At first glance, the question of how massage therapy works may seem like an easy one to answer, but the answer is not simple.  Massage works via multiple, complex routes in the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, and is impacted by physical, psychological, and social factors.

For most people, bodywork is about working on bodies, and muscles in particular.  And this is a peculiar thing, because if one asks the same people what their main reason for getting a massage is, the #1 answer is to relax or reduce stress, and their #2 answer is to relieve pain.  Relaxation, or stress reduction, is much more about the mind than it is the body, and while pain is a very complex topic, it, too, is also much more about the nervous system than it is about muscles.

Clearly bodywork has relevance far beyond the body and bleeds over into the realm of psychology whether it wants to or not.  In many bodywork sessions, clients find that emotions arise during the session that don’t normally arise outside of a bodywork session, and most clients leave a session with a feeling that isn’t fully captured by the word ‘relaxed’ but more often is better captured by a word such as ‘aliveness’ or ’embodiment’.  At PCAB, we think the feeling of aliveness or embodiment is a good thing to have more of.

Trauma-informed Care and Trauma-specific Treatment are two related, relatively new, and loosely-defined terms that are often confused. PCAB is a trauma-informed school that teaches trauma-informed bodywork, but it does not offer trauma-specific treatment, similar to how a company may abide by standards of equality and non-discrimination while its products or services are not directly related to such issues. Trauma-informed services or practices are often characterized by the 4 Rs: Realize, Recognize, Respond, and Resist Re-traumatization.

How is posture relevant to health and wellbeing?   

Most massage therapists, and most people in general, have opinions about this.  In fact, most have been taught specific answers to this question.  And if asked “What do we need to discuss to properly address this topic?” most people would say words like muscles, fascia, and balance.

But I propose that if one truly wants to understand how posture is relevant to health and wellbeing, then what one needs to primarily grasp is the psychological question of what drives all behavior.  And if that seems far afield from muscles, fascia, and balance, it’s because it is.