SARGA  BODYWORK is a barefoot massage method that employs the use of a fabric strap fastened to a massage table to deliver therapeutic myofascial and deep tissue techniques. This fabric strap is used by practitioners for stability and to add tensional and gravitational force to specific manual therapy techniques. These techniques, combined with the broad contact surface of the foot facilitate less restriction and more ease and relaxation in recipients’ bodies.

SARGA BODYWORK MARRIES METHOD AND DESIGN, enabling practitioners to gain tensional support and force with a fabric strap fastened to a massage table or floor-mat via our proprietary equipment. In addition to support, the Sarga Strap can be transformed into a variety of tools, and facilitates a wide range of body mechanics for the practitioner. By pulling up on the strap while applying downward pressure, practitioners gain an integrity of tension that is then transferred onto the recipient’s body. Utilizing high-friction lubrication, gravitational and tensional force, practitioners can deliver consistent, oblique pressure to provide a uniquely effective myofascial therapy. See Sarga Bodywork & Tensegrity.​​

In Ashiatsu, feet and lower extremities apply deep-tissue compression massage. Ashiatsu means foot pressure, as opposed to shiatsu (meaning finger pressure). It has long been used in India, China, Japan, Tonga, Fiji and Hawaii. Western modalities for Ashiatsu bar therapy have added bars on the ceiling for the therapist's balance and a table for the client. It enables very deep, relaxing therapy without risking injury or overworking the therapist.

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An innovative new application of Ashiatsu, Ahh...Shiatsu, is done on the floor. It eliminates the need for tables or bars, thereby making the modality very portable and more efficient than other techniques. Using the feet rather than hands provides steady manipulation of muscle tissue. Ahh...Shiatsu Floor can be applied as lightly as a Swedish massage or accomplish very effective deep-tissue therapy. The therapist uses a stool for balance and support while the client rests comfortably on a floor mat. One foot rests on the floor at all times. There is a company that formulates a special cream for use with Ashiatsu techniques. The cream facilitates easy gliding and need not be reapplied during the massage.

Massage may be a supportive therapy that can be readily applied, most effectively by specially trained massage therapists or by parents who have learned massage techniques from a skilled, educated massage therapist.   Pediatric massage and nurturing touch are the most appropriate massage techniques to use in this population. When using massage therapy for children with cancer, your work does not need to be aggressive to achieve its maximum potential.

Cupping therapy, also known as hijama therapy in some Arabic cultures, is a fascinating alternative form of medicine that has received mention in historical accounts dating from possibly 5,000 years ago. Chinese Cupping Therapy is often used in conjunction with more commonly known forms of traditional Chinese medicine treatments and methods such as acupuncture and acupressure.

The basic idea behind cupping therapy is to place glass cups or silicone cups on the patient’s skin to create a vacuum, so the blood is drawn to the surface of the skin in specific parts of the body that need healing. Traditional Chinese practitioners discuss different areas, or meridians, of the body that are used to transfer energy. They believe each body has twelve different meridians and treatment can be applied to each meridian for a myriad of reasons.

Gua sha is a healing technique of traditional East Asian medicine. Sometimes called ‘coining, spooning or scraping’, Gua sha is defined as instrument-assisted unidirectional press-stroking of a lubricated area of the body surface to intentionally create transitory therapeutic petechiae called ‘sha’ representing extravasation of blood in the subcutis.
Raising sha removes blood stagnation considered pathogenic in traditional East Asian medicine. Modern research shows the transitory therapeutic petechiae produce an anti inflammatory and immune protective effect that persists for days following a single Gua sha treatment accounting for the immediate relief that patients feel from pain, stiffness, fever, chill, cough, wheeze, nausea and vomiting etc, and why Gua sha is effective in acute and chronic internal organ disorders including liver inflammation in hepatitis.

The technique is applicable in any hands on therapeutic practice, and will be of particular interest to acupuncturists, massage therapists, physical therapists and any physician or nurse who work directly with patients.