Prenatal & Postpartum Massage Therapy
Anastasia Lattanand, CMT
Our Session
Positioning
As your body transforms pregnancy through postpartum, so does positioning during our session call for creative adaptations for both safety and effectiveness. Between side-lying, semi-reclining and sitting positions to choose from, and armed with a small army of pillows, I follow safety guidelines to make you comfortable and free to enjoy the massage. Whether you are enjoying a totally healthy pregnancy or on bedrest in a hospital room, recovering from a cesarean birth or needing to nurse your baby on the table as we continue the massage, it is always possible to experience a wonderful full-body session. Perinatal massage, more than any other, is about welcoming all of life!
Regarding special pregnancy tables
Clients often ask about about tables with belly cut-outs and special cushion sets that allow pregnant women to lie face down. It is best to avoid them. Deeper, and much needed work on low and mid-back is not possible in this position: besides the risk of increasing intra-uterine pressure, it further strains uterine ligaments, compresses lumbar vertebrae and sacroiliac joints, and shortens the very muscles in need of lengthening. None of these problems exist in side-lying or semi-reclining positions. Very comfy with correct propping, they lengthen the musculature and allow for a different, fresh experience of massage. I don't use the prone (face down) position past 13 weeks.
Bodywork Styles
I practice Shiatsu, Acupressure, Tui Na, Deep Tissue and Swedish styles of massage. Over the years they have become increasingly integrated into one body of knowledge, and every session reflects my roots in both Eastern and Western approaches to health and healing. However, the focal point and flow vary depending on your preference and the tools that may best respond to our shared intention for the session.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Shiatsu, Tui Na and Acupressure all stem from the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which regards bodywork therapies on equal standing with acupuncture, herbs, nutrition and exercise systems for maintaining and restoring balance.
Meridians are a network of information and energy flows throughout the body. Acupressure points are places along these pathways where energy (qi) gathers and wells up. Each meridian and acupoint is interdependent with its corresponding organ system. The organs, in turn, exist as a rich and multi-layered ecosystem of relationships. The physical, emotional, mental and spiritual are never separate, always reflecting and talking to each other. During the session this web of relationships is our travel map. Your intention and various diagnostic techniques guide us to choose a good path. Meridians, acupoints and other reflex areas, in turn, are gateways that activate the healing properties we choose to call upon. This makes for some good journeys.
Shiatsu & Tui Na
Shiatsu and Tui Na are great at removing blockages, restoring ease, balance and good flow to the whole person. Rhythmic compressions, rocking, stretching, shaking, rubbing, friction and joint mobilizations make up the tool kit both styles draw from, though they move to different rhythms and are very distinct in style.
Clients experience Shiatsu and Tui Na as relaxing and energizing at the same time. Particularly if your intention is to release stagnation and invite more freedom of movement, I would recommend a full Asian bodywork session. No oil is used and you would wear loose comfortable clothing. Receiving bodywork clothed offers a different quality of touch, and allows us to play with many more stretches and range of motion techniques.
Jin Shin Acupressure
Of the modalities I practice, Jin Shin is particularly special. With very light touch I hold a series of acupressure points to call on their specific properties, those of its mother meridian and corresponding organ system. Clients report releasing into a deep state of relaxation bordering sleep, feeling their energy move, experiencing dream-like journeys, and returning deeply rested with an attuned feeling of awareness. People have also likened their experience of Jin Shin to acupuncture, Cranio-Sacral, Reiki and Polarity work. Energy work is difficult to describe in words.
Developing access to this level of relaxation and awareness will help your pregnancy unfold as it needs, and aid you in labor. Jin Shin, as other energy work modalities, comes particularly handy when more physical forms of massage may be contraindicated.
Deep Tissue Massage
Deep here refers to the quality of engaging the deeper layers of muscle and fascia (connective tissue), not so much the amount of pressure. Using hardly any oil to avoid sliding over the skin, myofascial release techniques effectively elongate muscles and free constriction in the connective tissue. It is slow, patient work, surprisingly non-invasive considering its depth.
These techniques are particularly wonderful to release low and mid-back tightness caused by weight being pulled forward as your baby grows.
Swedish Massage
Swedish massage techniques are so gentle and enjoyable, the body seems to forget its reasons for holding tension. Improved circulation of blood and qi is warming, nourishing. Greater bodily awareness and relaxation always work profound magic never to be underestimated, but become especially important during pregnancy.
Aromatherapy
Essential oils have been an exciting recent addition to my practice. The sense of smell is the only one of the five senses directly linked to the limbic lobe, the part of our brain that controls moods, emotions, memory and learning. The limbic system, in turn, is directly connected to those parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels and hormone balance. So besides enlivening and delighting, essential oils have far-reaching physiological and psychological effects.
I work with oils especially beneficial and safe to use during pregnancy.
Special acupressure points
If you are 38 weeks or beyond, we can start to prepare your body for labor by incorporating points that move energy downward. Working with human living energy and your body's natural rhythms, acupressure has a gentle, broad effect. Unlike chemical induction methods, it is safe, serving more as a suggestion, invitation, a reminder to begin the birthing journey. If your baby and body are not yet ready, labor won't start. If you are facing a possible induction, I would also advise scheduling as many as two or three acupuncture treatments a week (see Resources).
There are many other natural ways to stimulate labor. You should be able to get good advice from your midwife or doula, if you are working with one, or your OB. I highly recommend reading Ina May Guide To Childbirth, one of the kindest and most insightful books a woman can read.
These same acupressure points are to be avoided during pregnancy. While it's alright to pass over them lightly, I never stimulate them to be completely safe. I will teach you to find these points during our session.
If you are sick
If you are just starting to fight a cold, bodywork may help fight it off. I would focus on engaging helpful acupressure points and activating surface-level defensive qi with lighter, faster strokes. In my experience, deeper work might make it more likely that you get sick. The body is already working hard to ward off external pathogens, and may not be able to handle the extra toxins released into circulation.
If you are already sick, for your benefit and mine, please call to reschedule. At the end of a cold, however, bodywork is a fantastic way to speed metabolic wastes out of your system and reenergize the body.