by SharonHartnett | May 15, 2013 | Energy Healing, Massage, Structural Integration
FAQ Time about Massage at Lighten Up Therapies
1. How does the session begin?
The first thing that happens is that I will ask you to fill out a health history form. This allows me to get to know you and assess your health. I ask you to answer the questions carefully and honestly, especially regarding current health issues or medications. This is a good time to also explain how you are feeling and any painful or uncomfortable feelings you may be experiencing. Don’t hesitate to ask about anything you may feel unsure of or any concerns about your treatment. Letting me know up front what your concerns are will allow me to spend more time in problem areas. Depending on your treatment of Craniosacral Therapy, Energy Healing, Structural Integration or other modalities, you will then be given some space to undress according to your comfort level. I will leave the room and knock to make sure it is fine to come in before entering. It is important that you are able to relax to receive the benefits of this work, so please feel at ease to ask for whatever makes you comfortable.
Professional Massage FAQ
2. What does the client do during the session?
Some clients like to relax and zone out. That is absolutely welcomed at Lighten Up Therapies. Sometimes that is just what the doctor ordered. For the most part though, most clients who come to Lighten Up Therapies are more interested in therapeutic improvement. They are often uncomfortable, in pain, stressed or facing some time of dysfunctional pattern. My object is to listen to you on many levels and follow the wisdom of what is being presented during the session. If you have the need to move positions, quiet down, or speak… please feel free to do so. Our time together is a constant dialogue whether done in quiet or in expression.
Each client is approached in a unique way. There are clients who ask for very deep work, but their bodies say something else. Other clients tend to only want gentle massage touch but can never get deep into the core issues. My hope is that we can dialogue openly to come to a positive melding where the work gives you the optimal benefits during your session. Your boundaries and expectations may change. At the same time respect and integrity are always in the forefront of the massage and bodywork.
3. What is not included during the massage?
It would seem very clear to most, but not to everyone. At Lighten Up Therapies, we offer therapeutic massage, bodywork, energy work to provide health and wellness. Any implications of a sexual conduct is not invited or permitted. Clients do sometimes have intimacy or sexual issues that may be discussed in regards to trauma or in need of healing. However, we have a strict legal boundary against any sexual activity.
4. How does the massage, bodywork and energy healing feel?
For the Craniosacral Therapy Sessions, clients feel a very light touch but often touch into profound deeper change initiated by the balancing of the nervous system. Depending on the person, some people might feel this during the first session, but most often the case is the more work clients receive, the more the body becomes more awake and sensitive to the benefits. As the person relaxes and the body opens, often the work can go into deeper layers. I always ask my clients to let me know what is comfortable for them. With the Structural Integration, as the superficials layers let go, it is helpful to go deeper. Often people are surprise that they feel pain in areas that they never though about. In this case, I ask clients to use the words, “lighten up, slow down or stop.” This is only for clients who prefer to go into the deeper core fascial work. Energy Healing Sessions may be done long distance, off the body, sitting or on the table. Energy is always apart of the session because it is was keeps us alive. We need to be processing energy to live. However I am working, clients usually feel many energy shifts.
5. Is Massage always Recommended?
Sometimes people have medical conditions that are contra-indicated. So please let us know when you call if you have any medical issues. If you do, please talk to your physician first.
6. What if I am uncomfortable with my Body
I have been doing healing and Massage Therapy for over 15 years. I have seen so many conditions that it does not phase me. I have volunteered in Hospice and worked with people right after surgery. Client with weight concerns have often visited feeling very much at ease after the massage. Body image is really about our thinking process and the intention at Lighten Up Therapies is to free the mind of whatever is causing pain by providing a safe and nurturing massage environment.
7. How do clients feel when they finish?
Everyone has a different experience because they are individuals. However, most people who work with me feel more energized, longer and freer structurally, decreased pain symptoms, relaxed and more balanced. The work at Lighten Up Therapies is meant to restore you back to your natural comfort.
Payment is received at the end of the session.
If you have any more questions about Massage, please feel free to write Sharon at SMSHartnett@gmail.com
Warmly,
Sharon Hartnett LMT
740 966-5153
www.massageincolumbusohio.com
by SharonHartnett | May 13, 2013 | Massage, Structural Integration, thought for the day
How Can You Massage Your Feet?
One of the concerns expressed by some clients who get massage, structural integration and craniosacral therapy is that after a few days, their bodies start to go back into the old habit of movement.
My observation, especially after working with the fascia for so long, is that people continue to change after the session. Once the fasica has been touched or manipulated in any way, it changes the rest of the continuous web of connective tissue that envelopes the body. After a 10 series of SI, the body has been taken into new places from different angles and various degrees of depth to bring the body back into structural integrity. The body is then in a work of process for many months while the body learns to integrate in a new way.
However, during sessions, while the work in my personal opinion, can be life altering, not everything can be “fixed”. Often clients do come in wanting to feel great after a session or two with strong expectations. While Massage and Bodywork can do wonders, it does take time create the habits that result in your personal posture. So, it is helpful to think that it takes time and also personal responsibility to shift imbalances into correction. The body will shift and remold if you receive good work and re-educate the physical with new movement.
What I would like to recommend today is to take a look at your feet. If you are walking around on the earth with stiff feet, how are you going to create positive change in the rest of your body. We are so accustomed to wearing shoes for running, walking, playing that we have forgotten how to feel the natural movement of the naked foot on the ground. In order to find balance in your body, explore your foot and how it rests on the ground. Listen to the stiff areas and become mindful of how you relate as a whole to your feet.
Once you have a good idea of how your feet feel and move, look for ways to improve mobility, range of motion and flexibility. An easy thing to do is to stand on one foot and build strength in the line of your leg. Personally, I like to practice foot relationship on a body roller that is cut in half. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to play on, and only a few minutes each day can make a profound change in how you walk.
Free your feet!
Each morning, start your day by placing your foot on this roller and explore with different positions to release foot tension. Notice how the alignment in your whole body starts to shift as your heels come down or your arch begins to relax. You might feel so much better than you feel like your feet have been massaged for an hour:) There are also good sport classes such as gyrotonics and tai chi that will help you reconnect to the feet better as well!
When you visit your favorite Massage Therapist or bodyworker, she will have a much easier time getting into the foot and the more relaxed tissues of the leg.
Massage is a great way to awaken and open the body, but taking personal responsibility on a daily basis for physical change exponentially impacts the body in a healthy way. This foot exercise is an easy way to begin self-care for your posture.
If you have any further questions, call Sharon Hartnett LMT for a free 15 minute phone consult.
Warmly,
Sharon Hartnett LMT
740 966-5153
For a ball roller, look at:
by SharonHartnett | Mar 29, 2013 | Massage, Structural Integration
Looking to find a Massage Therapist for Structural Integration (SI) in Columbus, Ohio?
You have come to the right place. Sharon Hartnett LMT has over 17+ years doing Structural Integration Therapy. In the late 1990’s she found a local Rolfer in Mclean, Virginia who introduced her to the 10 series. She fell in love with the positive postural changes and increased movement in her body that she decided to study Structural Integration herself. She has been providing SI sessions with clients ever since.
Relieve Chronic Pain and Find Better Posture
Learn how Structural Integration Developed
Dr. Ida P. Rolf, a pioneering biochemist began to develop Rolfing in the 1930s after suffering from spinal arthritis. The direction of her work was focused on the role of fascia and unwinding tension patterns around muscles and joints in order to release pain and discomfort. While working in the 1960’s teaching her fascial work at the Esalen Institute in California, the term “Rolfing” was coined. Her original thinking and experience of manipulating the connective tissue brought students from around the world. She taught these practitioners how to support the body to function efficiently so that the force of gravity could flow through and support both the form and functioning. Soon later, the Rolf Institute was found. And as with most great work, different schools have branched out, extending the original work with same intention and yet with individualize perspectives.
Why Structural Integration Therapy?
Structural Integration is a system of bodywork that will encourage the body back into alignment and structural integrity. Clients walk away feeling more freedom in their movement, a sense of lightness, greater flexibility, relief from chronic pain and more energized. The Structural Integration model views the person as a whole that is self-regulation and self-organizing. Between sessions, clients are given exercises to help them continue their work out into the world. the body knows where it needs to go in order to find maximum motion. It just needs to be re-edcuated how to do that so it can relate more optimally in fluidity. After 10 sessions, clients take time to allow the work to continue and integrate with better posture.
Is Structural Integration Uncomfortable?
When you go to visit any type of bodyworker and therapist, it is a good idea to communicate your needs right from the start. The therapist has tools and experience working with clients, but ultimately the client benefits the most by expressing what his/her level of tolerance to pressure. Each person is unique in how they like to be touched. What Sharon does is ask, “If you can feel the sensations and feelings that arise during the session without having to tighten or react, than allow yourself to do that. However, if anything hurts or feels like it is too deep, please say “stop” or “lighten up”. The client’s wishes are always respected. With this said, often the fascia has historically tightened up in areas of the body around dysfunctional patterns. There are time when that tissue is lengthened it will be uncomfortable. Most clients though are so happy with the results and reconnection to their body’s that they return over and over with relief and commitment to themselves.
Is Structural Integration for Me?
Sharon offers free 15 minute telephone consults to answer your questions: 703 509-1792
Serving the Eastern side of Columbus, Ohio
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com
by SharonHartnett | Mar 27, 2013 | Massage, Structural Integration
What is so great about Structural Integration (SI)?
You touch into one aspect of the fascia and you are relating to the whole body~ Sharon Hartnett
Structural Integration work is focused on working with the fascia. When a therapist touches into the fascia, she is not only working locally, but on the whole continuous membranous three dimension envelope that covers and transverses through the human body from head to toe.
Ida Rolf’s Structural Integration is a holistic approach to massage and bodywork. All the blood vessels and nerves move through this connective tissue that is composed of mostly collagen and elastin. What this means is that both the circulatory and nervous system are greatly affected by fascial work not only because of the tissues at hands, but also because with just the most gentlest of touch, the whole web is affected on many levels. When there is an injury, compensation, twist or rotation, the body’s fascial system will migrate in the direction of ease and show the therapist what needs to happen to release unhealthy tensions. By following the motion of the whole web under our fingers, the whole body can decompress, unravel, soften, rehydrate and discharge stagnant fluids. At other times, while still listening to the body’s pull, the therapist can move through restrictions until the tissues surrender and allow deeper access. Eventually, with patience and a healthy respect for touch and trusting the body’s intelligence, both the therapist and the client can gain access to the core.
For the client, Structural Integration brings about long-term changes, especially when the client learns to listen to her own body and make new changes. SI helps to reduce chronic pain, increases sports performances, and supports better functioning through changing the the body’s form. The Whole picture approach to Structural Integration is what optimizes the body’s resilience and ability to restore itself and to become reinvigorated.
- The Continuous Fascial Web…
Reach with new length and ease~
Structural Integration has been around the Columbus, area for a few years. Now, Sharon Hartnett LMT is bringing her style of the work locally. If you are interested, please call 703 509-1792 for a free 15 minute consultation.
Both offices:
6797 N. High St. #333
Worthington, Ohio
and
5564 Mink St.
Johnstown, Ohio
by SharonHartnett | Mar 26, 2013 | Massage, Structural Integration
Ask for Hot Stone Massage…
One of my loves in massage is aligning the body to relate easier in relationship to gravity. I am a big fan of Ida Rolf’s work because she has placed a light on the horizon for massage therapists to help their client’s find better posture. The quote below sums her insight of structure very clearly:
“Some individuals may perceive their losing fight with gravity as a sharp pain in their back, others as the unflattering contour of their body, others as constant fatigue, yet others as an unrelentingly threatening environment. Those over forty may call it old age. And yet all these signals may be pointing to a single problem so prominent in their own structure, as well as others, that it has been ignored: they are off balance, they are at war with gravity.”
–Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D.
- hot stone massage after a structural integration session feels good…
Structural Integration is such a beautiful modality of massage therapy. It offers opportunities than can’t be found in a basic Swedish massage. It works with lengthening the fascia and restoring structural integrity for more longterm results.
At the same time, while I love the Structural Integration work, it does entail some deep feeling of letting go and touching into resistance. So I like to offer an addition 15 minute massage with hot stones at the end of a massage session to give the body time to integrate and receive what has happened during the session. If you are a person who enjoys hot stone massage, you may request the additional time for $20.00 extra.
