I have worked very hard to establish my massage practice and my professional standing. I have built my reputation as a safe, trustworthy, and caring individual. I create a safe and nurturing environment where clients can relax, heal, and rejuvenate themselves. The most common response I hear again and again from clients at the end of their session is, "That was the best massage I've ever had!"
I have performed the Esalen style almost exclusively since the summer of 2002, when I first began integrating the Esalen approach and philosophy in earnest. The people at Esalen, the land, the water; this is the most sacred place I know. It was at Esalen that I reconnected with my Spirit and reinvented my massage practice.
I am an artist and my massage is a dance. I integrate detailed structural work with long, flowing strokes that relax and reconnect the whole-body; top to bottom, front to back, and side to side. My massage is meditative and connected to Spirit. I am trained in Myopractics whose roots are early Osteopathy. I use techniques that come from the pioneering efforts of Milton Trager. I employ the stretching of Traditional Thai Massage. I connect with energy in the spirit of Reiki and the CrainoSacral work of John Upledger. I am strong and I can work deeply. I am sensitive and I can work subtlety. Most importantly, I strive to create a unique treatment that is individualized to each client's needs.
I am currently licensed in the State of Arizona, the State of Hawaii, and Nationally Certified by NCBTMB.
Although I am not officially "Esalen Certified," I have completed 168 hours of Esalen Massage training through the following Esalen massage workshops:
Five Day Massage Intensive
with Brita Ostrom and Vicki Topp
June 28 to July 7, 1998
Five Day Massage Intensive
with Vicki Topp and Tom Case
June 23 to 28, 2002
Intermediate/Advanced Massage Intensive
with Kathleen O'Shaughnessy and Perry Holloman
May 18 to 23, 2003
Advanced Esalen Massage - A Body Meditation
with Peggy Horan, C. Jay Bradbury and Sylvia Guersenzvaig
November 9 to 11, 2003
Advanced Massage Intensive: Current Directions in Esalen Massage
and Bodywork
with Dean Marson, Vicki Topp, and Daniela Urbassek
May 8 to 20, 2005
We are presently enjoying a renaissance in the art of touch in this country. Esalen massage practitioners have contributed considerably to the reinstatement of this delicate means of interfacing between human beings, in a flowing style that is a marriage between classical Swedish massage, with its precise manner of working with muscles and circulatory system, and the deeply personal sensing work brought from Germany by Charlotte Selver. We offer our clients what we have individually and collectively discovered and refined in our concentrated hands-on work in a variety of approaches over the past 30 years. Styles which may appear simple to the on looker have many levels of conceptual understanding interwoven with tactile sensitivity, elegant awareness and heartfelt communication. At times we find ourselves spontaneously touching levels of the emotional body and even spirit.
Our work began to ripen in the early 1960's. It was remarkably enhanced by the dynamic environmental elements unique to this small coastal experimental community. Gradually, individual styles began to expand and cross-pollinate, then become concise concepts, which still further expanded, until a larger picture of the physical/emotional/spiritual human began to emerge and be sung to through touch.
Massage is "structured touching" or touching with purpose. This purpose may be directed towards relieving muscle pain and stress, increasing body awareness, or bringing equilibrium to a life in crisis. Tangible outcomes can be experienced in the active stimulation of skin, lymph and blood, relaxation of the muscles and nervous system, elimination of metabolic waste, stretching of connective tissues and release of a tranquilizing effect into the entire organism through the parasympathetic nervous system. It is a healthy way of handling stress.
The recipient is gently urged to become an active participant through heightened awareness and surrendering to a deep sensing place. Long, lengthening strokes with gentle rocking and stretching, passive joint movement, sculpting of deep musculature, delicate cranial balancing, subtle neural reeducation and the precision of Chinese point work are all part of the somatic offering. Personal attention takes precedence over technique; thus each massage session is unique in itself.
Bodywork happens any time you focus attention on the life of your body, whether while playing sports, working in your garden, or simply feeling your feet on the floor. Thus the meditation of receiving touch from another is part of a large picture of richness which can put you very firmly in touch with your more personal self, since sensation is our primary connection to reality.
We invite you to be with us.
- Esalen Practitioners
Learn more about Esalen Massage in The Spirit of Esalen by Brita Ostrom.
And At Peace Media also has some excellent interviews and articles on Esalen Massage.
Purchase the Esalen Massage video or DVD:
