Most of us are adept ‘doers’. We can multitask, set and achieve goals, build our bodies, improve our minds, plan, organize, etc. etc., however, not doing is as crucial to mental, emotional and spiritual health as any achievement. For many, relaxation means sitting in front of the tv or computer screen, but this passive mode doesn’t allow for a deep let-go.

Even many meditation practices are focused on active visualizations and affirmations, which again don’t address our deep need to just BE. Our culture encourages improvement, which carries the message that we need to be other than how we are. We are led to believe that we aren’t fit enough, skinny enough, good enough; that anything we do, even relaxing, must have some inherent goal. We have to be better/more/less. These messages create tension on top of the regular day-to-day tension of juggling work/relationships/fitness/children, and so on.

Massage, Shiatsu, and other forms of healing bodywork provide an invitation to let go – beginning with the body. In an individual session there is time, space and support to allow the limbs and belly to soften, the head to rest; to encounter and listen to what your body is saying – to discover the underlying tension and then release it. In our hectic demanding lives we need the oasis of a practitioner’s quiet space to let go of striving to be some other way, to investigate how we are in the moment, and to allow whatever arises to arise.

A skilled practitioner restores the individual to their natural, most easeful state.