Garrahs Massage Therapy

02/06/2025

A little self care before the busy day starts! My hands are so soft after the wax dipping!!

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!! Thank you for all your support in 2024! I look forward to serving you in 2025.

12/14/2024

Stop by and do local shopping

11/30/2024

It’s small business Saturday! Black Friday Sale extended through cyber Monday. Buy more, save more!! One 60 min certificate for $70, Two for $65 each, Three for $60 each, four for $55 each, five for $50 each, or six for $45 each. Let me know if you need gift certificates!

11/29/2024

Annual gift certificate sale! The more you buy the more you save (up to 6 certificates). Good for 60 minutes massage gift certificates only. Buy one, save $5 ($70). Buy two, save $10 each certificate ($130 total). Buy three, save $15 each certificate($180 total). Buy four, save $20 each certificate ($220 total). Buy five, save $25 each certificate ($250 total). Buy six, save $30 each certificate ($270 total). Thank you all for your support!

11/29/2024

We hope that you have enjoyed time with family/friends! Happy Thanksgiving!

09/26/2024

A common problem in the early stages of learning any new technique (drumming, bodywork, etc) is lack of flow, which ultimately is the enemy of rhythm.

I've certainly had my own problems of "overthinking" or trying to force a technique into long-term (implicit memory) rather than allowing the limbic system to move the information at its own pace.

Our brains are very much like sponges. They are malleable and constantly adapting to peripheral input by strengthening existing neural connections and networks, a process called long-term potentiation (LTP). The more we use a particular neural network, the stronger it becomes, as we are reinforcing those brain map connections.

For some time, I concluded each myoskeletal bodywork session with a routine I call closing stretches. In that series of nine techniques, there’s one particularly tricky maneuver that always required focused attention. As I approached this "torso-twist" routine in the first few weeks, I found myself "thinking" through each step as I had to specifically remind myself to reach over and grasp client’s right arm, lift the shoulder to allow my left hand to slide under the scapula to elevate, pin the contralateral ASIS with my right hand, lift and twist the clients torso, lean my body-weight back, and create a counterforce between the two hands to create a torso-twisting on one side.

One day, I realized I’d completed that complex maneuver without coaching myself through it. The weeks of practice had finally reinforced those neural circuits, allowing me to perform the skill unconsciously. This is Long Term Potentiation at work and it demonstrates the underlying cellular mechanism of all learning and memory.

That tricky closing stretch routine is a great example of how we move thoughts from explicit memory (information we have to consciously work to remember), to implicit memory (information that can be remembered unconsciously and effortlessly).

Also called procedural memory, implicit memory is the unconscious memory of skills and how to do things, particularly the use of objects or movements of the body, such as throwing a ball, drumming, or massaging a client’s shoulders. This is a functional form of memory that cannot be consciously recalled.

Such memories are typically acquired through repetition and practice and are composed of automatic sensorimotor behaviors that are so deeply embedded we are no longer aware of them.
Once learned, these “body memories” allow us to carry out ordinary motor actions more or less automatically, i.e., “the hands know more than the head.”
Erik Dalton

09/13/2024

I’m very excited to start this new adventure and spend more time with my family. Please reach out to schedule your next appointment.

09/11/2024

Thank you all for your patience and understanding over the last 6 weeks! I look forward to seeing you all soon. Please reach out to schedule your appointment. - Garrah

04/06/2024

Praying for those affected by Parkinson’s including family and friends of those that have the disease.

Praying for all those affected with Parkinson's.

04/03/2024

Rooks County Health Center believes in treating the whole patient and has teamed up with 2 mental health professionals to offer innovative and cost-effective psychological services, evaluations and treatments at Rooks County Health Center.To schedule an appointment, please contact the therapist dire...

03/31/2024