You probably consider yourself open-minded—wellness and well-being appeals to you and you’ve tried yoga and drink kombucha. But maybe you’re still a skeptic about the pseudo-spiritual realm of alternative medicine and energy healing.
There’s no shortage of advice and testimonials pertaining to holistic health these days. Yet, many people still question the legitimacy and effectiveness of alternative medicines and therapies. Massage, however, is not merely a new age fringe form of spiritual healing—many alternative massage therapies that are popular today have been tried and tested for thousands of years. In addition to the physical benefits, many alternative healing methods also address mental, spiritual, psychological, and emotional factors that might be triggering pain and discomfort.
Kombucha
TYPES OF ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES
While there many types of alternative massage therapies, a handful have emerged into mainstream practice. A number offer ways to recondition your everyday behaviors, the ones that caused the buildup of stress and tightness in the muscles in the first place.
Alexander Technique: Alexander Technique is aimed at changing habits of movement and posture in ways that promote better physical health and reduce problems. Many of us develop bad postural habits in how we sit, stand, and walk. These habits then contribute to persistent physical problems, such as back, neck, and shoulder pain; restricted movement; and general tiredness. Alexander Technique helps individuals to understand the correct movements and postures, and subsequently learn to break their bad habits.
Movement Awareness: Studies in basic body and movement awareness have found an increase in people who suffer from a lack of realization of their physical body, emotions, and spacial boundaries as they relate to others and to their physical surroundings. This then affects their quality of movement, daily functions, habits, and health. Movement awareness therapy aims to reestablish new ways of being and an awareness of the body through targeted therapy.
Tension Release Therapy: Many people who seek out tension relief therapy experience chronic muscle tension due to stress or chronic use of certain muscles. Tension release therapy, essentially, is another form of massage, but one practiced by a physician, chiropractor, or occupational therapist, rather than in a massage parlor. The specialist will follow a similar pattern of manual muscle work, stimulating the tight tissue layer by layer.
Rosen Method Therapy: Rosen Method Therapy is different than other forms of massage or bodywork. It is characterized by gentle, directive touch. Using hands that listen to, rather than manipulate the body, the practitioner focuses on areas of chronic muscle tension as well as slowly releasing unconscious feelings, attitudes, and memories surrounding the body. The aim of this practice is psychosomatic, meaning it uses the mind as a tool to affect the body and vice versa.
Trager Work: Trager Approach is based on the premise that discomfort, pain, and reduced function are physical symptoms of accumulated tension that result from accidents, weak posture, fear, emotional blockages, and daily stress. It focuses on reducing these unnatural patterns of movement and eliminating neuromuscular tension by using gentle, rhythmic rocking motions. These rhythmic movements can create a state of deep relaxation, which therapists say can allow the body and mind to achieve a state of balance and integration.
Trager therapy
Bioenergetics: Bioenergetics is another form of psychosomatic treatment that emphasizes the connection between body and mind. This approach posits that the psychological defenses an individual uses to cope with stress or pain manifest themselves in the physical body in unique muscular patterns that may inhibit self-expression. Treatment sessions attempt to illuminate old, ineffective patterns of constrictive movement, and then teach the client new ones.