Applied Techniques

A brief introduction to what you may experience during a treatment.

Cupping Therapy

An ancient practice going back thousands of years, Cupping involves the use of negative pressure to decrease restriction and stagnancy from deeper tissues. This may sometimes cause a discolouration effect, a varying colour of redness, but this is merely the body's natural response to healing. Discolouration is also a useful assessment tool that gives a good indication as to how much restriction lies under the surface.

Cupping has a huge range of benefits that include pain relief, enhanced blood flow, reduced stress, improved mobility and immune function and the removal of toxic waste from the tissues. The length of time a cup is placed varies, but it must comply to the client's comfort and tolerance.

Sacred Tree offers this technique only when the tissue is sufficiently warmed up. In our opinion, Cupping should not produce pain enough that it hinders the therapeutic value it gives.

General Swedish and Deep Tissue Massage

Swedish massage is essentially a Western approach to massage and is grounded in anatomy and physiology. It is at its core holistic and therapeutic in nature and its foundation can lead to more advanced techniques.

Its function is to manipulate soft tissue for relaxation, pain management, increased circulation, reduced fatigue, enhanced flexibility and the promotion of better mood and sleep.

All Swedish massage is founded on common principles and techniques with which every Swedish massage therapist will know and practice as it correlates to the safety in treating the body.

Deep Tissue massage utilises the techniques of Swedish Massage, only using deeper pressure, typically for larger muscles that require more pressure to release. Before this however, it is essential to warm up the tissue to avoid unnecessary pain and potential damage.

Myofascial Release

Fascia is an intricate and complex, interlinked structure that is found throughout the entire body. It is comprised of dense irregular connective tissue that encloses muscles, organs, nerves, blood vessels, ligaments and bones, and its structural pattern is similar to wood grain.

Its function is to provide a sliding and gliding element to tissue, to suspend organs in their proper place, to transmit movement from muscle to bone and to provide a supportive and moveable wrapping for nerves and blood vessels as they pass through and in-between muscles.

These connections form kinetic chains which can be directly compromised through physical ailments such as injury, scar tissue, and mental/emotional trauma.

Myofascial Release is to target these restrictions and relieve tension using long holds and spreading techniques. The experience is subtle, but the effect can have a huge impact on the function of the tissues that are supported by the fascia.

Shiatsu

Originating from traditional Japanese massage, Shiatsu helps identify the needs of the body and brings awareness to it, opening the door for the body to heal itself. It typically involves gentle palpation to the 12 meridian pathways of the body, named the Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen-Pancreas, Heart, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidney, Heart Constrictor, Triple Warmer, Gall Bladder and Liver meridians.

Much like blood flow, energy circulates through these meridians. If there is blockage or depletion of the flow of this energy there is an imbalance, resulting in physical and emotional symptoms. This imbalance can be caused by many things like diet, stress and physical or emotional trauma.

Unblocking and rebalancing the flow of energy can give the highest potential for the body to naturally reduce negative symptoms, essentially allowing the body to heal itself. Shiatsu can help in relieving chronic pain, stress and improve overall wellness.

Thai Foot Massage and Reflexology

A holistic and therapeutic practice drawing from the principles of traditional Thai massage and acupressure, this technique addresses the knee, lower leg and foot, targeting both physical and energetic imbalances in the entire body.

Application of pressure to the reflex points of the feet as well as the major energy pathways, or meridians, that run through the soles of the feet stimulate and energise the body's natural healing mechanisms and restores balance to the internal organs, glands and energy pathways. This can leave you feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.

It also improves circulation systemically and in the feet, stimulates the lymphatic and immune systems, improves flexibility in the feet, improves stress levels, sleep, headaches, mood and can bring clarity to the mental and emotional bodies.

Suikodo

A unique assessment and treatment system based on Shiatsu and Japanese medicine.

Suikodo is the practice of relaxing and resetting the position, tone or function of virtually any structure in the body. This is achieved by using gentle, specific and repetitive motions which stimulate the sensory and proprioceptive nervous system pathways transmitting signals to the spinal cord and brain.

These signals trigger a readjustment of the motor controls for the particular target region, causing it to relax.

Suikodo is a subtle and gentle approach to bodywork, so much so that it can be challenging to accept that such little movement can make a significant difference. Therefore it is important during treatment to relax and be open to the effects it can bring to the body and the mind.