Esalen massage is based on Swedish massage, but looks at the whole person. Using slow, even, long strokes, it moves into the muscles at a pace acceptable to the body. I wait to be invited into the tightness, allowing the body to release when it is ready. It also helps to integrate different systems to work together in a higher level of function. The smooth gliding stroke rhythmically slows the body down as the body absorbs the changes it makes.
Esalen Massage training offers a wide range of perspectives on the body, showing me there are many acceptable approaches to somatic release, never letting me forget that there is a whole person in that body who deserves to be respected and supported in its journey to a greater understanding of itself.
The practitioner becomes the support of the individual’s exploration and integration, the witness to the changes that individual chooses. Esalen training taught me never to forget the sacred trust of working with people and how change happens easily when a body feels heard.