What Is Esalen Massage and Its Benefits?

Esalen® Massage has a reputation for using long, flowing strokes that span the entire length of the body to promote deep relaxation. The massage does include other techniques, such as stretches, passive joint movement, rhythmic rocking, and breathwork.

What is Esalen Massage?

Esalen Massage focuses on the whole person, not just the physical body, acknowledging the interconnection of body, mind, and spirit. Tension or imbalance in one area can affect other areas. The goal of this massage is to both relieve physical tension and promote emotional and spiritual well-being.

Developed over years at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, this type of massage has roots in many other methods of working with the body. Swedish massage was a big influence, as was Charlotte Selver's sensory awareness work that focuses on your ability to monitor sensation from within.

Other influences include Asian-based medicine, meditation, yoga, somatic mind-body psychology, gestalt practice, the teachings of Ida Rolf, Moshe Feldenkrais, and Milton Trager, and the energy work of polarity therapy and craniosacral therapy. Attention to breathing is also an important part of the massage.

In some ways, Esalen is more of an approach to massage than a specific technique. This approach gives "attention to the whole person rather than a summary of parts" and recognizes the innate capability for self-healing within each person.¹

Benefits of Esalen Massage

This style of massage emphasizes integrating body and mind, which promotes mental, emotional, and spiritual balance. Focusing on the present moment during the massage and letting go shifts your overall well-being. Key benefits of Esalen Massage include:

• Creates deep relaxation, reducing stress and anxiety
• Facilitates emotional release
• Awakens the senses and enhances body awareness
• Promotes a sense of wholeness and integration
• Enhances mindfulness and presence, deepening your connection with self

Physical benefits include enhancing circulation and lymph flow, relieving muscle tension and pain, promoting better sleep, and improving flexibility and range of motion.

Esalen Massage Principles

This massage operates from four basic principles:²

1. Esalen massage therapists work with, not on, you, meaning they listen to your body and respond to what they feel, both in your tissue and on an intuitive level. The intent is to sense what you need in each moment, rather than using a predetermined set of techniques. The quality of the touch and presence of the practitioner is essential.
   
   
2. The massage is a moving meditation for the practitioner, who brings a meditative presence and commits to being fully present and using mindful touch during the massage session. This heightened awareness lets the practitioner attune to your energy, creating a deeper connection that promotes deeper relaxation.
   
   
3. The practitioner is aware the massage may affect you on physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual levels. Practitioners learn how to touch with sensitivity and in a non-intrusive, nurturing way. They learn to enter your energy field with sensitivity and respect.
   
   
4. Practitioners integrate long, flowing strokes throughout the massage to give you a sense of relaxation, connection, and wholeness. They also encourage you to be mindful and aware of your body.

Practitioners help you tune into yourself and become aware of your holding patterns, acting as a facilitator and witness to your healing process. Esalen is "a way of exploring, person to person, a matrix of physical, psychological, energetic and spiritual awareness united by the balm of touch."¹

Sources

¹ "Bodywork with a Place in History," Massage Magazine, March/April 1997.

² Deborah Anne Medow, "A Happy Song: Esalen Massage," Massage Magazine, April 2011.

Esalen Massage Workshops

Video: Esalen's Massage Legacy

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