​Bodywork from a Naturopath’s Perspective

​Author: Connie Kelly

Getting Bodywork done from a Naturopath is different than your basic massage therapy. I had a woman
come in for a bodywork session, and, as in any basic massage I had her start out face down with her
head in a face cradle. I tucked her sheet and blanket in to make her feel secure, and slid back the sheet
to expose her back.

I had been working with this client for over a year. As a Naturopath, it is customary for the client to be
fully clothed at each visit. I muscle test what direction we need to take, and what the client’s priority
organs are, and whether the herbal recommendations will help the underlying cause of their symptoms.
I am not always alerted to something on the skin, unless a client shows me. I’ve been shown rashes,
bumps, lumps, bruises, and wounds, but not necessarily what might appear to some as simple moles.
When I slid back the sheet to expose her back, what I saw (and I had to turn the light on to confirm) was
what looked like liver spots, and probably over 100 of them. I recalled her first visit, and many
subsequent visits in which I found her liver to be priority. Seeing all these liver spots confirmed just how
much of a priority it was to support her liver. We had traced the liver meridian, done magnet therapy,
given herbs to detox, rebuild and repair…and, we had even talked about the emotions of the liver, and
recommended she begin to work through those emotions that were causing stress on her body.
I am not an extensively experienced massage therapist. I have not logged thousands of hours. But what I
do have is a working knowledge of the body, and years of experience in this healing modality. I see
things that other people may not see. This session with her made it utterly clear to me why it is so
important to at least have one session of bodywork for a client in the course of their program with me.
For the simple goal of: Let’s “see what I see”. You just don’t know what might come up.

Bodywork with me may include: basic massage techniques, CranioSacral, meridian or magnet therapy,
and/or Reflexology. It really depends on what you are looking for in the Bodywork Session, and also,
what we are working on Naturopathically from a clinical standpoint.