14
Hours
To register, contact
brita.ostrom@esalen.org
Touch is a universal form of soothing, and it can awaken us to this moment,” the leader writes. “Familiar, nonsexual touch provokes the release of beneficial hormones and returns the body to the relaxation state. This workshop expands our understanding of healing touch. It offers tools to make touch safe and consensual, and allows for deeper release and present-moment centeredness within the context of a massage or bodywork session.
“The lingering effect of painful, disrespectful, or clinical touch can be to defend oneself, to become numb, shrink away, and freeze. How can we re-establish a loving relationship with our own body and sensation? How can touch restore trust?”
This workshop offers practitioners tools to help in the healing of difficult experiences through skillful and thoughtful touch. The course will address the following topics:
· The power of embodiment, of living in one’s body
· How to create safety through empathetic dialogue
· How to set up the space and the table to create a sense of safety and calmness.
· The basic elements of Esalen® Massage, and how it can release muscle rigidity due to fear-based contraction
• The earmarks of trauma and how to accept and address those fears.
The course will include instruction in the slow-paced Esalen® Massage and how to add detail work to unwind habitual muscular holding patterns. This workshop would be especially suitable for the experienced bodyworker, caregiver, or healing professional to learn the basic skills of attuned contact