With our new class fast approaching, I wanted to do one more post to tell you a little more about what you can expect from our sessions….Working on breath and balance is vital to all aspects of life. In our classes and my treatments alike, these aspects are always important in reaching the outcome we are aiming for…
The importance of Breathwork in our Training
Breathing is the first thing we do when we enter this world and the last thing we do when we go out. Most of us don’t give it much thought in between.
There are many techniques which study and practice breathing related to specific actions i.e. breathing to calm us down when under stress, breathing when lifting heavy weights, breathing in meditation, breathing when striking or receiving strikes (in martial art training), and of course (for some) breathing in child birth etc. All these are excellent practices. However, how do we breathe when the unexpected happens?
Our breathing exercises train our bodies to deal better with stress and unexpected trauma and not to rely of specific breathing patterns or methods.
We also study breathing to help us manage pain and anxiety, and to recover from stressful situations.
The importance of Breathwork in Massage
Often when we feel pain, stiffness and tension, our natural reaction is to tense against this, bracing ourselves and holding out breath, this is counter productive. All forms of massage and holistic therapies aim to improve flow of blood and energy in the body, tightening up will cause more restriction, leading to more pain, not to improvement. We will focus on learning to breathe and relax, shaking out any tension as tight/ sore areas are worked on with gradually increasing pressure. Breathing with the massage, letting go and allowing things to shift and adjust leads to a more effective treatment with longer lasting results. This is the case in treatments and in training sessions alike.
Why bring massage in to a training session?
We will be working on posture and natural movements in our treatments, often this can be a difficult challenge, bringing techniques from Thai Massage in to our cooldown will help to unwind the restrictions and tension which can make the training more challenging. Our sessions focus on reducing stress and improving confidence, massage techniques will help to further reduce stress, to rebalance your structure allowing you to walk tall, allowing that confidence to flow through you. The techniques used will be mainly drawn from Traditional Thai Massage and Warrior Massage, these two treatments both use bodyweight to create pressure which is easier for the receiver to relax in to, and at the same time creates balance challenges for the giver, the techniques will stretch, relax and rebalance you at the end of each session
Our combination of health and fitness approaches, bringing aspects of martial arts and massage together in one class will be fun, beneficial and just a little different. We are looking forward to seeing you there.
The Barefoot therapist 