Massage Therapy: The power of touch
Mallory York
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
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A salt crystal lamp glowed on a shelf across the room. Slow, rhythmic Buddhist chanting drifted through the air, which held a faint herbal scent. This was room 137 at the Lincoln Center, home of Peninsula College's Massage Therapy program.
Five students lay on padded tables scattered across the room, eyes closed in deep relaxation. The remaining six students tended to them, placing hot stones upon their skin and between their toes.
The program teaches a variety of massage types, including Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy, muscle energy therapy and more. The technique that the students were using, called hot stone massage, involves placing heated stones on the skin and between the toes, and rubbing them slowly across the body.
"In native traditions, stones are considered the bones of the Earth. It's nice to be able to use the bones of the Earth to help heal our own bones and muscles," said PC Massage Therapy advisor Aleilah Lawson.
Lawson, who is also one of the program's four instructors, explained that massage is not only relaxing, but also very effective in treating a wide range of injuries and discomforts.
When working with patients who are injured or in pain, she noted, "You have to be mindful." The power of massage in treating injuries is particularly clear for student Tanya Hull, who was badly injured in a car accident and found relief in massage therapy after Western medical techniques and various medications did not work. She joined the Massage Therapy program after this.
Thanks to massage, the students are mindful not just of pain or injury but of how massage treatments feel to their patients. The bodywork classes alternate each student between giving and receiving massages, so that they can experience how their future patients might feel when receiving a massage from them. It allows them to empathize better with the patient, Lawson explained, and also helps the students who are giving the massages, as the students receiving them give detailed feedback throughout. "Receiving massage as well as giving it is essential," Lawson said.
The students all agree that they are much more in touch with their own bodies after participating in the Massage Therapy classes. "Our bodies are our best teachers," Lawson explained, "and often people who have received lots of massage have an easier time learning to give massage, themselves."
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