massage Archives - Renu Massage, Energy & Bodywork in Madison

Healthy Living, Massage, Natural Remedies

Massage Therapy for Mental Health

Tis the Season… to take care of your mental health. Many of us feel more stress, anxiety and/or depression around the holidays. You are not alone if you are feeling any of these things.

The National Institute of Mental Health indicated that in 2019 almost one in five adults lived with mental health issues. In June 2020, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed that nearly 40 percent of Americans were experiencing some sort of mental health concern, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women experience one trauma in their lifetime. Additionally, 7 to 8 percent of adults will have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their lifetime.

Pain, fatigue, muscle tension and sleep disruptions can result from mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and PTSD. There is an abundance of research suggesting that massage therapy can and does help with many chronic health conditions.

Some questions to ask yourself:

Do you have difficulty attending to every day activities?
Do you feel depressed or hopeless?
Have you noticed a drastic increase or decrease in energy?
Have you noticed a change in appetite or weight?
Are you sleeping too little or too much?

Please consult a mental health professional if you are experiencing the above, and you don’t have other contributing factors. Your primary care physician is a great place to start if you don’t have your own mental health professional.

Massage therapy can help, but it is no substitute for a thorough medical evaluation. Massage therapy can bring relief as you manage your medical journey.

Learn more about how myofascial release can help with anxiety, depression, and exhaustion from John Barnes, PT, LMT.

References: Massage Today

December 15, 2021/by Heidi

Body Treatments, Cupping Therapy, Healthy Living, Massage, Natural Remedies

Want Faster Results from Chiro?

You’ve heard of muscle memory, right? Did you know that can work against you when you’re trying to fix postural or structural alignment issues? Your muscles are creatures of habit – and they really like being where they’re used to being, even if it’s causing you pain. It takes time and consistency to retrain those muscles.

Massage can help! So can cupping therapy!

Manual therapies like massage and cupping therapy speed the time it takes to retrain the body – by disrupting the previous patterns, releasing adhesions, and loosening up the tissues, those tissues then are more ready to respond to a new direction.

Massage & chiropractic go hand in hand. Same with physical therapy.

Check out our Wellness subscription rates today. Or book an appointment.

March 3, 2021/by Heidi

Healthy Living, LGBTQIA+, Massage

Love Is Love

Celebrate love all month long! 💞 💘 💝

You can spoil your loved one with a much-needed massage… Has anyone been feeling stressed this past year?!? 🙋🏻 Massage is the perfect gift!

You can add hot stones, aromatherapy, or both – for an amazing experience. They will love it.

We offer online gift certificates as well as the more traditional, hand-written kind.
Prefer the latter? Contact us and we’ll make arrangements for you!

Let’s focus on all that’s good right now – and also spoil each other!

February 1, 2021/by Heidi

Healthy Living, Massage

How’s That Resolution Coming?

As a new year dawns, we want to encourage you not to get down on yourself if you’re not making progress on your resolutions. Or even if you skipped resolutions altogether this year! That’s a valid choice.

2020 was rough. A lot of that carried into 2021. So don’t go crazy with resolutions.

One easy thing you can do for yourself is to incorporate massage as part of your regular self-care. It’s so important, and many have been going without during the pandemic.

We know everyone is feeling more stress right now, and we’re here to help! Check out our Covid-19 safety protocols, and feel free to insert a hepa filter into your mask for extra protection.

January 29, 2021/by Heidi

Healthy Living, Massage

Have You Thanked Your Kid’s Teacher Yet?

2020. It’s been hard on all of us.

Imagine how much tougher your job was this year, and then consider those who really got dumped on: teachers, health care workers, delivery workers, parents with kids in school.

Know anyone who needs some stress release? Massage can help!

If you’ve got cash to spend on gifts, this is the perfect opportunity to thank those who have served you and are likely exhausted by now.

And even if they aren’t ready to get a massage yet, they’ll still be able to use their certificate post-pandemic. Renu will absolutely honor it.

So say thanks to someone who went above and beyond this year, and help a small business while you’re at it! It’s a win-win.

Because who doesn’t want to feel like this right now?

December 16, 2020/by Heidi

Healthy Living, LGBTQIA+, Massage

Are you tired of checking boxes that don’t fit? We got you.

At Renu, we want to know your pronouns and your preferred name. We want you to feel nurtured and respected while we help you feel better physically.

Life is a beautiful spectrum, and we are a safe space for everyone, regardless of where they may be on any given spectrum.

We may not have our couples room available during the pandemic, but we can still be a place to celebrate any occasion, or even just the end of 2020!

Say “buh-bye” to 2020 by caring for yourself – get a massage today!

December 4, 2020/by Heidi

Healthy Living, LGBTQIA+, Massage

Renu – Now at Greenway Station!

2020 has been… tough to say the least.

But one great thing this year was our move to our own store front in Greenway Station. We are so thrilled!

We’ve got four private session rooms with a soothing decor and our very very own nongendered bathroom so no one needs to decide which box they fit in when given a binary choice; everyone can feel completely safe during all aspects of their visit with us – during their massage, before and after. We thrive on serving the queer community and being a safe space.

Two therapists max will be working at the same time, so each session can be in a fresh, new room. See our Covid-19 protocols for all of our safety measures. We take this pandemic very seriously!

We can’t wait to work with you again!

November 30, 2020/by Heidi

Body Treatments, Healthy Living, Massage, Natural Remedies

Emotions and Bodywork – We Are Connected Beings

By Heidi Aschenbrenner,BCTMB CCT, LMBT and Member AOBTA

Our bodies are wonderfully complicated entities, which makes the field of bodywork so exciting. Any kind of bodywork that delves into the fascia prompts change in those tissues, on a level that can’t be accessed with other methods of healing. (Fascia is a blanket term for all connective tissue in the body.) Our soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin – all the softer fascia of the body) can be stretched, strengthened, injured, or torn. Thankfully, our bodies adapt and compensate for an immense variety of potential mishaps that we encounter as we go about our lives with both our work and our play. Also thankfully, our bodies do heal, and they can also be retrained out of any bad habits we’ve had – all we need to do is prompt our muscles to do different things to learn new behaviors. What a wonderful fascial system we have!

Many of us have had some type of injury. We may have gone through physical therapy, we may have just put some ice on it and taken anti-inflammatories until our acute pain went away, or we may have ignored the pain until we no longer noticed it anymore, pushing through the daily “have to’s.” The fascia does eventually heal, sometimes in spite of ourselves. But… if there was any emotional trauma connected to that injury, the emotional aspect of the injury does not simply go away as we ignore it. Ah, the complication now arises.

therapeutic-massage-bodywork Our fascia retains those emotional memories. If this is a new concept to you, then pause and think on that for a moment: our fascia retains those emotional memories until we release them. Unless you have experienced this phenomenon, it may be difficult to grasp. I had grasped the concept mentally years ago, yet I still was not fully prepared for the first time I experienced this type of healing. Many of us have learned to push down our emotions, pressing on and not stopping to feel or to grieve. There may be fear, sadness, or anger associated with any traumatic event that results in physical injury. How often do you think we allow ourselves the time and space to process those feelings at the time they occur?

Many of our chronic pain issues are simply our bodies crying out, begging us to pay attention to what still needs healing, and it may need to be on an emotional level. Our bodies can wait a very, very long time for this, but eventually push comes to shove and then someone’s back goes out simply from picking up some laundry. Chronic pain plagues so many of us, and so often the medical community doesn’t understand exactly what is causing that pain. Pain is the body’s method of communicating to us that we need to stop what we are doing and change something. Discovering what needs to change is not always a simple task.

How do we experience this healing? It requires trust in your therapist. It requires slowing down and allowing your mind, body and spirit to express what needs expressing. It requires not forcing your fascia to do what you think it “should” but rather just letting go. It requires not having an agenda for your bodywork session, which comes back to trusting your therapist. Letting go with your mind is imperative so that your fascia can then let go of whatever it still needs to; you need to be in a parasympathetic state for this type of healing to occur, and for any real changes in your fascia to occur. If you are one who likes to chat during massage, you will never get to this level of healing.

Not everyone needs this deep emotional release during bodywork, but many of us certainly do. If you ever feel the need to weep during a bodywork session, please remember that it is good and healthy to let that happen. Don’t stifle the healing process with any “should’s.” You are safe with your therapist, and all licensed therapists receive training on this very topic. I recommend that you talk to your therapist if you’d like to know more.

Heidi Aschenbrenner, BCTMB CCT, LMBT and Member AOBTA, is the owner of Renu Massage, Energy & Bodywork. Heidi’s team of therapists all strive to achieve balance in each session through the use of energy work incorporated into their bodywork therapies.

March 17, 2017/by Heidi

Healthy Living, Massage, Natural Remedies

Why regular massage is so very, very good for you

Is massage or other kinds of bodywork part of your regular wellness habits?

Or do you just come in for special occasions when you believe you deserve a treat? Massage is considered part of health care in other countries and has been an ancient form of healing. It’s no surprise that most chiropractors have an onsite massage therapist as part of their practices. Massage has benefits for the physical body, the mind, and your energetic life force.

9 Great Benefits of Massage

1. Do you see a chiropractor? Every time you get adjusted, your muscles will want to pull your spine or pelvis back to to where it was before, since those muscles had adjusted themselves to that position. Massage helps train them to go back to how they should be in relation to the newly adjusted bones.

2. Do you exercise? Massage therapy has many great benefits when combined with exercise. Even if you don’t consider yourself an athlete, all adults should be getting regular exercise, and massage will help to:

reduce muscle soreness
improve your range of motion
balance your muscle tone (to prevent it from being too highly toned)
improve exercise performance
decrease muscle stiffness after exercise
promote relaxation

massage therapy myofascial release 3. Massage relieves pain. Most people either already have or will experience back pain at some point, and massage enables those people to feel better and be able to function instead of remaining debilitated. Same goes for headaches and migraines.

4. Say hello to endorphins during every massage session. You know that great feeling you get after you’ve peaked in your exercise session? Get more of that natural goodness with massage. Endorphins are our natural pain killers and stress fighters. Who doesn’t want more natural stress fighters?

5. You will sleep better! Most of us could use a little extra rest, so why not promote healthy sleep with regular massage? Your brain will thank you. You will also feel more alert, one 1996 study found.

6. Your immune system will be boosted according to a Cedars-Sinai study from 2010. “This research indicates that massage doesn’t only feel good, it also may be good for you,” said the principal investigator of the study. ”More research is ahead of us but it appears that a single massage may deliver a measurable benefit.”

7. You’ll even look better! Massage increases blood flow and stimulates lymphatic drainage, making your largest organ (skin) look healthier and younger. Cupping therapy on the face greatly multiplies this particular benefit! We call this Facial Rejuvenation Cupping at Renu.

8. Soothe anxiety and depression without medication. Massage reduces cortisol, that pesky stress hormone. We all know cortisol much too well, and massage directly reduces cortisol levels, multiple studies have shown.

9. Massage soothes the mind and spirit, not just the body. During massage or bodywork sessions, you will enter a parasympathetic state (like a meditative state), allowing mindfulness to occur naturally. This helps balance you emotionally and spiritually, in addition to all the great physical benefits mentioned above.

Massage is important for your health. It’s documented. It’s something that many people with debilitating pain have discovered has helped the regain their lives. But regular massage should not be enjoyed only by those in chronic pain; each of us will benefit by incorporating a monthly massage into our lifestyle. We really can’t afford not to!

Schedule Appointment

References:

AMTA article

Science Daily article

Huffington Post article

Prevention.com article

MassageTherapy.com article

July 14, 2016/by Heidi

Massage

Partner with your bodywork therapist to achieve results

I meet a fair amount of people who think of massage and bodywork as a luxury, something to treat oneself to on special occasions. While it is a true massage, feels wonderful and is a great way to celebrate, it seems these people are missing out on a huge opportunity to improve their overall daily health. When people like this come into my practice, I can usually see lots of benefits to regular bodywork that they would experience if they allowed themselves to take care of their bodies. And even if they agree it’s a good idea to do it more often, we won’t see them again for months.

Self-care is important — it is not a luxury at all! We all know to put on our own oxygen mask first in the very unlikely event that our airplane loses cabin pressure, but not all of us know how to take care of our own body, mind and soul. Massage and bodywork address all three of those, and it feels good too! Granted, sometimes bodywork doesn’t feel great if we have super tight or knotted areas, or areas that have been causing pain in the body for some time. Sometimes it does need to feel worse before it feels better. But that doesn’t mean that massage feels wonderful but has no benefits; it absolutely does. We depend on and expect our bodies to carry us from one activity to the next, and we often have such expectations without giving it the appropriate care. It’s no wonder so many people have aches and pains, since bodies are contracting during exercise and fast-paced living, yet not very often getting stretched, soothed, or returned to their elongated state filled with wonderful oxygen. So even an average Jane or Joe who has no complaints can benefit greatly from massage.

Some physical issues can be resolved quickly and efficiently with bodywork, but others are more complex and deeper within. Those in this category often know they need bodywork to address an issue, and they expect if they just keep showing up to regular massage appointments then their issues will magically be resolved without any effort on their part. While massage or other bodywork is a great and appropriate thing to do for a great many chronic conditions, it is only part of the equation and only goes so far. The recipient bears the responsibility to fill that gap and to partner with the therapist to really see some fantastic results. Filling the gap can be done with emotional or spiritual healing, or even by changing some regular habits that are creating the pattern we are trying to change. The bodyworker gets an hour with someone every few weeks, and those habits get a significant more amount of time.

Personally, I have found that true healing is multilayered. Pain in the body can be as simple as surface level, but chronic issues usually have an emotional, energetic and spiritual component. Each person on the journey of healing needs to seek healing on all these layers. And very importantly, communicate with the therapist before, during and after sessions about what is working and not working, what is being felt and experienced, or anything else that feels relevant. A therapist can often read signals the body gives, but a therapist can never know what a client is thinking, feeling or wanting without being told. The more input a therapist receives, the more efficient that therapy session will be.

Whether you are looking to massage and bodywork for relaxation, to heal an old injury or provide relief from chronic pain that affects your daily activities, it is vital that you see your relationship with your therapist as a partnership. Your therapist needs your input to get to the core of the issues that you want to resolve. Together, you can journey through the path of healing to the other side.

June 12, 2015/by Heidi

Posts

Celebrate love all month long! 💞 💘 💝

Is massage or other kinds of bodywork part of your regular wellness habits?

9 Great Benefits of Massage