Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/68178
ENERGY WORK AND MASSAGE Burkhardt's words ring true. The first massage therapists in ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, and the Orient knew this and always provided multidimensional, holistic services. They did not restrict themselves to rubbing and stroking. They were employed to regenerate exhausted athletes, politicians, statesmen, even emperors, and were thought of as physicians and not "massage therapists." They treated the whole person because that is what regeneration requires. They created the original healing retreats and spas, which flourished until the concept of regeneration was degraded by an overemphasis on the sensual, and demoted by technology and pharmaceuticals. Now the authentic purpose of massage and its traditional kinship with energy medicine is being restored. This healing arts family reunion is motivated by the worldwide craving for relief from the shocking stresses of modern life. Mechanization, pollution, and depersonalization erode innate healing and immune responses. Some therapists understand that these responses become dormant, but that they cannot be extinguished. These are the therapists who instead empower their clients through a combination of massage and energy medicine, both keys to rebalancing the nervous system. The nature of allostatic load, or debilitating stress, is that it separates us from who we really are. Physical symptoms accompany this lack of congruence, like chronic pain. Adrenal fatigue is also common, with its complex array of symptoms so endemic that many just accept them as part of life—like not wanting to go to work or feeling they never have enough time for themselves. The therapist who can treat the energy body along with the physical body can facilitate the reunification of the self with the spirit and thus offer core regeneration, the ultimate antidote to pain and fatigue. The therapist who can treat the energy body along with the physical body can facilitate the reunification of the self with the spirit and thus offer core regeneration. ANCIENT ROOTS The sanitaria at Epidaurus and elsewhere in Greece (430 BCE) were temple-hospitals where the ill came for treatment with herbs, massage, dietary change, exercise, and sanctified sleep. Resting in the temple, patients entered deep contemplation and received insight, guidance, and omens. This, coupled with their other treatments, led not only to symptomatic relief but also to a fresh perspective on life and deep, lasting renewal. While we have evolved beyond the Greeks in terms of our knowledge of anatomy and other matters, the sanitaria remain models of integrative healing. The other culture we turn to in the quest to understand true regeneration is the Chinese. Here, too, the fundamental principle was, and is, integrative, with massage being seen as a physician's art. Tui na, the oldest recorded treatment for trauma, is a medical intervention, employing pulse diagnosis to read causative factors. Tui na incorporates multiple massage techniques applied to meridian pathways, manual manipulation or structural adjustments, and herbology. By treating the meridians, the tui na practitioner attends to the mind-body pathways that harmonize the inseparable components of human life. Patients receiving tui na treatments, like those in the sanitaria of ancient Greece, awaken to their own role in their health. Treatment creates profound change through internal congruence. We can also cite the Egyptians, the Medieval West, and India in identifying source cultures for the origins of healthcare systems, but the Greeks and the Chinese provide a glimpse at the elements of the past we are now called to bring forward. The key point is to draw on these origins to redefine, expand, and enhance the view of massage in the healing and regenerative process. There is evidence that a new generation of massage therapists is coming forth that embodies this holistic direction. These are people who resonate with quantum reality, and they integrate this awareness into their life-changing treatments. They know that the dance of transcendence is relational. Transformational therapists need clients ready to transform, and practices focused on regeneration will attract them. There are more integrative therapies available now then ever before. Massage schools that incorporate comprehensive training, including subtle energy modalities, will surely 38 massage & bodywork september/october 2009