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Step 4: embodied manual therapy that meets your individual needs

Updated: Apr 1


Two people clasping hands offering comfort, with the caption "putting your needs ahead of the treatment modality"

An embodied blended approach puts your needs ahead of the treatment modality. 

I am trained in:

  • Deep tissue massage,

  • Sports Massage

  • Trigger Point Therapy,

  • Fascial release,

  • Hot stones massage,

  • Pregnancy and postnatal massage,

  • Stretching from Thai massage,

  • Positional release of joints,

  • Craniosacral therapy. 


I am also passionate about meditation, Qi gong (a meditative form of tai chi) and many mindfulness techniques in my own personal practice living with a chronic injury.


A picture of Carmen the clinic owner treating a back with deep tissue wholistic massage with the caption "what does a treatment look like when you've got a sporting issue?"

What this means is I strive to meet your needs as an individual:

Whether it's a sporting issue:

Where something might be tight and restricted in a calf as you run, for example.


In this case we might take a structural approach, applying:

  • Deep tissue massage,

  • Sports massage,

  • Trigger point therapy

  • Stretching & positional release;


    An infographic showing specific shoulder work mobilising a shoulder blade, wholistic massage to the lower back, rehabilitation exercises, and a dynamic Thai stretch of the hip flexors holding a clients leg in sidelying position. with the caption "We might blend, sports, trigger point therapy, stretching and positional release and integrate it with the awareness of all of you with cranial techniques.

But then integrate the process by checking in with your nervous and fascial systems

Via cranio sacral therapy and fascial unwinding.



A person sat on a sofa with crutches beside them with the caption "what does a treatment look like if you are recovering from surgery?"

Or, you might have had a surgery:

You can feel your body is holding tension and discomfort, and/or an area of your body doesn't feel like it used to.


We might start by settling your nervous system & body as a whole.

Both the area that's not feeling quite right (the surgical region),


And make sure we haven't missed any fascial patterns elsewhere that are maintaining that "not right" feel.


Image of Carmen the clinic owner treating with a neck release using Craniosacral techniques with the caption "We might start by settling your nervous system and body as a whole"

This approach is very respectful of shock in all the physical forms it takes in the body.

In cases where the physical tissues have had a lot of trauma,


An image of a therapist holding the base of a childs head gently in a traditional Craniosacral hold, with the caption "I often utilise Craniosacral therapy and fascial unwilling to help your body settle and let go of shock and pain

This is the approach to take, utilising craniosacral therapy and fascial unwinding,

Because the body is crying out for nourishment rather than force.


A picture of flowers on a white background with the words "Bringing presence and compassion to sensations arising in our body is how we start: to listen to the feeling, embody it, understand it, resolve it, heal and overcome pain.

But outside of the techniques themselves...


I have learnt over & over again from treating both myself & individuals that:


Being compassionately with pain is how we overcome pain. 

Bringing presence & compassion to sensations arising in our body is how we start to:

  • Listen to the feeling,

  • Embody it,

  • Understand it,

  • Resolve it,

  • Heal & Overcome pain.



Picture of the clinic chairs that are used during consultation with the caption "A trauma-informed, pain-science and blended treatment approach"

A trauma-informed, pain-science, blended treatment approach
Offers presence & accompaniment to pain, no matter which technique is applied.

This blended approach both: 


Starts to rewrite the sensitisation of nerves in the body both around the injury site, and at every level of pain processing into the central nervous system, spinal cord and brain. 


Offers the body the space to be as it is, allowing the body to move into positions to release neurological and fascial patterns, in its own timescale and at its own pace.


A lady bent over holding the left side of her lower back with the caption "this changes how we feel about pain. Both the integrated feeling inside the body, and the emotions and thoughts that so often arise mentally"


This changes how we feel about pain

Both the integrated feeling inside the body


And the emotions and thoughts that so often arise mentally


Including how worried we are about being able to cope with it in our daily lives.


An image of two people sat on the decking outside the treatment room looking across the field. with the caption "But it is hard to do it alone at the beginning. Having someone embody patience, compassion and empathy... Well that changes our felt experience of pain for the better."


It also changes the treatment dynamic. 

Lots of manual therapies are the act of a therapist wanting to help change areas of the body.


My approach, which may seem counterintuitive, specialises in a listening touch that adapts to your needs in the moment.


It never forces change,


Creating space for you to be the way you individually need to be,


And in that allowing, real lasting changes occur.


An image of Carmen the clinic owner releasing a client's arm with fascial unwinding. the client has hot stones placed down their chest on top of towels.


What I’ve learnt is that an embodied approach is the way to overcoming pain. 

Compassionately being with the sensations that arise and reducing those feelings of alarm.


This is a really hard thing to do when you're on your own.


Having a therapist there embodying:

Patience,

Compassion,

Empathy...


Through the way they hold the limb that’s injured, starts to change the way we interact with pain through our whole felt experience.


This isn’t an intellectual activity, it’s a way of being.

An image of a US road through a mountainous national path with a road sign asking "Are you ready" and a caption saying "an embodied manual therapy treatment isn't an intellectual exercise, it's a way of being."


If you would like to know more about the next step in the journey of chronic pain


Please read on to: Empowerment at home


As ever, thank you for reading

A picture of the author and owner of the Makepeace and Massage clinic for pain relief: Carmen Makepeace

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