Biodynamic Massage
Biodynamic Massage
Biodynamic massage is a form of psychotherapeutic massage concerned with the integration of all aspects of an individual – physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual.
It’s may be quite a different experience to a massage you may be accustomed to experiencing.
Often the level of touch and massage isn’t particularly deep - less is often much more with this type of massage. It can be deeper at times - the level of pressure depends on you, what’s coming up and how the muscle wants to be met.
Depending on what is coming up for you, we use different techniques such as a very gentle holding of the body perhaps not dissimilar in some ways to craniosacral therapy, deeper and more specific pressure around musculature, stretching techniques to invite a sense of space and vitality, work around the joints, non-tactile touch is sometimes used also, sometimes a very light stroking touch.
You may be fully clothed or partially clothed depending on how you feel.
We don’t use oil. We want the level of contact between therapist and client to be as unadulterated as possible.
Sometimes I invite you to tell me what’s going on for you/what you are experiencing throughout the massage and I invite you to let me know how you are experiencing it too. Biodynamic Massage is a relational touch and you are in control.
It is a psychotherepeutic form of touch and suitable for those that are interested in self-discovery through the body and through touch. I have found touch to be quite a profound way of putting us in touch with feelings, emotions and sensations that perhaps we wouldn’t be able to contact otherwise.
This means that when you are experiencing a massage, and when I am using Biodynamic Massage, I’m considering how all these aspects form your experience. I’m curious as to how tension in the neck, for example, may relate to your physical life - how you sit, hold yourself, what you find yourself doing on a day to day basis. I’m interested in how the neck tension may surface more in particular situations or with certain people. I’m curious as to how when we work with the tissues around the neck it may bring up memories or sensations about something else entirely or something that happened a long time ago. I’m interested in how it relates to your wider experience and what your life is like at the moment and also how it may be calling your attention in some other way. Sometimes it may be useful to delve into sensations - if that is important to you, at other times it may be just to hold it lightly, to be curious and nothing else. The invitation is to allow it to be felt rather than analysed or intellectualised.
A guiding principle is very much that ‘less is more’ . To listen in I believe that we need to go very gently, and quietly with the body, to become really attuned to what is there.
Ultimately I am guided by you, what is present and ongoing in your life and what is coming up for you. Sometimes it can be hugely helpful to drop in to our bodies - to notice what comes up as we contact skin, muscle and fascia. But also sometimes it’s helpful to remember that we are also more than our bodies - that we are intimately conneted to the world around us, and although separate in many ways we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. It can be helpful to remember both according to what you may be experiencing.
I trained with the Cambridge Body Psychotherapy Centre and here are what they describe as some of the therapeutic hopes:
Some of the therapeutic hopes in biodynamic massage are the rebalancing of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system; relaxation; vitalisation; pain relief; relief of internal emotional pressure; release of muscular tension; toning of undertoned muscle; increased body awareness; release of toxins; discovery of a more “natural” breathing pattern. Biodynamic massage is suitable for those with psycho-physiological or stress related symptoms such as headaches, aches and pains, anxiety, insomnia, depression, arthritis, M.E., etc.; for those who feel “under the weather” or that something is not quite right, but where there is an absence of diagnosable disease; and for those wanting to embark on a process of self discovery through a body approach.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you’d like to hear more, discuss whether or not it may be for you or to book your initial session.