Article Archive

Hands of Hope

Massage for Infertility

Massage may help Debbie Harris do more than just relax. It could help her become pregnant. “My husband and I have been trying to conceive for about seven years now,” she explains. Harris has tried fertility shots, three cycles of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and six artificial inseminations. Now she’s trying massage. “It gets pretty hard on your body, so that’s why I wanted to try something more natural.”

The Breath Within the Stone

Understanding the Healing Power of Rock

Some of the most progressive healers in the world have begun using stones in their massage work — not to replace healing hands, but as an adjunct to traditional massage, facials and healing treatments of all kinds. Stone massage is an ancient, enduring form of therapeutic bodywork using heated and cooled stones as extensions of the hand. It is a harmonious collaboration of healing energies between the client, the therapist and the stones.

The Tui Na Touch

The Intensity of Chinese Medicine at Your Fingertips

I am lying face down on a massage table. My ears are tightly covered, so that I’m deep inside a loud silence of rushing blood and muffled room tones. Explosions of pressure twang against the back of my skull and reverberate through my brain and being, over and over. I feel at first shaken apart, and then, oddly enough, powerfully relaxed — safe.

Touching the Core

The Heart and Intelligence of Mayan Abdominal Massage

In 1983, Chicago native Rosita Arvigo, a doctor of naprapathy (D.N.) began an intensive 12-year apprenticeship with one of the last living Maya shamans in Central America. Don Elijio Panti was already 90 years old when Arvigo began to study with him in his tiny, remote village of San Antonio in western Belize, not far from the Guatemalan border. She learned about native healing plants, the Maya prayers, herbal bathing for physical and spiritual healing and the ancient technique of Maya abdominal massage, known simply as la sobada — the massage.

Walking the New Body

Healing Through Natural Movement

Most of us wouldn’t imagine needing a lesson in walking, because once we surpass the crawling and walking stages in childhood, many of our movement habits are fixed. But, according to Judith Aston, founder of Aston-Patterning(R) and creator of Aston-Mechanics(R), if we can learn about good body usage, walking holds great potential for our well-being.

Breathing for Life

Are We Suffocating Ourselves?

I didn’t breathe during most of my 20s — or at least I didn’t breathe fully.

I had no idea my chronically tight shoulders, constricted intestines, insomnia and unyielding jaw tension were so closely related to my limited breath. To regain my health, I had to relearn how to breathe. And, though I still have to remind myself to do this from time to time, I understand how healthy breathing supports the body’s ability to heal itself.

Cultivating Wellness

How Does Your Garden Grow?

When I go into my garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health, that I discover I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1849

It’s difficult to find a gardener who doesn’t agree with Emerson. The reward, avid gardeners say, of cultivating the earth is nothing short of sublime. So what exactly is going on in the backyard plot that has captivated more than 85 million Americans? Well, in a word, healing.

Mind, Body and Spirit

The Spiritual Consciousness of Massage and Bodywork

In massage and bodywork, there is an elephant on your tables and chairs, in your spa rooms, and, in fact, everywhere you take the profession. Not the trunk and peanuts kind. No, this animal is metaphorical in nature, yet an animal, nonetheless. Strangely paradoxical, this elephant is the backbone of many modalities and to many of our lives, yet is often avoided in the name of privacy, sacredness, and because we just don’t know how to talk about it. The subject of which I speak is none other than spirituality.

Finding Balance

Tools for Reclaiming Your Life

Too much on your plate? Millions of Americans know how you feel.

Stress has become a “given” in our modern world, and a primary cause of physical and mental illness for millions of us. Small amounts of stress can be a good thing, keeping us alert and on-task. But unrelenting stress, whether from overbooked schedules, financial strain, too little sleep or too much bad news, can lead to a breakdown of body, mind and spirit. When an overextended life puts you on a collision course with disaster, there are simple steps you can take to recover a sense of balance.

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