eight things i learned from 50 naked people

The study, to be published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science,  revealed that home-baked cookies made by a loving relative really do taste better and that a good bedside manner can ease the pain of a patient. While it would appear that the pain of a slap or the joy of a caress would relate directly to the physical experience of touch, it would appear that how they are percieved is influenced by the context in which they appear. Says Kurt Gray, lead researcher, ‘The results confirm that good intentions—even misguided ones—can sooth pain, increase pleasure, and

make things taste better. More broadly, these studies suggest that basic physical experience depends upon how we perceive the minds of others.’

The conclusions of the study were drawn from three seperate experiments: examining pain, pleasure and the taste of a sweet treat. The study featuring pain found that bedside manner really does matter, with those from whom blood was drawn experiencing more pain than those being administered by a sweetly tempered nurse.

Meanwhile, those receiving help from family and friends felt more comforted if they believed the assistance was provided with generosity and compassion. And those eating sweet treats enjoyed them more when they thought that the cook had prepared it with love.

“It’s no surprise that food companies always pair their products with kindly old grandfathers and smiling mothers – thinking this make-believe benevolence likely increases our enjoyment.

“To the extent that we view others as benevolent instead of malicious, the harms they inflict upon us should hurt less, and the good things they do for us should cause more pleasure.”

This has clear applications in the field of massage therapy, demonstrating that therapists should cultivate a warm, responsive persona in order to give their clients the best treatment possible.

One oil that researchers have been particularly interested in is Lavender. This powerful, yet soothing oil has long been known to producing calming, relaxing  affects, and has been shown in previous studies to help alleviate the symptoms of insomnia, anxiety, depression, and other sleep disruption. One study, completed in 2005, demonstarted the effectiveness of lavender on patients with mild insomnia, while another, published in 2006, showed the effects of lavender on stressed college students.

New research conducted by the  Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, has revealed the effectiveness of the essential oil on patients in Coronary Care Units. As could be expected, patients in these units report poor sleep quality as a matter of course, so the oil’s effectiveness was impressive indeed. The trial included 64 male and female patients suffering from unstable angina and myocardial infarction, revealing large differences in the average sleep quality scores between the group who received aromatherapy and those who opted for sleeping pills. On average, the group who received lavender oil therapy reported a postitive change in quality of sleep.

You can use lavender yourself: our resident aromatherapist, Susan Munro, recommends adding a couple of drops to a cotton ball and tucking into into your pillowcase before bed. Another option is having a lavender bath: add 5 – 10 drops of pure essential oil (diluted with 10 – 20 mL of carrier oil, such as sweet almond) to warm bath water for a wonderfully relaxing prelude to bedtime. Even a sprig of fresh or dried lavender tucked into the pillow can help you get a restful night’s sleep. Susan is also able to make you up your very own sleepytime blend that can be applied to the wrists and temples before bed. Harness the power of aromatherapy for a wonderful night’s sleep today.

See the damage here:

We have been operating for the past month in nearby office space, a handy temporary solution, but as you could imagine not ideal for a clinic. We’d like to thank all of our customers for your patience and understanding over this time. The good news is that we have everything painted, installed and arranged, and with the arrival of our new door (a mildly important addition!) we have now re-opened to the public! Woo-hoo! We have a newly co-ordinated reception area, new chairs, lights and a new colour scheme to help you relax.

See our new clinic below:

Long story short, we’d love to see you in for another appointment!

Come and say hi and enjoy our wide range of treatments today.

You can still call 01506 238366 to schedule your appointments, or book online at http://tinyurl.com/bookmassage

The randomised controlled, paralell-group trial was conducted by Daniel C. Cherkin, PhD, of the Group Health Research Institute, in Seattle, Washington, and colleagues, at a local health care unit. The study focused on 401 people, each assigned either relaxation massage, structural massage, or usual medical treatment.

Cherkin’s team of researchers discovered, “Massage therapy improved function and decreased pain more than usual care in patients with uncomplicated chronic lower back pain [LBP] after 10 weeks.”

“We found that patients receiving massage were twice as likely as those receiving usual care to report significant improvements in both their pain and function,” Dr. Cherkin said in a press release. “After 10 weeks, about two-thirds of those receiving massage improved substantially, versus only about one-third in the usual care group.”

Interestingly enough, the study found that, ”No clinically meaningful difference between relaxation and structural massage was observed in terms of relieving disability or symptoms.”

The test subjects were mostly women with nonspecific chronic low back pain who were enrolled in a single healthcare system that provides treatment to a mostly white and employed population, suggesting more studies need to be done on the wider community in order to generalise the findings across socio-economic, gendered and ethnic borders. Results, however, are encouraging, helping to confirm what we see every day: massage therapy eases pain, promotes a relaxed, alert state of mind and a healthy body. Book a treatment with Wee Sally today to balance mind and body.

We provide these presentations free of charge, and also offer all attendees the opportunity to visit our clinic and receive a complementary session with one of our Therapists.

If you would like to arrange for us to present to your group, please contact us at contact@weesally.com 
Some of the conditions that we regularly treat are:

Fibromyalgia
Multiple Sclerosis
M.E
Stroke Rehabilitation
Post Surgery Rehabilitation and Scar Reduction
Chronic Pain sufferers
Eating Disorder Rehabilitation
Mental Health Support and Wellbeing

Any questions regarding what we can support, please don’t hesitate to contact us and ask.

The truth is, that the frequency you receive a massage depends on several factors.

Why are you receiving massage treatment?
What type of massage treatment are you receiving?
How much can you comfortably afford to spend on regular massage?

In general, if you are receiving a Swedish Massage or other modality purely for relaxation and what we would call “maintenance” having a massage every 4-6 weeks is  great.

If you have an acute condition or injury, we would advise at the time of your first session what the best treatment plan would be, but we would always aim to get you back to a place where the maintenance of every 4-6 weeks applies.

In the end, it is best to receive massage as often as you feel you need it, and can afford it.
If you feel like you could REALLY do with a massage but money is tight, why not ask for a 30 minute massage and then just focus on the particular areas you would like to have addressed.
After all, some massage is better than none, right?

If money is really tight, why not contact some local massage schools and find out if the could use bodies for their students to practice on?
This will often be offered for a vastly reduced rate, or on some occasions  for free.

If you  are looking for schools who may offer student services like this, please let us know and we can put you in touch with some schools that can help.

Massage Therapy is a delicate art Everyone is different and a great therapist will be sensitive, understanding, and a great listener, both of verbal cues and physical reactions. Often, a person’s body will relate what they are afraid to voice or unable to put into words. Signs of tension, stress, or discomfort can be read in a person’s body by a trained and experienced therapist, allowing the bodyworker to adapt their practice to suit the client.

Massage is a healing process No one treatment is a ‘cure all.’ Like every complementary procedure, massage is concerned with maintenance and establishing a new, healthier status quo. Just like you wouldn’t expect to go to the gym once and be fit for life, one massage isn’t going to fix everything. Regular massages (ever 2 -6 weeks) are essential for maintaining a healthy, flexible body and a relaxed mind.

Know what you want It’s important to select the correct treatment for you. When booking a treatment consider the following questions:

1. Are you looking for a more relaxing or remedial treatment? These terms aren’t mutally exclusive, but it’s a good idea to let us know whether you want to relax or would prefer a targeted treatment.

2. Do you want to address a specific physical issue or would you like a more generalised treatment?

3. Would you like to focus on one modality or include a combination? For example, it is possible to blend hot stone therapy with deep tissue, reflexology with relaxation massage, or reiki therapy with Swedish. These are just a few of the combinations available: it’s possible to pick and choose many styles to create a tailored treatment for your needs. If in doubt, your booking agent and therapist should be able to help you with choosing the correct therapy for you.

It’s not all about the Massage A great treatment is all about the experience: your therapist should be friendly and welcoming, the room warm and the table comfortable, the lighting and music just right. If any of these things are missing the treatment, while wonderful, can suffer as a result. We understand that the setting and environment is just as important to you as a stellar massage session. That’s why we use soft lighting, conduct a full client appraisal to ascertain your needs, and use  glorious heated sheepskin blankets on our tables to keep you lovely and warm.

There isn’t any such thing as a bad massage, just a massage that is badly adapted to your needs. At Wee Sally we are dedicated to providing a targeted, professional service that is perfectly attuned to your individual situation and treatment goals.

We currently have appointments available at the following times:
130pm
530pm
7pm

If you would like to be scheduled for an appointment, please call 01506 238366 ASAP before the times are filled.

We are now available at this location EVERY MONDAY.
So make sure you get booked in advance as spaces are limited.

Massage Therapy is an important mode of holistic medicine, aiming to bring together the body, mind and spirit in harmony to achieve homoeostasis (inner balance) as a whole person. While Western massage therapy has tended in the past to address foremost the mechanics of the body, Eastern therapies tend to give equal weight to the mind and spirit of the person being treated. It is believed that an imbalance in one system can provoke an imbalance in other systems. We can see this in how stress causes a variety of physical illnesses, including heart disease, respiratory problems and skin complaints, or how depleted spirits can be harmful to the body and have a slowing effect on the mind. We still don’t fully understand the complex web of interactions between mind, body and spirit however: we are complex organisms and everyone is different.

Natural or complementary therapies have been treating humans in a holistic way for thousands of years. Science is only starting to confirm why these techniques work the way they do: some therapies stimulate feel-good hormones and kill pain, some aromatherapy oil scents activate parts of the brain associated with pleasure and trigger memories, and certain sounds can influence our physical processes and moods. The inner workings of some therapies, like Reiki and Reflexology, haven’t yet been explained by science (existence of the human energy field was only confirmed 20 years ago), yet proof has been found that they have certain psychological benefits. The fact is the human body is made up of complex interactions between many forces, both seen and unseen: we just don’t have the instruments or the knowledge to reveal how they ‘speak’ to each other yet. We are complicated organisms filled to the brim with mysteries science is only just starting to uncover.

Book a holistic massage treatment with Wee Sally today and see how we can help you find balance in your life today.