Tune Up Time!

When you're consistently overworked, run-down, achy, and cramped all over, it's time for an intervention. These current, flurrying times can create mental and physical congestion in the best of us, so that's why, more than ever, routine "body tune-ups" are a necessity rather than a luxury. Just like your car needs periodic oil changes, your body requires a reprieve from constant, repetitive activity and hard-to-break bad habits.

I've listed three options of bodywork or massage modalities (techniques) that can help you fend off any further damage:

1. Hawaiian Lomilomi Massage: Lomilomi simply means "massage," derived from ancient Polynesians and healers of Hawaii. I've been the lucky recipient of this deep-tissue-like modality many a time. What sets this technique apart from other deep tissue methods is the intense yet nurturing pressure that the therapist provides with his/her fingers, elbows, knees, forearm, knuckles, feet, and even stones to penetrate the most stubborn knots in your body. I once shed tears (but tears of elation, if there is such a thing) when my Hawaiian massage therapist straightened out about 85% of the most sinister adhesions in my hamstring, with his knees! He told me that "Polynesians will usually give you whatever they think they need to fix you." Uh, yeah.

2. Rolfing: Named after Dr. Ida P. Rolf, Rolfing is a system of soft tissue manipulation, which is recognized as a holistic method of soft tissue movement. Massage therapists who study Rolfing claim that patients gain straighter posture and height and can move more fluidly due to structural correction. What does this mean? Well, to many it means immeasurable pain. But I've tried this method and it was hardly any of that. In the past, I've left the Rolfer's office feeling like a simmered noodle--completely relaxed and calm. In my experience, Rolfing is different than most bodywork modalities in that the Rolfer spends most of his/her time working on a small part of your body. Be it your upper or lower back, arms, legs, and so on. During my last session, the Rolfer spent all of her time on my spine, where she deconstructed and re-aligned the soft connective tissue around it so that I left an inch taller. No exaggeration, really! We tested and measured. But alas, gravity always wins and gradually brought me back to earth, so to speak.

3. Acupressure: a Traditional Chinese Medicine technique derived from Acupuncture. Similar to Lomilomi, Acupressure practitioners use their fingers, hands, and other instruments. However, Acupressure is unique in that early adapters believed that the body has meridian points that can be stimulated by putting pressure on points at an entirely different but corresponding part of the body. Thereby, aiding in self healing and the restoration of yin and yang (balance) and chi or qi (energy or life force). My 4 foot, 8 inch, 74-year old Acupressure practitioner always relieves my headaches and eyestrain with a flick of her thick, Vienna sausage-sized thumbs. After every visit with her, she reminds me that she transmits a substantial amount of her chi into my problem areas, so I tend to wipe her out all the time. So, I thank her humbly and profusely and give her a box of freshly-baked almond cookies to help restore it.

You can find the bodywork modality appropriate for you at SpaFinder and save on your "tune-up" with a SpaFinder promo code from Savings.com. You may need it more than you think!