Posted by: sheryl in pregnancy massage on
May 24, 2009
Pregnancy is a time to relax into your body and learn to truly care for yourself. Regular massage therapy is an excellent way to tune in to your body and allow yourself to be nurtured, but it can be expensive to receive consistant bodywork. That's why we've started a pregnancy massage clinic at Harmony Healing Arts. For six hours a week we offer 60 minute massage sessions for pregnant women by donation. Nobody is turned away. This time in your life is unique and brief, and a time when there are endless shifts and changes physically and emotionally. Massage can help relieve stress, soothe sore muscles, and fulfill our deep need to be taken care of.
Going into labor and motherhood feeling relaxed and deeply connected with your body is ideal for a smooth transition through birth and into caring for your newborn. This is an offering to our community of mothers, and we hope you'll take us up on the offer!
When I was pregnant with my son, Jayden, six or seven years ago, we had just moved to Ashland, Oregon, and discovered Jackson Wellsprings, the warm hot spring water filled public pool. My husband, Benjamin, used to take me there on those HOT 100 degree+ summer afternoons to float me in the pool. The blissful experience of floating weightless and held in his nurturing arms while my child floated in my womb was beyond my expression in words. Ben and I could both feel our little sweet one, moving in my belly as the three of us breathed together, swishing through the warm water. My mind would reach a state of being which must have been similar to the clear meditative presence of my unborn child, and there we would meet. I would emerge from our watsu session in a clear meditative calm, my body relaxed, my emotions balanced for a change. I always resolved in those moments to spread the word to pregnant women across the globe that the experience of Watsu Aquatic Bodywork is beautiful, unique, and an opportunity not to be missed.
Benjamin studied Watsu Aquatic Bodywork with Lexi and Terry in San Diego, and went on to take classes at Harbin Hot Springs with Harold Dull, who came up with the watsu technique, based on his shiatsu training. This is Benjamin's true talent and gift to the world.
