First Session of the Basic Series
Friday Apr 24, 2009 Filed in:
10 Series
Before I see clients for the first
session, I ask them to fill out a health form. I have them mark on
a picture the areas that are bothering them. We talk about them so
that I have an understanding what's going on. Then I have them
undress to their level of comfort. I have them walk and move to
show me their particular structural issues.
The Basic Series recipe is a guideline that help focus each session on particular goals. The goals of the first session are finding rapport between client and therapist, preparing the body to receive more order and to open the breath to oxygenate the body more efficiently.
Most of my sessions start with some neck work. It helps the client relax deeper into the massage table and opens up the spinal column to receive more length. As Jan Sultan says, it takes "the lid off the pressure."
After the neck work, I move to the arms, costo-sternal facia, front and around the hip, hamstrings and the back muscles (erectors spinae). The first session contacts the superficial layers or those that are available to be released. It greatly varies depending on several factors:
From my experience, all of these factors change as the client progresses through the series. One of the wonderful by-products of increased body awareness is their increased ability to speak about the sensations they experience. Many report that being able to talk about the sensations helps them feel their bodies and lives more intensely, more of who they are.
The Basic Series recipe is a guideline that help focus each session on particular goals. The goals of the first session are finding rapport between client and therapist, preparing the body to receive more order and to open the breath to oxygenate the body more efficiently.
Most of my sessions start with some neck work. It helps the client relax deeper into the massage table and opens up the spinal column to receive more length. As Jan Sultan says, it takes "the lid off the pressure."
After the neck work, I move to the arms, costo-sternal facia, front and around the hip, hamstrings and the back muscles (erectors spinae). The first session contacts the superficial layers or those that are available to be released. It greatly varies depending on several factors:
- clients' sensation threshold
- how hydrated the tissues are
- body awareness
From my experience, all of these factors change as the client progresses through the series. One of the wonderful by-products of increased body awareness is their increased ability to speak about the sensations they experience. Many report that being able to talk about the sensations helps them feel their bodies and lives more intensely, more of who they are.
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