We feel it is important to address the whole person during a treatment. This involves paying attention to where the client is physically, emotionally and spiritually.

When a person encounters stress, the body immediately goes into a fight-or-flight response. The heart rate increases, breathing becomes shallow and adrenaline begins to flow. Not surprisingly, people respond to stress in many different ways. Some people hold tension in their muscles; others may get depressed or feel anxious.

Our job is to connect with a person's central nervous system and help to calm the effects of the fight-or-flight response, switching on the body's natural relaxation response. There are many ways to achieve this.

We listen carefully to our clients. An approach we take involves initially releasing the muscular tension with a combination of massage techniques, including deep tissue massage, sports massage, Swedish massage, myofascial release and craniosacral therapy. The goal is for your Massage Therapy of Oak Park therapist to be a grounded, neutral vessel in order to help facilitate the body's natural healing process. When you turn off the fight-or-flight response and trigger the relaxation response, breathing slows, the mind becomes clearer and muscular tension is released.

Ultimately, we try to attain a level of balance or homeostasis. It is in this place of balance that the natural healing process occurs. Our job is to help people connect with themselves in order to facilitate their own natural healing potential.