In any aspect of life, such as the art of massage, what will make us really effective is to act from the combination. Utilize valuable prior knowledge and theoretical information learned while maintaining attention and observation in service of what is most important: the experience of what is happening.
Not many people naturally move better from intuition; for the most part, we are more comfortable in the forms of the structured, the analyzed and the rationalized. They are part of the fundamentals inherited from the era of scientific development that we have learned to live with, but there is one value that does not seem to have fit into the current system of the mechanical and practical: the observation of one’s own experience.
In CALIFORNIAN MASSAGE we learn again how to unite these two hemispheres.
On the one hand the technique, that tool that allows us to work with precision and anatomical detail, responding in many cases to the physical ailment that brings the person to whom we attend and on the other hand the permanent attention, open observation, intuitive wisdom – the ability to stay focused and present – that will give a deeper dimension to the person.
In a study on the work of some masters of body techniques such as Feldenkrais, Trager or Ida Rolf, they looked for what is the distinctive feature that makes them masterful, since they apparently did not develop the movements in a different way than their students did. However, the degree of concentration in following it, the observation of the sensory aspect of the body and the attention maintained on the person were notably superior.
CALIFORNIAN MASSAGE is a combination of multiple techniques, based on scientific principles, which generate different types of responses in the body. Various forms of pressures, kneading, stretching, passive joint mobilizations, harmonic hammocks, compressions and decompressions, precise and punctual details or slow and deep passes that mobilize the deepest connective and muscular tissue are some of its components. All of this is enveloped and sustained by a wave that relaxes the nervous system as it passes through the body and integrates it as a whole. A broad technique that does not have a pre-established protocol of movements or sequences.
It is here where, finding ourselves devoid of structure, the creativity of the unique and unrepeatable moment of the one who is guided by inner listening, awakens the intuition and allows the hands to regain their wisdom is born.
With no “next steps” at first the mental sense of security may collapse, no longer knowing which way to go or what to do, until we discover that the only option is to stay present in the deep stillness of mind.
It is this meditative nature that allows to receive the massage as a space dedicated to inner exploration, in which the person has the opportunity to re-inhabit his body, participating in the attention of the sensations that come, in taking the new and letting go of the old with each breath, surrendering his mind to silence and returning to deposit trust and security in each process.
As you can see, this is why the CALIFORNIAN MASSAGE TRAINING, throughout its course, is based on the complementary development of both aspects, in a learning process that delves into the experiential experience through different works of body awareness, dance and meditation, as well as a wide and varied range of more than 70 manual contact techniques.
This is an increasingly popular massage known for its relaxation effects as well as for its contribution in increasing body awareness or accompanying therapeutic processes -as we have discussed in previous articles-.
Other benefits to be highlighted are:
– Relief in the treatment of chronic pain.
– Release of muscular blockages and contractures.
– Expansion of joint range of motion.
– Reorganization of the posture
“In order to be able to touch someone first close your eyes and feel what is inside you.”
(Massage Therapy) ROBERTA DELONG
ARTICLE WRITTEN BY MARIA LUCAS FOR VERDEMENTE MAGAZINE, MARCH 2016.