A typical neck and jaw session will begin with the client laying face down on the massage table. I will spend time massaging the upper back and shoulders. The goal here is to relax the larger muscles that affect the head and neck. This area can contain many trigger points (knots) that may send referred pain into the head and neck or in some cases cause headaches. Once these muscles are worked sufficiently to decrease tension we will begin to work on the smaller muscles of the head, neck, and jaw. At this point the client will be turned over to lie on her/his back. I will take up a seat at the head of the table while the client lays on the table so that the top of their shoulders are actually off the table and their head is resting in my hands. Using my hands to “listen” to the way that the client’s head wants to move we will begin a meditative “unwinding” movement of the head and neck. This slow moving dance will combine connective tissue massage and craniosacral therapy to facilitate a gentle release of stored tension in the neck. This technique, while being extremely gentle, can penetrate very deeply to release tension in the muscles surrounding the spine. Not only is this technique completely painless it is quite blissful. I am grateful to be able to offer this work to others. It is so rewarding to see, time and time again, clients have a headache disappear or have a stiff neck returned to greater mobility within and hour session.

A typical lower back/sciatica session would begin with the client lying on her/his back. Standing at the foot of the table I would lift the heels of each foot. By gently and slowly applying and releasing traction to the heels and rocking the feet from side to side I feel into the tension patterns of the client’s legs and lower back. This gives me an overall picture of what muscle groups to work. I would then have the client turn over to face down and we would begin to work these areas. Using this method I am able to tailor the session to meet the needs of an individual rather than offer a general “one size fits all” session that assumes all people will have the same issues. Also, by knowing what muscles are at the root of the issue we can spend more time focusing on them rather than working all muscles in that area in a general way. Often these issues are one sided (left or right) and in many cases there is no need to work both sides of the body to relieve the symptoms.