Today I saw a new client complaining of low back pain.  He’s a 25-year-old bartender, and knows that lifting the heavy objects at work is the big thing that does it.

When we were discussing the onset of his pain, he told me that it really started when he stopped going to a weekly yoga class. Though he worked at his job for several months prior to the pain, it really didn’t start to come up until he was no longer getting a regular dose of unwinding.

This observation made me think about the amazing benefits that just one class a week can make.  Of course, everyone’s body will respond to different things in different ways. But I will also say that with the clients I have that start to do more yoga in their lives progress in our sessions faster, become more aware of whats going on in their bodies, and feel empowered that there is something they can do about it on their own.  That’s what I call successful therapy.

For various reasons, I am incorporating yoga into my life more often.  I’m starting with a goal to attend one class weekly.  It sounds like even that small commitment will do wonders for me.  We will see!

Some of us that spend a good part of our day sitting. Hopefully, we start to realize the toll that those long hours in a chair are doing to our body.  Pain is our bodies version of yelling.  When it gets to that point it is hard not to listen to it.  This client is glad he did.

Here’s a new testimony from a client I have been working with for the past two months. He wrote this testimony after only two sessions.

“I hurt myself pretty badly.  What started as a normal back strain, turned into searing and radiating pain going down my leg and to my foot after long periods of sitting.  My left leg was weaker than a dying kitten, and walking was a chore.  Standing up at worked help.  Then, a lightbulb went off and I thought of my friend, Nyssa Hanger.  I came to Nyssa because I trusted her after knowing her for years, and she recommended a SET session.  At that point, I would have tried anything.  After the first session, I could actually feel the strength come back to my leg, and the pain decreased immensely.  A week later, after session two, the pain lessened further.  It is still here, but it gets better everyday in small, but important ways.  Thank you for the suggestion and the treatment and a sense of normality, Nyssa Hanger.” – Peter Baker, Tampa

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If you experience pain in your daily life, know YOU DON’T HAVE TO!  Many of the clients I see are like this client  - ready to try anything. I am thrilled to share with them this revolutionary technique Structural Energetic Therapy®. SET can help people rehabilitate from a range of painful issues including sciatic pain, low back pain, whiplash, fibromyalgia, and so much more! Visit my office in Lutz (North Tampa) and experience immediate change in your body for the better.  Contact me or schedule your appointment today!

“There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.”                    -Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”

A few weeks ago I saw a client of mine who was in a deep funk.  She was experiencing tremendous self-hate and was having a hard time getting out of it.  ”What do you do with despair?” she asked me.

The first thing I told her to keep in mind was that experiencing one’s darkness is important work.  I was reminded of this powerful book, “Healing through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Despair, and Fear” by Miriam Greenspan.  In this book she talks about how the unpleasant emotions have purpose and can be transformed into more positive states if we allow ourselves the opputunity to grow in the ways these feelings call us to.

About Despair, Miriam writes:

There is a decent to a state of death in life. We look and feel dead, but something is happening under the skin-if we let it. The mask of the old self is dying-a harbinger of resurrection.

I assured this client that we can use our massage session to focus on communicating with her body that she is worthy of love, through allowing loving touch.  This session made me realize how deeply we can affect the non-physical parts of ourselves through bodywork.

Even though her healing process will take more than this one massage session, our time together encouraged her to find opputunities for the self-care she needs.  She knows she is supported in her journey.

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Upward Spiral offers therapeutic bodywork for the body, mind, and soul.  Nyssa has dedicates the past 8 years to gathering knowledge about healing all aspects of the self.  Contact her at nyssahanger@gmail.com or schedule your first appointment.

On Friday morning I will be presenting to a group of percussion students at USF’s School of Music.  The director there knows about my work and believes that what I do can help many of his students that are starting to feel the aches and pains of long-term playing.  Part of what I am going to tell them is this:

The body loves repetition. The more we tell a muscle to flex and tighten, the more our body will become automatically poised to tighten and eventually decides to be proactive and just stay tight.  This is a big part of what causes problems over time as joints lose range of motion and start to move less effectively.

So one of the best things you can do when you are spending hours of practicing that is exercising the same muscles over and over again, reinforcing quick reflexes, is move around.  Spend some time doing completely different movements. Take a walk, do some dancing, go for a swim.  Then relax, practice relaxing the whole body after you’ve worked it so hard.  It will thank you and your kindness to it will pay off.

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Therapeutic bodywork, like SET, is great for anyone who is involved in jobs or hobbies that involve repetitive motion.  The sooner that you address the patterns that build from such activities, the longer you will be able to perform them and the more efficient you will be. Schedule your appointment and experience the possibilities.

One things that I find myself saying to new clients after trying Structural Energetic Therapy® and getting relief in their painful conditions is, “Now you know you don’t have to live in pain.”  That statement is often met with a smile and a sigh of relief.

For every person that makes it into my office, there are at least 4 more people out there searching for something that can help them.  Many of these people have never tried massage before and may not be aware that it can help with many common painful conditions like sciatica, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, plantar faciitis, migraines and headaches, scar tissue from previous surgeries and illnesses, and so much more.

A new client of mine a few weeks ago was one who had never had a massage before, but a reoccurring knee pain made him concerned that his ski trip coming up would include more bench sitting than actual skiing.  He was amazed at the difference that his one session made (no knee pain the whole trip!).  This client now knows the value of bodywork and won’t wait to schedule the next time he’s hurting.

Now he knows.  What about you?

In my last post, I highlighted a wonderful and recent success story I had with one of my clients.  After seeing me for regular bodywork for a year an a half, this client had a major breakthrough in her last session.  The following week she reported feeling better than she had since she gave birth to her 24-year-old son.

Though I feel I shouldn’t be surprised at the effectiveness of Structural Energetic Therapy, I didn’t see this magnitude of a shift coming.   I knew the work would help her as it always does but with such a drastic result I had to go back and think, “What was different about this session…?”

I realize that one of the key elements of my practice is maintaining a keen awareness of all the factors that contribute to healing. Physical and non-physical.  Meaning, I am aware that our physical bodies are affected by our mental/emotional states.  Often enough I find that physical healing can never fully occur until the underlying non-physical stuff is also addressed.  The tricky part is the non-physical stuff is not so straight forward, but I feel I am learning a thing or two…

When I look back at my last session with this client, there are two things that stick out to me.  First is that I asked her about her experiences with childbirth.  I don’t know how we got into talking about it but I found out her first birth was a long and tiring, resulting in uncomfortable changes in her body that she was still experiencing to some degree. It was insightful to hear about this experience for her and learn more about what her body had been through. I imagine it was probably also healing her her to share about it in a safe space.

Second, when this client was leaving she started to share about someone in her life that was being a bit…clingy.  I encouraged this client to stand her ground and set her boundaries with this person.  There is a connection between our bodies being able to “stand up for themselves” (meaning, support us fully) and our ability to do that within our inter-personal interactions.  In addition to being pain-free, my client reported the next week that she was able to stand her ground in this situation.

When we take care of ourselves from a perspective of wholeness, recognizing that all the pieces fit together and affect one another, we will often stumble into the recognition and healing of issues in sometimes different spheres of our lives.

Though my bodywork practice is mainly focused on the addressing physical issues, such as chronic pain, I can’t help but acknowledge that we are changing more than just the body.

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If you are looking to use a body-oriented approach to holistic healing, consider booking a Structural Energetic Therapy or Emotional Energy Release Therapy session.  Also, aromatherapy for transformation can be added to any session. Ask about Blossoming Heart Evaluations when booking or at your next session.

Last week, I saw a client I had worked on the week before.  I’ve been seeing this client on an average of 1-2 times per month since fall of 2010.  When she first came in she has been suffering from low back pain, occasional numbness in the legs, and pain in the hips.  Part of her condition had to do with years of gymnastics and horse back riding including several falls off the horse resulting in fractures and disintegration of dics in her lower back.

Even after the first several sessions this client started to experience improvement.  Within 6 months this client could bend over to tie her shoes without pain – something she hadn’t been able to do for 10 years!  I thought we had really made some progress.  Beyond being out of pain, this client would report feeling “younger, thinner, and more beautiful,” after our sessions.  So she’s kept coming back.

I saw this client a week after her last treatment and she shared with me sometime that was surprising.  She told me, “I have to tell you that I feel amazing since our last session. I feel better than I have felt since I had him,” pointing at her 24-year-old son.

This is BIG!  I started to wonder what it was about our session that pushed this client further into her healing than we had before.  Its hard to say what exactly made this improvement, but I have my suspicions that it had to do with more than just the bodywork…

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I strive to meet my clients where they are at, helping to support them in their healing journey.  I am so thankful to have a career where I get to help others free themselves from the painful prisons our bodies can become.  I have seen Structural Energetic Therapy help many people rehabilitate from conditions such as lower back pain, hip pain, sciatica, bulging discs, herniated discs, and more!

Next Tuesday I will be out at this great event at HCC Ybor Campus. It’s free and open to the public! I’ll be offering Aromatic Kineisiology Evaluations at my booth. At 10:15am, I’ll be doing a talk on “The Power of Connection: Mindfulness, Aromatherapy, and Living Your Life to the Fullest!” I’m excited!

Looking for a thoughtful gift

for your loved one this Valentine’s Day?

Consider giving the gift of a massage, and get something back yourself.

Purchase a gift certificate before February 14th, and receive 30 extra minutes added to your next session.

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If you are looking for something to do together, check out our

Partner Yoga/Writing Workshop on March 3rd,

Embracing the Other.

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Most importantly,

tell them you love them.

Yesterday on my table was a client I have been seeing since 2007.  When she first started coming in she had some pretty serious, on-going issues related to a high-stress work environment.  She came in every two weeks for years and we were able to make great strides in her healing journey. She eventually left the stressful job to pursue her passion full-time.  Her painful issues had gotten so much better and the new changes led to a year long lapse in our sessions. She held up great during this period but last summer realized it was time to come back.

She’s been seeing me every few months since then and intends to come back regularly throughout the year.  In our session yesterday she expressed concern about being away for a while, afraid that the structural changes we’d been making may be backtracking.  I assured her that the part to focus on is that she made it back and we will just keep moving forward, taking it one session at a time. It turned into a wonderful session where we broke out of our usual bodywork patterns, working on the area that is the least favorite but most needed.

This is the text message I received from her this morning:

“I enjoyed our session yesterday. Was a good one! I fear losing ground but when we have sessions like the one yesterday I just know it is a matter of keeping up with them. I feel content with the work”

I already knew just from the energy between us in the room yesterday that she enjoyed her session, but I am always thankful for the feedback.

It made me realize that she is right, it is just a matter of keeping up with them. My policy for my own self-care sessions is to always make the next appointment, even if it’s months from now.  There are certain times a session is a given, like my birthday or after a big exam. I go ahead and get them on the books. I figure, even if I can’t commit to coming in next week, or month, it is good to just know when the next time will be.  We don’t think about scheduling during our busy periods, but if the appointment is already made we are more likely to get the work when we need it most.

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Upward Spiral now has its own online booking. You can book your appointment when you are thinking of it, day or night. View current availability and book online.