Swedish Massage: In all Swedish massage, the therapist lubricates the skin with massage oil and performs various massage strokes.  These movements warm up the muscle tissue, releasing tension and gradually breaking up muscle "knots" or adhered tissues, called adhesions.  Swedish massage promotes relaxation, among other health benefits. 

Therapeutic Massage:  This massage will be a little more intense than a pure relaxation massage and perhaps deal with long-term or chronic issues. The most common examples would be a deep tissue massage or sports massage.  The therapist uses more pressure and cross-fiber friction in order to get adhesions to release. 

Deep Tissue:  Deep tissue massage is a type of massage aimed at the deeper tissue structures of the muscle and fascia, also called connective tissue.  Deep tissue massage uses many of the same movements and techniques as Swedish massage, but the pressure will generally be more intense.  It is also a more focused type of massage, as the therapist works to release chronic muscle tension or knots.  You should always feel free to speak up if the pressure is too much for you.  It's important to drink a lot of water after a deep tissue massage to help flush lactic acid out of the tissues.  If you don't, you might be sore the next day.  It's possible that you might feel some soreness the day after a deep tissue massage even if you DO drink water.  This just means a lot of waste products were flushed out of the tissues.  It should pass within a day or so. 

Sports Massage:   A type of Swedish massage that stimulates circulation of blood and lymph fluids. Some sports massage movements use Trigger Point Therapy to break down adhesions (knots in the muscles) and increase range of motion.  There are four types of sports massages: (1) pre-event sports massage - a short, stimulating massage 15 - 45 minutes before the event.  It is directed toward the parts of the body that will be involved in the exertion. (2) post-event sports massage -- given within an hour or two of the event, to normalize the body's tissues.  (3) restorative sports massage -- given during training to allow the athelete to train harder and with less injury.  (4) rehabilitative sports massage -- aimed at alleviating pain due to injury and returning the body to health. 

Shiatsu and other Acupressure Modalities:   Shiatsu is a style of bodywork developed in Japan.  It is similar to acupuncture, but uses finger pressure instead of needles. Shiatsu's name comes from two Japanese words -- "shi" or finger and "atsu" or pressure.  Shiatsu's goal is to restore the healthy flow of energy throughout the body.  For shiatsu, you wear loose clothing.  The practitioner will use their fingers and thumbs to apply pressure to specific points on the body's energy pathways, known as meridiens.  They often use other techniques such as rocking, stretches and joint rotations.  Shiatsu treatment is holistic, addressing the whole body rather than focusing on the one area where symptoms are most obvious. 

Trigger Point Therapy:  A trigger point is a hyperirritable spot that is painful.  It is called a trigger point because it "triggers" a painful response.  But a trigger point is more than a tender nodule. It affects not only the muscle where the trigger point is located,  but also causes "referred pain" in tissues supplied by nerves.  Trigger points are located in a taut band of muscles fibers.  The trigger point is the most tender point in the band. The therapist will locate and deactivate them using finger pressure.  One technique is to pick up the muscle fibers in a pincher grip. 

Reflexology:  Reflexology is a treatment where the therapist works on "reflex points" on your feet, hands, and head (especially ears).  The theory behind reflexology is that these reflex points relate to specific organs and glands in the body, and stimulating those points with finger pressure promotes health in those organs and glands via the body's energetic pathways.  When done by a skilled practitioner, reflexology is a deeply relaxing treatment with benefits that can be felt throughout the body. The therapist will use various techniques that include holds, finger pressure, kneading, rotation and rubbing.  When the therapists works on the feet and hands your whole body should feel energized.

Polarity Therapy:  Polarity Therapy is a comprehensive health system involving energy-based bodywork, diet, exercise and self-awareness. It works with the Human Energy Field, electromagnetic patterns expressed in mental, emotional and physical experience.

Rebirthing Breathwork:  is a body-centered therapy that uses a gentle yet powerful breathing technique , to help activate and release stored stress, pain, and emotional trauma of all degrees.  The results are often profound as this process works directly at the core of these issues whether conscious or unconscious.  The process also includes identifying limiting beliefs that are formed before, during, and after birth. Rebirthing effectively reverses such beliefs bringing about changes that may have been previously difficult to achieve. It creates space in your life for joy, love, health, prosperity and functional relationships.  Rebirthing, developed 37 years ago by Leonard Orr and Sondra Ray, is now recognized as a powerful, efficient healing method.

Neural Reset Therapy: NRT is derived from the work of two great scientists, Sherrington and Pfluger, who investigated the nervous system over a century ago to uncover its basic operating laws. The Law of Reciprocal Inhibition and the Law of Symmetry has mostly remained in the laboratory until now. NRT is a practical, rapid and reliable way to apply these laws of physiology with this advanced form of manual therapy. Muscles are controlled by the nervous system. Proper application of NRT resets the nervous system to release a muscle from excessive tension. With the release, the knots, pain, and tightness are gone. Joint mobility and posture are improved.