Massage and Mental Health

Massage Therapy and Mental Health!

Massage therapy is commonly used for relaxation and pain relief, and it can also be an effective therapy for aspects of mental health.

Research suggests that symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression may be positively affected with massage therapy.

Reserach shows massage therapy may help:

  • Reduce trait anxiety and depression with a course of care providing benefits similar in magnitude to those of psychotherapy.1
  • Increase neurotransmitters associated with lowering anxiety and decrease hormones associated with increasing anxiety.2
  • Significantly decrease heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure.3
  • Reduce depression in individuals with HIV, lessen anxiety in cancer patients, reduce anxiety and depression in military veterans and lower work-related stress for nurses.4

References

1. AMTA Position Statement: Massage Can Reduce Symptoms of Depression
2. AMTA Position Statement: Massage Therapy for Anxiety
3. AMTA Position Statement: Massage Therapy Can Relieve Stress
4. AMTA Research Roundup: Massage for Mental Health and Wellness

Quarterly Massage Newsletter: Sign up now!

AMTA’s e-touch is a quarterly, e-newsletter geared toward massage therapy consumers. Regular features include massage in the news, health and wellness tips, and massage in your community.

You can subscribe to this free, e-newsletter to keep on top of the latest trends in massage therapy and wellness.

Massage and Depression
Jun 25, 2014
Some promising research suggests that symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression may be positively affected through massage therapy.
Massage for Seasonal Allergies
Jun 25, 2014
For some, the winter of 2014 has had a lingering effect: a longer allergy season. Massage therapy has been shown to help with the symptoms created by seasonal allergies.

5 Ways Massage Therapy Can Improve Your Health!

5 Ways Massage Therapy Can Improve Your Health!

Massage therapy can play an important role in your health regimen. Here are five ways massage may improve health and wellness.

1. Lower stress. The longterm effects of stress can take emotional and physical tolls. Massage therapy may relieve stress and conditions associated with it, such as tension headaches.

2. Increase immune function. Medical research indicates that massage therapy can help boost immune system strength by increasing the activity level of the body’s natural “killer T cells,” which fight off viruses.

3. Boost mental health and wellness. Research suggests that symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression (all associated with mental health) may be directly affected with massage therapy.

4. Manage pain. Pain can negatively affect a person’s quality of life and impede recovery from illness or injury. Recent findings highlight the role of massage in pain management.

5. Improve physical fitness. Elite and recreational athletes alike can benefit from massage therapymassage can reduce muscle tension, improve exercise performance and prevent injuries.

SC Massage Therapy Awareness Week, Oct. 19-25th

Governor Nikki Haley declares October 19-25, 2014 South Carolina’s Massage Awareness Week! Please visit us daily for blogs about valuable information about massage therapy! Here are some of our upcoming posts.

  • 5 Ways Massage Therapy Can Improve Your Health
  • Easing Knee Osteoarthritis Sheet
  • Massage and Mental Health
  • Massage Consumer Fact Sheet
  • Low-Back Pain Sufferers: Massage Therapy Can Help
  • Massage Therapy for Inflammation after Exercise
  • And more…

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Happy Fall Y’all!

Thanks so much for taking the time to get the FULL scoop on our offerings!  We hope you are looking forward to the cooler temps, football games and upcoming holidays. Here is our scoop…

  • Fall into Savings! 
    1. Buy a gift certificate online and receive 15% bonus! For example, buy a 60 minute gift certificate now for $70 (expires within a year) and we’ll give you $10.50 in an additional gift certificate for you or anyone else to use within 6 months. Never before offered in our history. Good through Oct. 31st. Get one now!
    2. All 60 minute massages with Kelly in Hartsville are only $60!
    3. All 60 minute massages with Slynda and Christel in Florence are only $60! 
    4. For all the specials, book online or simply mention this promotion when booking on the phone. Must bring in a digital or hard copy of this page for your appt.
  • kelly_bullard_smKelly Bullard is a Certified Personal Trainer! Whoo-wee! Congrats Kelly!  She has earned her Masters in Exercise Physiology and took this extra step to become certified, too. She is an avid runner that has competed in the Boston Marathon and qualified for 2014 as well. Allow our licensed and educated personal trainers to help you start and/or be successful with your fitness plan. You will be assessed for cardiorespiratory, strength and mobility function. Measurements of height, weight and body girth can be taken as baseline data to track your improvement. This information provides us with the foundation to help you create your S.M.A.R.T. health and wellness goals. It is essential that you have a thorough understanding of safe and effective exercise. Start your health and fitness regimen with Kelly and book a personal training session! Call us if you have any questions. We partner with Fitness World Gyms and you do not need to be a member for personal training.
  •  Christel picPlease welcome Christel Robinson, LMT #8192, is from Lumberton, NC and moved to Florence in 2012. In 2007, she graduated from Miller Motte College in Massage Therapy and has been utilizing her skills ever since. She enjoys spending time with her family, shopping and traveling.

 

  • Workplace WellnessAre you ready for a healthier and happier workplace? Ever thought about having chair massage available where you work? Health and wellness consulting may be exactly what your workplace needs to begin or improve upon your employee health program. Visit The Body Works! for more info.

 

  • Truestar Health: You have free, online access to better your health and well-being with Truestar Health. Create custom Nutrition, Exercise, Vitamins, Attitude and Sleep plans in a matter of minutes. All ages and health concerns are welcome. Simply LOG IN and away you go. Truestar has plenty of giveaways and incentives to keep you healthy, too. Just try it and see!

Many blessings, The Body Works! Team

49th Annual Women in Business Celebration: Beneath the Mask!

Program page 2

Thanks for visiting our website and hope you thoroughly enjoyed the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce’s 49th Annual Women in Business Celebration and the presentation “Beneath The Mask.”  I am so humbled to have the opportunity to share in the fun with you. As promised, you will find some excerpts from the presentation, fun pictures and our special gift to those who attended at the very bottom. For those who weren’t able to make the event, feel free to read through a quick, pictorial overview of the presentation and mark the date on your calendar for next year. You don’t want to miss it.

Lady Gagas Finest            carl jung

Lady Gaga’s Finest Masks! These are not the typical Halloween masks we see and definitely not masks that Carl Jung – famous for his personality archetypes theories – suggested we wear as part of our persona. Instead, he suggested that our persona represents all the masks we wear in societal situations. We typically think of masks with negative connotations and use common idioms like “save face” or “that was just a front.” However, our masks and faces we put on can be very beneficial to our daily lives and function.

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Facebook is one of history’s most popular and global “Persona Canvas!”  You paint what you want others to see. Ironic name, huh?

duck face pics

Oh, in case you didn’t know about duck-faced selfies, here are some fun pics. Aren’t they so beautiful?

Ericka and DrummerLuke Bryan

The Body Works! (whooo) LLC provides health and wellness solutions to organizations and individuals. Visit The Body Works! website for more info. Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork LLC, part of The Body Works!, has multiple locations in Hartsville and Florence and provided therapeutic massage services to Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan bands at the Florence Civic Center. Whoo! And here are the arms and jeans, as promised. Are you a fan yet?

luke armsluke bryan dancing pics - Google Search

Often times celebrities have an entertainer persona that enables them to do their job ridiculously well. When he realized I had no idea who he was, he didn’t need that persona anymore. Persona’s shift as our situations shift. These can be perfect opportunities to discover our own masks.

Braveheart Painted Face

This was about my exact expression when I saw that I had painted face red, white and blue in front of the GE Global Security Leader. Now, that was inside out? Messed up? Albert Einstein said that “Humanity is going to require a substantially new way of thinking if it is going to survive.” If you choose to live from the heart, not create barriers and accept your circumstances, you are choosing to live from the inside out. That’s a new way of thinking! Live inside out in our outside in world!

cannot change

Embrace who you are at the core. Embrace the masks you wear. If you don’t like something, own it and change it. Get help. Jim Carey said, “Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.” When you think that life happens for you, circumstances become blessing and/or opportunities. Life belongs to a grand purpose and plan. And that purpose is not about the outside world coming in but what is inside, shining out. What lies beneath the mask is you. All of your masks are still you. Embrace or change them, so you can live inside out in this outside in world.

15 offDon’t forget to print out your coupon if you attended the Celebration! It’s good for 15% off any service until March 1, 2015. Not to be used with any other discount or offer.

Many blessings, Sarah Gerschutz, M.Ed., LMT, CPT

The Body Works! (whoo) LLC

August’s Back to School Special!

welcome-back-to-school-1

Don’t miss out on the chance to save $10! All of our 30 minute therapeutic massage sessions are only $30! Whether or not you have children or work in the educational system, your schedule is most likely packed and this month’s special might just be the answer for you. Try this short session to de-stress and improve your health today.

Book at any office with your choice of a licensed therapist. Book here by clicking the August Special Service link!

 

Offer good through the end of August, 2014. May not be used with any other coupon or discount offer. Excludes sessions with Sarah Gerschutz.

Ericka Hahn’s New Ventures!

Please help us celebrate Ericka Hahn’s new ventures in North Carolina! She will attend school and be closer to family.

Ericka will be greatly missed and is an invaluable asset to the business and the massage therapy profession. Not only is she an amazingly talented and competent colleague but a dear friend and confidant. I have worked with many, many different people in my life and truly have never had the pleasure to work with someone as selfless, compassionate, hilarious, professional and willing to do whatever is needed to help out.

Her client interactions speak for themselves and she has received so many compliments and kudos that I couldn’t begin to tell them all. She has had the opportunity to work with physicians, physical therapists, college professors and even the drummer in Luke Bryan’s band (whoop, whoop). She has even taught massage therapy classes at FDTC and recently completed her personal training certification, too. I know that you all will miss her just as much we will.

Let us focus on the all the JOY and HEALING she has brought to us and all the blessings that she will bring to the next community where she resides. Please send along any thoughts to her, to me or on Facebook. If you are not friends with her, feel free to Facebook post on our Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork page (links to the right).

Her last day of appointments was Friday, July 18th. Misery loves company so come and visit us even if she isn’t here. We can wallow together. LOL.

 

Aah-MAY-zing Steals!

Aah-MAY-zing Steals!

April’s Deals bring May’s Steals! Mother’s Day is May 11th, 2014. Treat that special someone to a therapeutic massage or buy them a gift certificate they can use for any of our health and wellness services!

BOGO Half Off: Book a 30min “Aah-MAY-zing Steal” session ($40) online and you’ll be emailed a coupon for a Half Off your next 30min session. Keep the coupon for yourself or gift it away.

BOGO Half Off works for Gift Certificate purchase, too! Buy a $40 gift certificate (30min session) online and receive a coupon for Half Off your next 30min session. $20 savings!

Hartsville Office Only: All 60 minute sessions are $55 when you book a new appointment online (“Aah-MAY-zing Hartsville Steal“). That’s a $15 savings!

Never booked online? Watch our You Tube video below to learn how.

All Aah-MAY-zing offers are good through May and may not be used with any other discounts. Any questions? We are happy to help.

Many blessings,
Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork LLC Team

That facial expression is so inviting that it compels you want to watch the video, right? Baahaa!

 

April’s Deals Brings May’s Steals!

April’s Deals Bring May’s Steals! Yes, we are trying to parody the April’s showers…! You guessed it. And it works because we have a deal for you this month of April! Just watch the video! Don’t miss out.

Book online now! Or call/text 843/413-5172.

Book as many sessions as you like before April 30th. At any of our office locations.