Healing Through Deep Bodywork: Deep Tissue Techniques For Massage Practitioners - Level I

Deep bodywork, practiced with great sensitivity, is one of the most effective healing modalities available to the bodywork practitioner. Through slowly opening the body’s deeper soft tissue layers, we connect the mind to normally unconscious, “stuck” areas of the physical body, which can release enormous amounts of previously “held” energy. This energy in turn becomes available to support the body’s innate capacity to self organize and self heal, enabling practitioners to support clients in overcoming previously stubborn, seemingly intractable physical conditions.

This program will focus on exploring the modality of deep bodywork as a healing art, and is designed for massage and bodywork practitioners seeking to incorporate effective deep tissue techniques into their work. Whether in private practice, or working in a spa, the demand for practitioners who have mastered the art of moving deeply into the body with skill and sensitivity is growing.

Our areas of focus will include: Relieving chronic and acute pain in the back, and around the major joints of the shoulder and hip. We will spend a good deal of time learning to recognize how to feel “soft tissue lesions” with our hands wherever we find them, and learn why, at physiological and energetic levels, competent deep bodywork needs to be done slowly to be most effective.

The teachers will be available to answer questions of specific interest to students as they arise during our practice sessions. Previous experience in massage is recommended for this advanced level seminar.

Deep Tissue Techniques for Massage Practitioners II: Healing Knees and an Introduction to the Psoas and Deep Visceral Work™

Because demand for practitioners with Deep Bodywork skills is growing, Perry and Johanna Holloman have developed a series of seminars designed to teach massage practitioners this healing art. Each seminar has a specific focus in terms of the physical structures touched, and their related functions. An overall emphasis is placed on how to integrate this work into the format of a flowing massage.

This seminar will focus on the tasks of understanding the structure and function of the knee, the Psoas muscle, and the importance of deep, sensitive touch in supporting the overall functioning of the abdominal viscera. Subjects of specific focus will be the role of the thigh and hip muscles in supporting the knee; work on the Ilio-Tibial Band; learning to palpate and release the Psoas; and massaging the abdominal viscera slowly and deeply. The role of the psoas in chronic pain of the back and hip will also be discussed.

Prerequisite for this seminar is prior experience as a massage practitioner, or the equivalent of 150 hrs massage training. This program is designed as an advanced course of study for those wanting to integrate deep tissue skills into their work.

Deep Tissue Techniques for Massage Practitioners III: Healing the Shoulder and Carpal-Tunnel Syndrome

Deep bodywork, practiced with great sensitivity, is one of the most effective healing modalities available to the bodywork practitioner. Through slowly opening the body’s deeper soft tissue layers, we connect the mind to normally unconscious, “stuck” areas of the physical body, which can release enormous amounts of previously “held” energy. This energy in turn becomes available to support the body’s innate capacity to self organize and self heal, enabling practitioners to support clients in overcoming previously stubborn, seemingly intractable physical conditions.

Two areas of the body with which bodyworkers often find themselves confronted are the shoulder and the forearm/wrist. Because of the complexity of these structures, and the intense, chronic pain they often produce, massage practitioners are often reluctant to touch them for fear of doing more harm. In this seminar, we will learn effective deep tissue techniques designed to address both the acute and chronic types of pain often encountered in these areas of the body.

We will spend a good deal of time learning to recognize how to feel “soft tissue lesions” with our hands wherever we find them, and learn why, at physiological and energetic levels, Deep Bodywork needs to be done slowly to be most effective. We will also address the aggravation of symptoms which often surface within 48 hrs. of treatment, and how to guide our clients through such occurrences.

Perry and Johanna will be available to answer questions of specific interest to participants, and will provide in depth understanding of the anatomy and function of the shoulder, arm and hand.

Deep Tissue Skills for Massage Practitioners: Healing Injuries to the Neck, Opening the Chest and Freeing Breath IV

There is growing demand for massage practitioners who have mastered the art of moving deeply into the body with skill and sensitivity. The capacity of Deep Bodywork to alleviate acute and chronic pain has made it an indispensable tool in treating difficult conditions such as back pain, sciatica, and chronic cervical pain due to whiplash injuries or other traumatic events to the upper body. As we open the body’s deeper soft tissue layers, “stuck” energy in the form of shortened, hardened tissue is mobilized, making this energy available to support us in the process of healing.

This seminar will focus on healing the neck from chronic and acute pain due to injury and postural issues, as well as freeing the chest and ribs with the intent of opening the vital function of breath. The capacity to fully expand our chests in taking a full, free breath is perhaps the body’s most important tool in unwinding the ongoing stress we accumulate in life. Restriction in this vital capacity can lead to collapsing of the chest, a forward leaning posture of the neck and head, and chronic pain in many areas of the upper body as a secondary result. Our capacity to deal with emotional stress can be severely limited if breath is restricted in it’s vital, healing function.. We will understand through our discussion of relevant anatomy how an open chest balances the shoulder girdle, providing an organized base for the neck and head. We will look at the structural complexity of the neck in understanding why injury to this vital area can be so difficult to heal.

Prerequisite for this program is experience as a professional bodyworker, or completion of at least 150 hrs. of training in basic massage.

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