prioritize self care.
focus on you.
it’s 2020, we’re all happily minding our own business (definitely not trolling karen’s latest instagram reel)… when BAM. a pandemic hits like a bat out of hell. that bat is so rude. hell is probably, most likely, also rude. most sedentary people became active for their mental health, and active people became sedentary, also for sanity. the point is, humans aren’t good with abrupt change and we’re left picking up the pieces to literally just survive. the good thing? most had time to readjust their priorities - making themselves priority #1. why keep up with that years later?
01 — reduce pain & stiffness
02 — reduce inflammation
03 — increase circulation
04 — stimulate the immune system
05 — assist in flushing toxins
but… how?
pain sucks. seriously. whether you’re stuck behind zoom calls all day or an active crossfitter, stiffness and soreness are soon to follow. massage therapy, cupping and gua sha are all geared toward loosening up your muscles and removing fascial restrictions which in turn, leaves you with improved mobility and happy dances!
01 — therapeutic massage
if you’re looking for a swedish massage, this is not the right side of town.
when our muscles get stressed or experience trauma (no matter how slight), they can form trigger points. trigger points are contracted knots that often lead to tightness and pain. my favorite example — a trigger point in the upper trap (right below our neck) can refer pain up the neck leading to stress headaches. therapeutic massage includes pressure on these points, which can be fairly uncomfortable, but the release is extraordinary.
02 — cupping therapy
it’s time to rock the octobites.
cupping dates back to ancient Chinese and Egyptian cultures — not just when michael phelps rocked the bites in the 2016 summer olympics. it is said that one of the oldest medical textbooks in the world, the Ebers Papyrus, depicts how the ancient Egyptians used cups in 1,550 B.C. how cool is that?
suction created by the cup encourages blood flow. this increased circulation promotes healing and reduces pain. the octobites heal on their own and tend to last 5-7 days.
03 — gua sha
gua sha is my favoriteeeeee and another incredible modality that dates back to ancient Chinese culture. gua sha is translated as (gua) 'to scrape,' (sha) 'sand'. the sha is the result of stroking your skin with a tool which creates small, red dots that appear on the skin's surface. in western medicine, this is called 'petechiae'. thanks for that fun word western civilization...?
these tiny red dots are caused by broken capillaries (tiny blood vessels under the skin). don't worry! 'scraping' can be a misleading term as with gua, there is nothing taken from the skin's surface. all remains intact - hooray! during treatment, gua sha lets blood flow within our tissue.
while working on muscle and fascia, the tiny red dots confirm stagnation and restrictions within these tissues. if there is no stagnation, or that area is perfectly mobile, the surface would only turn slightly pinkish. think of it this way - the areas during treatment that do have sha, are the restricted areas that should be worked on and need some love. the goal is to get rid of all stagnation and move freely!
witness the change.
no matter the length of the session, each includes therapeutic massage, cupping and gua sha. each client has their own comfort level of which they would like to include. not ready for cupping or gua sha? no worries! we’ll focus on therapeutic massage.