April is here and I couldn't be happier! We have officially kicked off spring with nightly walks with Jada, buying a new lawn mower, and admiring our new tulips!
Next month I will be celebrating 15 years in business! It is hard to believe that it's been 15 years of sharing my passion with the best group of clients a girl could ask for. I love my job more than I can express. I love helping people, I love healing people, I love sharing my experiences and knowledge, I love knowing I help change people's lives and I truly love making people feel great and smile wider! There isn't anything that compares to the feeling in my heart when I hear the happy sighs of my clients after a much needed massage. I am blessed to have found this life's work and grateful you all have found your way here to my home and my business.
Over my 15 years running Tranquil Massage, I figure I've done over 7,000 massages on hundreds of different bodies. Each body is unique and every massage I do is custom to what that body needs that particular day. I really love working on all areas and muscles, but I think there's one muscle that I love to massage more than any other and I'm making it my favorite thing for this month....
My Favorite Muscle to Massage....the Traps!
Shoveling out of the spring snow storm, planting a garden, stressing over tax returns, studying for upcoming exams, spending too long at the computer to meet a deadline, amping up the weight lifting before the summer hits and the tank tops come out....these various activities all have one thing in common- they create tight and tense trapezius muscles.
The Trapezius muscle is a big, diamond shaped muscle that extends from the base of the skull, down the spine to the mid back and then out to the top of the shoulder joint. The traps help move and stabilize the shoulder blade. Tense traps are pretty common, and I would venture to say I have yet to massage a person that doesn't have at least some tightness or soreness in their traps. People who have lots of headaches, pain in the neck, pain down the mid back and shoulder, and stiffness or a loss of range of motion in the neck often have moderately tight traps and would greatly benefit from massage.
Why do I love massaging the traps? Because it feels so good! Think about a time when someone has come up behind you and given your shoulders a tight squeeze or gentle kneading.... Didn't you immediately drop some tension and exhale with just that little bit of massage? I love working on this muscle because it's so big and used all day long for everything we do and so there tends to be a significant difference to how a person feels after the traps have been released. Also, the shoulders and traps aren't a traditionally guarded area of the body so people are open to them being massaged with some good pressure. And the best is that they can be massaged easily with clothes on or not, and just about anywhere you are- standing, sitting or laying down. People, (myself included!) tend to melt when I massage their traps, resulting in happy clients and a relaxed neck and shoulders!
This is an awesome article for more info on the trapezius muscle and how to get some at home relief between your sessions with me. I just bought the back buddy that they show in this article and I'm in love! While I still love to lay on the tennis ball for the mid and lower traps, the cane is the great for getting to the top and outer edges of the muscle and relieving tension and pain.  
 
Wishing you a little Spring in your step and relaxed traps!
 

Bryn Rath
Tranquil Massage
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