue massage, where two people receive In addition to helping people reduce How to Introduce a Friend to Massage massage in the same room, could be an pain or cope with physical injuries, the What is Hot Stone Massage? anniversary gift. supportive touch of a massage therapist Massage for Old Injuries can be a powerful positive encounter Giving someone a gift certificate allows during times of emotional distress. If the recipient to experience massage someone in your life is dealing with without financially committing to grief or loss, you might recommend something that they might not be sure massage as a way for them to relax and be about. After the initial visit, it is up to them to evaluate whether the experience Continued on page 2 Continued from page 1 For those who need more specific be more influential. Whether it's tended to without having to actively information about massage, you can increased range of motion, a sunnier share their feelings, a welcome relief for direct them to Massagetherapy.com, a disposition, or an improvement in many people. public education site provided by posture, what you've gotten out of Associated Bodywork and Massage massage will be the best advertisement Here are just some of the positives that Professionals (ABMP). On the site they you can show them. massage and bodywork can provide. You will find an introduction to massage and can tailor your "pitch" to your audience its benefits, information on what to If, after all of your encouragement, they by focusing on those specific to their expect from a session, and a glossary of are still reluctant, you need to respect situation: terms and techniques to help them their feelings. Not everyone is ready for understand massage lingo. There is also the hands-on experience of massage --Alleviate low-back pain and improve an archive of articles from Massage therapy, and some may even have some range of motion. & Bodywork magazine to help the serious personal issues about touch. If --Enhance immunity by stimulating potential client answer any questions you allow them to come to massage and lymph flow--the body's natural defense they might have before taking the bodywork on their own terms, they are system. plunge. more likely to be open to the safe, --Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or comforting, professional touch that the atrophied muscles. Be a Billboard massage therapist provides. --Help athletes of any level prepare for, Friends and family are more likely to and recover from, strenuous workouts. follow your lead if you show them that --Improve the condition of the body's you enjoy, and benefit from, receiving largest organ--the skin. massage. If you have a regular routine --Increase joint flexibility. and are feeling good, when you --Lessen depression and anxiety. recommend bodywork to others it will --Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks. --Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation. --Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling. --Reduce spasms and cramping. --Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles. --Release endorphins--amino acids that work as the body's natural painkiller. --Relieve migraine pain. Take Baby Steps If the person you are trying to introduce is intrigued by massage but reluctant to dive in headfirst, there are several ways to encourage them to stick a toe in the water. Many massage therapists offer chair massage in smaller time increments than a typical one-hour appointment. This is an ideal way for a person to experience the benefits of touch without having to worry about undressing or being overwhelmed by a full session. Consider inviting your "recruit" to meet your massage therapist before your next session. Most therapists would be happy to give a potential client a brief tour and talk with them about the process of receiving a massage. For many people, being able to put a face to the person who is going to be touching them will calm some of their fears of the unknown.

Taking a friend to meet your massage therapist can help them get comfortable. What is Hot Stone Massage?

Jed Heneberry

Stone massage is a luxurious experience especially beneficial for certain oPromotes local circulation in the area in which the massage therapist uses populations and something to avoid for where it is applied. warmed, smooth stones to provide others. Specific chronic muscular oWarms soft-tissue structures so they bodywork, warming muscle tissue to conditions like frozen shoulder or are ready for firm work more quickly. reduce muscle tension and stiffness, and low-back pain benefit as the heat helps eliciting physical healing, mental tissues relax during massage work. And, relaxation, and a spiritual connection to while stone massage is lauded for the earth energy relaxation it promotes, therapists can use it for targeted trigger-point work Photos frequently incorrectly portray and as well. the treatment with massage clients relaxing on a towel with stones placed Those who should avoid hot stone artfully along their naked spines. massage include people with diabetes, neuropathy, rheumatoid arthritis, skin In reality, two insulating layers, a sheet conditions covering large areas of the and a thick bath towel, will be placed on body, or local skin conditions such as your skin, and the stones will be placed sunburn, broken skin, localized upon it. Your massage therapist will be swelling, or other soft-tissue injuries. using stones heated to 130-140 degrees Fahrenheit. Stones should never rest Following are some of the benefits directly on your skin; they will only associated with stone therapies: touch your skin if the therapist is oReduces anxiety, pain, and stress. holding them to apply strokes. oPromotes mental and physical relaxation. oCreates a feeling of groundedness Should I Get One? and balance. Heated stones can provide a wealth of benefits The heat of stone massage can be oEnhances connection to earth energy. Massage for Old Injuries Ancient Injuries Don't Have to Make You Feel Old Art Riggs

Injuries such as chronic back pain, trick movement and cause pain far away from If that nagging injury persists, consider knees, and sticky shoulders are not the original injury. booking a massage. Be sure to discuss necessarily something you just have to the injury with your practitioner: How live with. Massage techniques might hold Therapists who perform such work often did you receive the injury? Have you the key to unlocking this old pain. have specialized names for their reinjured it? And what exactly are your work--such as orthopedic massage, symptoms? Often, the body Will Massage Help? , myofascial compensates in one area to protect The benefits of massage will depend on release, , etc.,--but another that has been traumatized, and the extent of the injury, how long ago it many massage therapists utilize an this can create new problems. occurred, and on the skill of the eclectic approach combining the best of therapist. Chronic and old injuries the specialties. Discuss the issues with your massage often require deeper and more precise therapist. (Sometimes just talking about treatments with less emphasis on general It Works! old injuries can play a significant role in relaxation and working on the whole A recent Consumer Reports article ran the healing process.) Together, the two body. Massage works best for soft tissue the results of a survey of thousands of its of you can work to determine a injuries to muscles and tendons and is readers and reported that massage was treatment plan. most effective in releasing adhesions and equal to chiropractic care in many areas, lengthening muscles that have shortened including back and neck pain. Massage due to compensatory reactions to the also ranked significantly higher than injury. Tight and fibrous muscles not some other forms of treatment, such as only hurt at the muscle or its tendon, physical therapy or drugs. but can also interfere with proper joint We hope you enjoyed reading our first newsletter. It is stuffed with great information that we hope you will find helpful. Please make sure to pass the newsletter along once you're done reading it.

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Sincerely, Natural Resources Day Spa Respite for Mind, Body And Spirit

Natural Resources Day Spa

3315 State Route 257 Seneca, PA 16346