Placerville deep tissue massage

Placerville Deep Tissue Massage

Placerville Deep tissue massage and acupressure clinic specializes in treating pain, stiffness and tight muscles using a combination of Trigger point massage, Acupressure, Tui Na, Shiatsu and Chi Nei Tsang.

Acupressure uses the concentrated power of Qi to open up the energy that gets bound up in the muscles, myofascial trigger points and thus helps in breaking up tight and sore muscles. The gentle force of Shiatsu and acupressure allows qi and blood to flow into the blocked tissues while nourishing and healing myofascial adhesions, or trigger points.

Japanese Massage or Shiatsu is based on the same theories as acupuncture, using the same Qi meridians and understanding of the 'Five elements' but instead of using a needle, manual pressure and visualization techniques are used to help transform blockages and supplement energetic weakness of certain muscles or acupuncture points.

Shiatsu and Tuina is very good and useful in preparing muscles and meridians for receiving acupuncture, reducing any discomfort which might be due to tension and muscle spasm. Once these tissues are relaxed and loosened with Shiatsu or Tuina massage techniques, the needle meets with less resistance and is able to stimulate the energetic core of the acupuncture point with less pain or reactivity, thus enhancing the needle's effectiveness in resolving pain, tension, and other internal diseases or psycho-emotional disorders.

Qi Gong Massage

Energy can be transmitted through the practitioner's hands and fingertips to help release emotional and energetic blockages that can create stress, disease and pain throughout our body. Qi energy can circulate from the practitioner through the patient with or without physical contact or massage techniques. This requires a certain focus of the practitioner to be able to receive subtle energetic information through his or her palms and fingertips in order to truly connect with the patient's energetic body which is more subtle in nature than their physical body.

When a strong energetic connection is made from the Qigong Massage practitioner to the patient, older and more chronic conditions can be addressed at their fundamental core or imbalance. These older and more chronic pain or emotional traumas are usually found deeper inside the body and are more energetic in nature and are easily overlooked if just the apparent muscle groups or meridians are treated superficially.

Many times old emotions get trapped and contained in the very tissues which are causing you pain. When you suffer from a physical trauma and experience pain, negative emotions such as fear, shock, anger, and shame may get bound in the tissues and continue to cause stress patterns and a nervous reactivity which will continue to tense certain muscle groups and block the free flow of Qi, blood, lymph, and begin to pinch nerves or cause inflammation. Resolving the underlying energy imbalance with Qi gong massage techniques can help allow these old traumas to be released and allow the mind and mody to relax and heal.

This is possible because the lighter and subtler Qi (which can be translated to biophotons,ATP, or life energy) can penetrate deeper into the muscles, ligaments, bones and Qi meridians than the pure force or manual pressure of other types of massage. Using visualization and focus causes this subtle energy to unlock deep myofascial knots and psycho-emotional holding patterns within the patient, accelerating the healing process and helping to relax the nervous system out of the 'fight or flight' mode which is induced after physical or emotional trauma.

Massage may only provides temporary relief from our aches and pains or muscle tightness if the deeper psychic trauma that remains stuck in our subconscious mind is not also released as well.

You can think of the body and mind to be like an onion. There are many layers to one's physical, mental and emotional construct. When we first start to work at relieving pain and discomfort, we have to begin with the outermost layers of your onion. Once we relax the surface, we are then able to delve more deeply, pulling back layer after layer of emotional and physical stress responses which have constructed your individual 'myofascial holding pattern'

Placerville Asian Massage

Tui na and Shiatsu are ancient Asian massage techniques and are one of the Five Pillars of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The other four being: Acupuncture, Chinese Herbs , Qi Gong, and nutrition.

Tuina translates to "grasp and pull" meaning that many of the hundreds of Tuina techniques are based on using the dual forces of Yin and Yang to help relax and heal muscles, meridians, and internal organs. This could mean a rocking motion of back and forth, scrubbing techniques which scrub the surface of a muscle to and fro, wiggling your thumb back and forth to allow qi or energy to flow deeply into a point.

Tuina contains hundreds of types of massage techniques, each designed to effect the channels and muscles in a unique and specific way. The most primary of these is the 'One finger' massage technique.

This is where the Tuina practitioner places the the tip of his or her thumb on a stagnant and knotted point, and then moves their hand side to side, causing the thumb to wiggle on the on point. This massage technique is very useful at breaking up severe knots in the back and myofascial adhesions. when done properly it should not be too painful for the patient, because not too much downward pressure should be applied. The theory Chinese massage is to allow the practitioner's Qi to unblock the channels, rather than manual force.

When Tuina is combined with Shiatsu and Acupuncture, a more holistic and complete release of pain, stress, and other medical imbalances is possible.

Other massage techniques that I use in my practice include: