What is Bodywork? Is it not just a massage?

When people ask me what I do, I respond with “I’m a Bodyworker” and sometimes this causes facial contortions as they try to imagine me working under the hood of their car and so I follow with “Like massage” and then they say “Oh! Like an RMT!” and then to them I say this:

I am a Certified Bodywork Therapist – this means that my scope of practice is not only to treat your physical body but also your emotional, mental, and energetic bodies. While bodywork may include massage techniques, my approach to session design is holistic and integrative, in that I treat to include all aspects of you. Humans are multi-dimensional beings with endless layers, nuances, and unique experiences – no two of us are the same so neither should our treatments be.

The term bodywork is a catch-all term for any body-based therapy that holds the intention of supporting someone to come into greater balance and ease in their body. Bodywork is about developing a deeper awareness of your body including understanding its patterns, habits, pains, sensations, and power. It’s like exploring a new language or landscape to understand and communicate with a part of oneself that may feel distant or unfamiliar.

Bodywork can help address:

• muscle pain and tension
• postural alignment
• injury rehabilitation
• stress & anxiety
• nervous system dysregulation
• digestive issues
• sleep disorders.

As the practitioner, I am not here to ‘fix’ or ‘heal’ you – what I’m offering, is a space for your body to come into a state of regulation so it can receive and heal which it innately wants to do.

Typically, my style of bodywork is not a passive treatment. This work is conscious and collaborative – “we cannot heal what we do not feel”. The body is incredibly intelligent and often holding patterns, pain, or coping strategies at one time served a purpose – for protection or compensation. So we need to create a feeling of safety in the body for it to be able to soften – to let go. Sometimes we don’t even know what we’re shielding until we’re gently guided to look at it – we so often shut parts of ourselves down and pack them away and it is through bodywork that all of these parts are invited to integrate.

As a bodyworker, I am trained in many modalities, each with a different lens but all with the same client-centred thread that believes that by bridging the gap between mind and body, the body will reorient toward greater balance and ease. These modalities include myofascial and structural work, Shiatsu, energy medicine, breath, Somatic Experiencing, Deep Flow and Craniosacral.

Visit here to learn more about me and my training. 

If you have any further questions about this work and/or are curious about a FREE discovery session. I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out @ sacredlysomatic@gmail.com