Aloha!
I recently attended the Self Care Fair for massage therapists in Seattle and went to a course with Kimberly Reaves about Touch for Trauma and PTSD. It was great chatting to Kimberly after the session about how, as massage therapists, we are not necessarily taught to work with gentleness, and so we can sometimes trigger emotional trauma in our clients while working, and not know how to manage that. And I believe it is something that as massage therapists, we really need to pay attention to, in the world that we live in.
We have a huge responsibility when we touch the body of another human being.
I’ve been teaching Kahuna bodywork for 5 years in South Africa and practicing it there for 9. South Africa is a place of constant trauma, with one of the highest rates of violent rape and violent crime in the world. I’ve lived there for fifty years. Just living there means that one is constantly feeling like you are under threat , which means most people are traumatized. But trauma is relative, and I believe that most people who come for massage in my practice are traumatized in some way. The world we live in causes trauma. A fall can cause trauma, and even surgery is a trauma to the body and the nervous system.
I came across this comment on FB the other day, related to a sponsored advert, and sadly, I copied the text and didn’t copy the name of the person commenting. However, these words sum up well, the scientific explanation of trauma and how it is held in the body. This is a subject I have been reading about for many years, and have personal experience of how trauma is stored and can get released through effective massage and bodywork, as well as talk therapy.
Massage therapy and cryotherapy are effective ways to manage trauma. Both treatments stimulate the vagus nerve to switch on the autonomic nervous system which is disregulated as a result of trauma. This is a bottom up approach mentioned in Bessel van der Kolk’s incredible book The Body Keeps the Score. Whilst talking therapies have their place, trauma needs to heal in the body as the body gets stuck in the sympathetic nervous system state (flight fight) and all our energy goes on being in survival mode, causing all sorts of illness and longer term chronic and life threatening conditions. The body therapies I offer bring the body to a state of safety as the messages from the gut brain to the cerebral brain via the vagus nerve are that my client is safe, soothed and supported. This gets the nervous system in ventral vagus (safe and social mode) and out of dorsal vagus (disassociated/collapse/ freeze mode) and or sympathetic state (flight or fright mode). Being witnessed and held is an important aspect of healing as we are social beings and need connection.
{from a comment thread on FB)
Kahuna bodywork takes you on a journey into a very deep place of rest, restoring the nervous system, and, as it has been taught by an Hawaiian teacher, it brings in the use of the elements as massage techniques ( earth, air, water, fire ) to assist in the massage process, so that punishing deep tissue work is never necessary to create an effective outcome. With it’s flowing strokes and gentle hands, dynamic music and fluid motion, the techniques help to calm the nervous system, change patterns in the body, release stuck energy, and restore balance and flow to all the bodily systems.
Kahuna Bodywork is one of the most integrating bodywork practices I have experienced, and it has taught me to hold safe spaces for my clients at all times, and how to support a client if they get triggered in any way during a session… without getting involved in their stories.
During my time of practicing Kahuna bodywork in South Africa, I have journeyed with my body and my soul, and become a different person, physically, mentally and emotionally. We cannot deny the link between the mind and the body. In Kahuna Bodywork training, we are taught to focus with loving touch and heartfelt intention on the body that we are working with, (working in the spirit of aloha always) and to trust that the body on our massage table will let go when it is ready to. There is no point in forcing, pushing, or causing more pain. Kahuna bodywork teaches the way of the gentle adventurer. And it teaches Kahuna therapists to practice exquisite self care for themselves too, by receiving bodywork often.
Kahuna Bodywork training is a journey to becoming more of who you are.
Kahuna Bodywork Training is a journey. If you’d like to join me for the journey, the LEVEL 1 Kahuna Bodywork Training is on March 12-15.
This training is for ANYBODY (not just people interested in giving massage or massage therapists) who wants to explore a gentle way of healing through the experience of the body in a heart-centered space with others. It can be a stretch for some. It is transformational for many. And it is worth it! It can change your life. It changed mine. (Read about my journey with Kahuna massage here)
Licensed Massage Therapists can receive 16 CES, including 4 Ethics
Non Massage therapists will receive a completion certificate for Level 1
QUESTIONS? I will be hosting a ZOOM WEBINAR INFO SESSION on Thursday 13 Feb at 5.30pm for anyone interested.
Its a rich and soulful experience, taught in a relaxed, playful, aloha-filled style.
Email me for the invitation link to the Zoom Info Session, or for more info.
I look forward to the journey with you.
Aloha,
