What is massage, what is bodywork, how do they differ, and why should it matter to you?

If you've read this far in this website, you are probably a person who is proactive in life and concerned about preventive healthcare and health maintenance. Think for a moment of all the nurturing things you do for yourself: take supplements, eat properly, regular exercise, sports, yoga, Pilates, meditation, and more. All of these things provide the "balancing aspect" for the stress that composes the rest of your life. Your job, hassles, grievances, and situations in which you are a "victim" are things that produce fatigue, headaches, and tight and aching muscles and even disease.

Massage is a therapy that works on relaxing the muscles. Your massage therapist will rub oil or lotion into your skin using long rhythmical strokes and friction techniques inducing the muscles to relax. The result: you fall into a restful slumber while all the cares of your day evaporate. It's the perfect ending for a stressful day and the perfect beginning for your self-nurturing time.

Bodywork is a therapy that works primarily on your structure (your bones). Your bodyworker will use specific, tiny, and extraordinarily powerful "fingertip" movements to "clean off the bones." This means freeing the structure from the tight grip of all soft tissue (muscles, tendons, fascia, and ligaments). The measurable result is improved posture. You experience increased range of motion, ease of movement, and a feeling of lightness. As I personally like to say, "bodywork realigns your chassis and improves your performance.

Sports massage is a therapy that targets and releases tension in specific areas and in the joints for athletes in all sports and assists them in reaching their goals of improving sports performance. The measurable results are different for every athlete: better completion time for a tri-athlete, lower score for a golfer, higher score for a bowler, etc.

Reflexology is a therapy that works with the feet. Asian in origin, reflexology connects you energetically with the earth, changing the way in which energy runs through your body and producing a deep sense of relaxation and well-being.

This website describes massage, sports massage, reflexology, and a bodywork modality called Zentherapy® in further detail.

My name is Betty Brzuchac and I've traveled extensively in Asia to study realigning the body's structure and enhancing the flow of energy from the soles of the feet through the crown of the head. Click on "Resume" for details.