World Massage Festival
Massage Therapy Hall of Fame
Read our Philosophy - The Bridge Builder
 | Brita Ostrom 2007 Massage Therapy Hall of Fame Member |
Brita Ostrom began her massage practice at Esalen® Institute, 1969. Together with the Esalen® Massage Crew, she helped refine and continually update Esalen® Massage, an individualized, wholistic bodywork approach. Her studies with Trager, zero-balancing, Patrick Douce and Feldenkrais and countless movement, meditation and awareness practice, and psychological disciplines continue to grow and inspire her work. She is also a licensed psychotherapist and is convinced the body and mind are inseparable, always playing together. 'We don't have a healing field without connection,' she affirms. For her, the healing experience also comes through contact with nature, something bigger than ourselves. She teaches in the US, Canada, and Japan.
Website: Esalen Institute
Website: Esalen Institute
Hips and Wings: Advanced Esalen Massage
4 CE Contact Hours
The appendicular skeletal junction is a major stress accumulator in the body. This course will renew and refresh skills in the most central regions of common physical complaints: the low back and hips as well as the shoulder girdle. Through table movement, stretches, deep specific massage, and full integration, practitioners will learn to work more effectively.
We can usually recognize someone from afar by the way he and she walks. Posture, lifestyle, and attitude all are guided through the hips. Freeing the movement and muscular holding through this part of the body benefits the whole person. The shoulders follow suit, and the result of this work is beautiful fluid movement through the whole body.
One of the guiding tenets of the Esalen® Massage is the notion of working with one’s partner, rather than fixing. Special focus will be placed on how to effectively listen through the hands, how to develop a field of trust and how to emerge from the session refreshed.
We can usually recognize someone from afar by the way he and she walks. Posture, lifestyle, and attitude all are guided through the hips. Freeing the movement and muscular holding through this part of the body benefits the whole person. The shoulders follow suit, and the result of this work is beautiful fluid movement through the whole body.
One of the guiding tenets of the Esalen® Massage is the notion of working with one’s partner, rather than fixing. Special focus will be placed on how to effectively listen through the hands, how to develop a field of trust and how to emerge from the session refreshed.
The Elements of Esalen® Massage
3 CE Contact Hours
Esalen® Massage incorporates meditative presence together with flowing integrative massage strokes to awaken a whole-hearted sense of inner peace for client and practitioner. This stimulates the natural impulse toward self-healing, release, and freedom of movement. The Esalen® Massage is an unforgettable experience for giver and receiver alike. 'I enjoy giving as much as receiving' is a frequent comment. This isn't magic, and this course will teach specific skills to get to this place.
This workshop will address the basic premises: how to begin the session in a calm, centered state; developing the listening touch, ways to easily incorporate the slow lengthening strokes and use them as a tool for deeper bodywork; specific skills to unlock the muscles. How to use the skeleton via movement and weight will also be emphasized.
Attention will also focus on the dynamics of breath and relaxation and the impact of touch. The course will underscore the importance of contact, non-verbal communication and clear intuitive guidance.
This workshop will address the basic premises: how to begin the session in a calm, centered state; developing the listening touch, ways to easily incorporate the slow lengthening strokes and use them as a tool for deeper bodywork; specific skills to unlock the muscles. How to use the skeleton via movement and weight will also be emphasized.
Attention will also focus on the dynamics of breath and relaxation and the impact of touch. The course will underscore the importance of contact, non-verbal communication and clear intuitive guidance.
Whole Body Holistic Massage: Releasing The Chest, Opening The Heart
3 CE Contact Hours
In a side-lying position, we will learn to work lightly and deeply, Breathing and the relaxation response, will be enhanced as we work the develop trust, work the ribs individually, and release the diaphragm. This brief course will bring the massage work you currently practice into a unified, integrative whole. three dimensional (3D) strokes, and the basic lengthening strokes of Esalen® Massage will bring your client into a fuller state of relaxation, awareness, and healing. We will include centering skills to enhance your quality of touch and self-care. We will use the natural setting of the conference site as the foundation and soul of our work.
The Human Factor In Bodywork
3 CE Contact Hours
All skilled bodyworkers know a myriad of techniques, approaches and philosophies of the body. This hands-on workshop will explore how to bring those skills in greater effectiveness and play. We will learn bodyreading, (structural and psychological), assessment, and its implications, centering and intuitive touch, and how to come into the session with our own full awareness and abilities. Practitioners will find that they emerge from this work charged up and calm because they have used more of their own potential skills. The client....well, the client might easily use words such as 'bliss', 'transformed,' 'you understand me'.
Return to the 2010 Workshop Listings
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