WHY WE LOVE MASSAGE
My name is Lizzie Burrowes and I have recently joined the Eucalyptus team. I am a dedicated and passionate massage therapist and I would like to share a bit about the therapy of massage, my experience both as a receiver and as a therapist, what you can expect from one of my massages and how the fusion of styles within a treatment can have a transformative effect on the mind and body.
I love massage. One of my favourite things in the world is to receive a good massage. I really enjoy giving massage and I love that my job is to help people to feel amazing. Perhaps one of the oldest and simplest of health treatments, massage has been widely used in many traditional cultures for thousands of years and particularly in the east, it’s accepted that regular massage for good health and wellbeing is a way of life. Ancient Greek and Roman Physicians used massage as one of the principle means of healing and relieving pain. Hippocorates, known as the Father of medicine’ in the early fifth century wrote “physicians must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing….For rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid” so, timelessly, humans have turned to massage to relieve, restore and reconnect.
As children, we live very much in our bodies, running around barefoot, climbing, jumping and playing and being joyful in our bodies. As adults, many people find themselves living more and more in their heads and the muscles and tendons become tight and restricted as stress and tension from the mind, manifests in the body. People find that they are living very much in their heads, rather than present in the body, but what is being felt in the body is pain and discomfort as certain areas cry out for attention. A massage offers the opportunity to step off the treadmill for a section of time. Time that you have invested in nurturing and caring for yourself and you will be unable to be pulled back to the endless to do list or any other distraction. This time is for you and you only, with a therapist who is dedicated to helping the body activate its own healing system.
You step in out of the cold, into a warm, candle lit room, with beautiful soft music playing and leave all stresses and whatever is going on outside the door. Then relax, let go and hand it all over to someone else to take care of. I love little more than lying on a massage table and feeling the first grounding touch of the therapists hands. I know it is going to be a good hour. I love feeling the tension and tightness being kneaded away as the therapist palpates with hands and elbows and stretches my body in a way that I just could not do myself. I love the feeling of letting go of all the stagnant energy and sensing the chi flowing freely through my body again. I love the feeling of release, both physically and emotionally and the sense that I am reconnecting and aligning.The pressure and movement on the muscles result in the release of endorphins, inducing a state of pure bliss.
As a massage therapist who adores having massage myself, I do my utmost to provide the transformative and satisfying experience that I would hope to receive in a treatment within a nurturing and safe environment. I am trained in several styles of massage and combined with the vital components of intuition and experience, I apply a fusion of Swedish, sports, deep tissue, Thai, Indian head massage, acupressure, trigger points and fascial techniques. I use whatever is needed. Maybe not all in one treatment, but whatever we collectively feel is needed. By using techniques from different schools of massage, I am able to pick the most appropriate mix for the receiver at that given time.
Whether it’s pain or stress relief, emotional healing, relaxation, becoming more supple, feeling more aligned and in touch with your body or just for some blissful time out, a massage can be the perfect medicine, treatment, treat, indulgence, gift of self care….whichever way you look at it.
Lizzie Burrowes, Massage Therapist