Bodywork: What Type of Massage to Get-And How to Make the Most of It - Hardcover

Claire, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688125816 ISBN 13: 9780688125813

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1995

Synopsis

A massage therapist explains what a massage feels like by describing a typical session of more than fifteen different massage therapies from around the world, including Swedish, Reflexology, Aromatherapy, the Rolfing Method, the Trager Approach, and Shiatsu/Acupuncture. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Claire was a National Merit Scholar at Kenyon College, received a Fulbright Scholarship to France, and was a University Fellow at Brown, where he received a master's degree in comparative literature. After getting an MBA from Columbia, he held various positions in banking and corporate finance. He left the world of business after thirteen years to explore writing and bodywork. He is now a licensed massage therapist, a graduate of the Therapeutic Touch. Claire writes for publications including Massage Therapy Journal. He lives, teaches, and practices in New York City.

Reviews

"Bodywork," a holistic therapy that involves touch, "has only recently come to mean something other than auto repair," notes Claire, a New York massage therapist at the start of his exhaustive guide to the myriad massage therapies available today. Following a user-friendly design, the book is divided into six parts, the first five of which group profiles of related bodywork practices. Swedish massage and its variants make up the first section, for example, while shiatsu gets a chapter in "Asian Bodywork" and craniosacral therapy is taken up in "Energetic Bodywork." After detailing the background, theory and practice of each modality, Claire presents firsthand impressions of a therapy session. Though unquestionably informative, these sections are marked by Claire's heavy-moving, earnest prose and extensive self-awareness: "I must be developing inner structural clarity," he observes while opening a jar after being rolfed. The last section, "Supplemental Information: Simple Tools," which features extensive lists of resources for further information, a glossary, bibliography, notes and index, rounds out this useful guide.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Claire, a licensed massage therapist, has written a complete guide to assessing a wide range of therapeutic practices, from deep muscle to gentle touch. He demystifies massage by explaining how to evaluate practitioners and where to check their credentials. He then presents the theory, benefits, contraindications, and practitioner training for numerous techniques. He describes how a typical session feels for each type, including Swedish massage, Rolfing, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Myofascial Release, Trager Approach, Shiatsu, Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Reiki, Cranio Sacral Therapy, Holotropic Breathwork, Polarity Therapy, and Therapeutic Touch. Claire includes a comparative summary of bodywork practices, glossary, extensive bibliography, and directory of professional associations, licensing boards, spas, and health centers. His unique and user-friendly reference deserves a place on the shelves next to guides on how to choose a lawyer or a physician.?Valerie Vaughan, Hatfield P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688125816
• ISBN 13: 9780688125813
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 440