Core Philosophical Approach to Massage.

Consider that if the muscles are more flexible, then there are more viable cells that can fully function as “muscle cells”. If 30% of your army remains in their tents during a battle, your army is not as strong as if all soldiers were available on the front line.My work directly affects the skeletal muscle, and indirectly affects the smooth and cardiac muscles.

If we spend our days at the wheel of a car, on the telephone or over a keyboard, there are sets of muscles that have been programmed to allow us to sustain our work. 

• Our neck muscles are fatigued holding up our heads,
• Our eye and facial muscles have been strained by maintaining our intent gazes, 
• Our arm and shoulder muscles have been exhausted  from working for hours without reprieve; and 
• Relaxation has been forgotten by the muscles of our hearts and arteries which have kept going as though we have been running out of a burning building for 3 years.

At the Muscular level, Integrative Therapy works with consideration that:

1. Chronically contracted muscle is not as strong as muscle which is able to relax.
2. Tightened muscle requires more oxygen and energy than muscle at rest.
3. Chronically contracted muscle does not allow for the optimal degree of positioning and movement.
4. Chronically contracted muscle 
5. Tightened muscle keeps blood pressure elevated.

Integrative Therapy is all about overriding these compromised movement patterns of muscle use and replacing them with natural ones that are better able to sustain us.

This component of my Integrative Therapy involves the frame of our bodies. The skeletal system is all inclusive of our bones, joints and associated ligaments. 

The way our bones line up with one another naturally shows the natural curvatures of our backs, the alignment of our head and neck sitting atop our shoulders, and directly influences the way our feet fall on the ground as we stand or walk.
A very learned individual first brought the importance of the skeleton in overall body health to me, Dr. Gabriel Grigore. 

She was the founder and active director of the massage school I attended. “Dr. G.” as we called her, was a medical doctor – a neurosurgeon, who also had gone on to become a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and Doctor of Shiatsu. 

Dr. G. taught that we could improve the health of the skeleton – by “using traction and manipulation”. She asserted that we could dramatically improve overall health by improving the health of the skeleton. 

Work with the Skeleton in Integrative Therapy strives to eliminate restrictions and increase the range of motion of joints. As we do this, our bones come to redirect their lines of stress and improve their ability to sustain new and healthier movement.

“Myofascial Release frees movement restrictions caused by trauma or habitual, unnatural movement.”
Generally the soft tissue I deal with is fascia. Fascia is a thin, outer membrane common to all tissues of the body. It is very strong however, and is the main factor that influences our posture. Fascia is composed of collagen, elastin, and ground substance. Collagen appears in fascia as thin strands of protein that give strength to the tissue. Their strength is actually more resistant to breaking than steel! Elastin lets the fascia change shape and flex around different muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels. The ground substance is the binding agent within the sheets fascia – it is the “glue”. Techniques of Myofascial Release free movement restrictions caused by trauma or habitual, unnatural movement. My treatments increase the length of the membranous fascial sheets between bones and muscles. My treatments free movement for both the internal organs, and the articulation of the arms and legs, the shoulders and hips, and the feet and hands for example. Mobile Massage is all about overriding compromised body functioning, and replacing it them with natural ones able to sustain you better. The conditions of carpal tunnel syndrome, frozen shoulder, TMJ disorder, bursitis and sciatica are all conditions involving fascial restriction that I have successfully treated.

“Mobile Massage promotes the ease of body function, and hedges against the dis-ease”

Boosts Cardiovascular Efficiency
The body reacts to my Mobile Massage by improving the overall efficiency of the cardiovascular system. As muscles are relaxed and joints are opened during the treatment, blood flow is increased. Also, due to the increase in viable muscle from this work, the blood begins to carry more oxygen, which is then available to all body systems.
Alleviates Pain
80% of pain we feel comes from muscle pain. There are 642 muscles in the body, and through direct palpation, Myofascial stretches, CranioSacral therapy, and shiatsu manipulations I am able to improve the conditions of every one. You might say therefore that I have at least a 80% chance of relieving your pain.
Calms Nervous System
Our nervous system controls the operation of all cells in the body. Our brain tells our hearts to keep pumping blood like we are sitting in traffic in our car. Our shoulders keep telling our arms to “Get Ready for the next project.” And our heads keep telling our necks that, “The boss is going to wring my neck when (s)he finds out what I’ve done!” I fool the body into releasing the “holding patterns” described above. I use “Over stimulation” in the form of Reflexology (Acupressure), I use “Confusion” in the form of rocking or shaking, and I use distraction and re-association in the forms of deep tissue and shiatsu. The excited nerves forget what they were telling the muscles to do, and the nerves have no further stimulation from the loosened muscles