Introduction of Bodywork
What is Bodywork?
Bodywork is a term used in alternative medicine to describe any therapeutic or personal development technique that involves working with the human body in a form involving manipulative therapy, breath work, or energy medicine. In addition bodywork techniques aim to assess or improve posture, promote awareness of the "mind-body connection", or to manipulate a putative "energy field" surrounding the human body and affecting health.
Some of the best known forms of consciousness non-touch bodywork methods include: Reiki, Yoga, Pranayama, as well as other non-touch methods: Breathwork respiration techniques, Therapeutic touch, Bates method for sight training, Qigong, and T'ai chi.
The better known forms of manipulative bodywork include Alexander technique, Applied Kinesiology, Bioenergetics, Bowen technique, Chiropractic, Feldenkrais method, Postural Integration (PI), Reflexology, Rolfing, Shiatsu, Structural Integration, Somatic Experiencing, Trager Approach, Rebalancing.
Definition
Body work therapy treats the body, mind and spirit along with the energy field, or Qi, that surrounds the body with pressure or manipulation. Chinese medical principals for assessing and evaluating the body's energy field are the basis for body work therapy. Traditional techniques are used to balance the energy field to restore health, as well as to maintain health. All forms of body work therapy use touch. Some involve light touching, others specific motions and still others may use herbs and hot and cold applications.
Bodywork is also a form of massage therapy. However, while most massage therapy (circulatory massage, deep tissue) is concentrated on relaxation, bodywork is about improvement in function, reduction of pain and wellbeing through techniques beyond the standard range of most entry level massage therapists. It includes ideas from eastern (Aryvedic, Thai, Shiatsu, KOROKAN) and western (circulatory, deep tissue, myofascial, neuromuscular, somatic integration, structural, etc).
The ancient art of bodywork (massage) has been used for centuries as a healing tool for a wide variety of therapies. Bodywork is an excellent medicine for promoting healing and relaxation in the mind and body. Therapeutic bodywork utilizes this foundation of healing and combines it with the systematic application of pressure and movement to manipulate the soft tissues of the body and cultivate well-being.
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