Licensed Massage and Bodywork
Therapist 15 Years - NC #496
SC# 1285 Member: AMTA
John has been practicing massage as a full time profession for 15 years. John's massage is an eclectic collection of everything he has learned in the past 16 years, from his teacher, his clients, and workshops he has taken.
Sessions
John uses a combination of techniques that are relaxing and integrated with techniques that are therapeutic. He uses Swedish massage, connective tissue massage, trigger point work, energy work, cranial sacral techniques, his towel trick, and coconut oil and essential oils to do the best he can for each client.
Because he is thorough, his massages are usually 1 1/2 hours. He will finish in 1 hour if the client prefers. He charges $60.00 for a session at his in-town or home office, or $80.00 for an out call within 1/2 hour of his home.
Services Offered
Select to learn more about each.
- Trigger Point
- Deep Tissue
- Connective Tissue
- Towel Trick
- Coconut Oil
- Essential Oils
- Swedish
- Reiki and more
- Cranial Sacral
Call John to Order Gift Certificates
Special Occasions
Contact John about concierge services for weddings, reunions, business conferences and more. Serving Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina.
Trigger Point Work:
The term trigger point refers to knots in the muscles, ligaments, and sometimes the skin and fascia that cause pain and limit range of motion. Trigger points can be active, creating pain referral patterns continuously, or Latent, causing pain when you are having a bad day, or when someone like me presses on them. These knots are a clump of muscle cells that have gotten stuck in a shortened position to the point of cutting off their own supply of nourishment so they cannot create energy in the cells, which is needed to release the muscle as well as to tighten the muscle. I learned trigger point work beginning in 1992 from my massage instructor Burt Gornto. We used the “Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction The Trigger Point Manuals by Janet G. Travell, MD and David G. Simons MD extensively. He taught me techniques for releasing the trigger points that were not yet published. I also took some of the Neuro muscular workshops. I am particularly good at finding and relieving trigger points.
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Deep Tissue Massage:
Deep Tissue does not imply a painful experience. It should really be called Specific Tissue. In Deep Tissue, I would do more detail work. In our discussion before beginning the massage I would determine where you have pain, discomfort, and limited range of motion, and the kind and intensity of massage that you like, or want in this session. Then I would explore how the tissues felt under my hands as I explored the body, feeling areas that were mentioned, or that I typically find tight on my clients. There may be knotted up muscles (trigger points) that are hard to the touch relative to the tissues around it. The knots or trigger points might be painful all the time, or when you move, or they may only be painful when someone presses on them. The feeling of fullness may be because the tissue is retaining fluid, or because the skin, connective tissue,and body fat matrix is packed too full for the size of the outer connective tissue container (Superficial Fascia). I would use a combination of the techniquies listed below to release the skin Fascia and deep muscles, including knots in the muscles and tenderness in the attachment points.
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Connective Tissue Massage:
I studied Connective tissue massage in 1995 with John Latz, and have practiced it and used it extensively in my work, with my own variations. From what I have gathered in taking some workshops that integrate several modalities, connective tissue massage is similar, or provides similar results to myofascial release ect. Connective tissue massage not only releases skin and superficial fascia, it also helps release the deep muscle under it. This happens because the nerves that supply the skin and fascia also supply the deep muscles under it. When the deep muscle tightens up, the nerves trigger the skin and connective tissue to crinkle up. ( It feels like corrugated cardboard underneath the skin. When you release the skin and connective tissue, the nerves trigger the deep muscle to release too. It may also release the casing of connective tissue around the muscle, thereby allowing the muscles more room for the fibers to release. Connective tissue massage gave rise to my towel trick and my hot wet towel trick.
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My Towel Trick:
My Towel Trick evolved because I like to start out using Swedish strokes with massage oil. When I run into an area of skin, connective tissue and deep muscle that is not letting go, I know from experience that this area would respond to connective tissue massage. But, connective tissue, as was originally taught to me requires dry hands and dry skin. I learned that I could get the connective tissue massage effect by putting a terry cloth towel over the area of interest, pushing perpendicular to the skin with one hand to get stuck to the skin with the terry cloth, and pulling parallel to the skin with the other hand to create a stretch on the skin and fascia over a relative broad area,( the width and breath of my hand). You don’t have to push hard, but create a stretch on the tissue with moderate pressure for a longer period of time. (less pressure for more time is better than more pressure of less time) This technique is generally less painful than the way I was originally taught connective tissue massage, and usually more effective.
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My Hot Wet Towel trick evolved when I worked for a few months at Elements in Brevard last summer. They have a nice finishing touch of wrapping the feet in hot moist towels at the end of the massage because it is very relaxing, and gets the oil off your feet before you step on the carpet and into your shoes. I determined that I could use the hot moist towels during the massage with my towel trick technique. The hot moist towel is very soothing, and interrupts what is called the pain spasm cycle, aiding the tissues in releasing.
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Coconut Oil Massage:
I use primarily Extra Virgin Coconut oil in all of my massages. I keep other oils on hand incase anyone has a problem with coconut oil. I learned from reading the books listed below, and from experience with my clients that Coconut oil is much more nutritious for our skin, fascia and deeper connective tissue than most other oils, including cold pressed almond oil and walnut oil which were my oils of choice. The Coconut oil feels good, soaks in and disappears so that the client doesn’t feel oily, and it softens and revitalizes the connective tissue, so the client feels more free in their body. Taking it internally, as well as rubbing it in reduces internal inflammation. According to the books below, it also improves the function of the thyroid gland and converts easily into energy in the liver and the cells, so the client feels more energized after the massage than with other oils. Coconut oil doesn’t get rancid and make my sheets and my clients cloths smelly like Almond oil and walnut oil used to. I first learned about Coconut Oil’s benefits by reading the books “Eat Fat Lose Fat” by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon and” The Coconut Oil Miracle” by Bruce Fife ND.
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Essential Oils Massage:
I have been studying and using essential oils in may massages for about 8 years. I like to use a few drops of Oregano, a few drops of geranium, and a few drops of Frankincense mixed with a teaspoon of coconut oil, or a capsule of Vitamin E and a capsule of Borage oil on painful areas. I use other oils, too, according to the recommendations of the Essential Oil reference guide published for Young Living Oils. Sometimes I will start with the essential oils on an area the client points out as painful. I will rub it in, and then I may lay my hands flat and do some Reiki on it while I allow the oil to soak in.
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Swedish Massage:
Is a classic full body massage that systematically relaxes the whole body. The strokes are performed in a soothing continuous manner with the intention of allowing you to get in a rather meditative state of relaxed consciousness. In a strictly sweedish format I wouldn’t stop the flow of motion to work for any length of time on a sore or tight muscle. I would try to sneak up on it by making a few extra passes, but not stop dead on it and sink my fingers into a painful spot. I usually start out with a sweedish format to discover the relative tightness throughout the body, and then transition into more detailed work.
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Reiki and more:
Reiki is a type of energy work. I took my first workshop (Reiki I) in May of 1987. I took Reiki II about 3 months later. I met my wife Martha Gale between the time I took Reiki I and Reiki II. She had already had Reiki I and II and was planning to become a Reiki Master. Reiki was the thing that brought us together, and we had Reiki open houses in our home every Monday night for over ten years. Reiki is something that the more you use it on yourself and other people, the more energy flows through you, and the more powerful it is to help the health and spiritual sense of well being of your client.
I am currently studying Chi Gong, and am learning to work with the meridians of the body.
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Cranial Sacral:
I am not certified in Cranial Sacral Therapy, but I took Cranial Sacral I in 2002 and Cranial Sacral II in 2003 and I took Cranial Sacral I again with my wife Martha in 2006. Feeling the cranial sacral rhythm is a skill that takes some people longer to learn than others. I could feel the rhythm much more confidently after taking the CST I class a second time, but some cranial sacral therapists can feel it just by putting their hands near a client. I use the techniques that I feel confident with, and I plan to take more workshops with the Upledger Institute in the future.
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In-Town: 294 S. Caldwell • Brevard, North Carolina • 28712
Home Office: 130 Wild Rose Lane • Near Connestee Falls
primary: 828-577-1451 office: 828-877-2535 home: 828-884-9294