Massage is the simplest, most natural form of hands-on healing and has been used since before recorded history. Swedish massage is the most widely known massage style. It employs various kneading and stroking techniques blended together to produce an effect of deep relaxation by stretching muscle fiber and related tissue. In addition to Swedish massage Joshua is also trained in Deep Tissue massage. Massage is usually done using oil to facilitate movement across the skin. Therapeutic massage, while often highly pleasurable, is strictly non-sexual.
The benefits of massage include release of muscular tension, increased flexibility, increased blood flow to and from the muscles leading to improved cellular metabolism, and physical and emotional relaxation.
Ortho-Bionomy ® is an innovative concept based on the body’s self-healing capacity, developed by British osteopath Dr. Arthur Lincoln Pauls. Incorporating a wide spectrum of techniques ranging from working with neuromuscular reflexes to non-physical interaction with the etheric field, or aura, it relies entirely upon the individual’s own system of self-balancing reflexes. Releases are long lasting and exquisitely integrated, as only the body can do for itself. Guided by natural inner rhythms and muscle tone, holding patterns of the body are gently explored and affirmed. Tense muscles and ligaments relax as the person is held in a position of comfort. Stress and emotional tension dissolve to be replaced by a deep sense of inner peace and harmony.
Ortho means to straighten or correct, Bionomy means the study of life processes. Dr. Pauls translates Ortho-Bionomy ® as the correct application of the natural laws of life. There are particular techniques for the release of every joint in the body. Through these positionings Ortho-Bionomy® increases relaxation and circulation and enables the client to experience the body’s own ability to release chronic tension and create more comfort.
The CranioSacral system is a physiological system that exists in humans as well as those animals possessing a brain and spinal cord. Its formation begins in the womb; its function continues until death. Its name is derived from the bones involved. Included are the bones of your skull, face and mouth which make up the “cranium” and extend down the spinal cord to the “sacrum” . It is connected by membranes enclosing a hydraulic system. An imbalance in the CranioSacral System can adversely affect the development and function of the brain and spinal cord which can result in sensory, motor and intellectual dysfunction.
The positive effect of CranioSacral Therapy, developed by osteopath Dr. John Upledger, relies to a large extent upon the patient’s natural self-corrective reflexes. Its approach assists the hydraulic forces inherent within the CranioSacral System to improve the body’s internal environment.
Polarity is a system that holds that energy fields and currents exist throughout nature and that the flow and balance of this energy in the human body is the underlying foundation of health. In a polarity session, the practitioner may use bodywork and guidance in diet, exercise and lifestyle to help balance this energy, release blocked energy and support healing.
Reflexology is a system that holds that specific points on the feet and hands correspond with organs and tissues throughout the body. With fingers and thumbs, the practitioner applies pressure to these points to treat a wide range of stress-related illnesses and ailments.
Practitioners of this range of therapy look for weakness in the persons “energy field” in and around the body and seek to restore its proper circulation and balance. Energy channeled through the practitioner is directed to strengthen the body’s natural defenses and help the person’s physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual state. Sessions may or may not involve the physical laying on of hands; visualization and discussion is also a part of the therapy.
Practitioners of this ancient Tibetan healing system use light hand placement to channel healing energies to the recipient. While practitioners may vary widely in technique and philosophy, Reiki is commonly used to treat emotional and mental distress, as well as chronic and acute physical problems, and to assist the recipient in achieving spiritual focus and clarity.
T'ai Chi is a sysyem based in the Chinese martial arts which facilitates health through slow gentle movement and deep breathing. It opens up the same healing channels as accupuncture, massages the internal organs, improves posture, and releases tension. Joshua teaches an introductory course in this art.