There has been a renaissance of massage research as scientists work to unravel the mysteries behind the amazing health benefits of massage and touch therapies, the most ancient of healing arts. Today’s experts will reveal the latest findings in massage research and the application this research can have in our touch therapy practice. Today is International Children’s Day and we will bring attention to some unique approaches to massage for children and the initiatives that are currently underway to introduce kids to healthy positive touch.
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Presenters for Thursday, November 20, 2008...
Lena Austin and Renee Lidén - Peaceful Touch
Peaceful Touch—where teachers facilitate children touching other children with simple, nurturing strokes—is a revolution of sorts. Peaceful Touch is based on research that showed that nurturing touch for children elicits a similar response as breast-feeding does in babies, releasing oxytocin, the feel-good “cuddle hormone,” which promotes empathy, calmness and concentration. Today, more than 300,000 students in Europe have been recipients of Peaceful Touch, and it’s rare to find a preschool in Sweden that doesn’t implement it.
Lena Austin is Director of Studies at the renowned Axelsons Gynmastisk Institut. In 1995 when the School for Peaceful touch came into being, Lena Austin became the leader of a project to develop courses for teachers at pre-schools and schools to teach them to give massage to children on a daily basis and to teach children to massage one another.
Renee Lidén completed her training as a massage therapist at Axelsons Gymnastiska Institut in 1981and became qualified as a Naprapath in 1884. In 2002 she became the head teacher of massage therapy training, responsible for teachers and development of the pedagogical programme. During this period, she also taught children at school and preschool how to massage one another.
Mia Elmsater - Massage in Schools
In this presentation, you'll find out about the importance of touch for children and hear about the groundbreaking Massage In Schools Program that is currently in over 1,000 schools in the UK and 18 countries worldwide. The mission of the Massage in Schools Programme is to provide high quality and professional training to all teachers and caring adults willing to bring nurturing touch into schools. Find out how you can get involved in helping every child attending school experience positive and nurturing touch every day...everywhere in the world.
Mia trained in Montessori education for day care children in 1984. She became a qualified Infant Massage Instructor with the International Association of Infant Massage (IAIM) in 1986. Mia is a member of the IAIM Educational Committee and has served on the boards both internationally and in Sweden. Mia created and co-created several massage and touch programs, including "Tactile Stimulation" for children and adults with special needs, "Touch Therapy" used in nursing homes, "Child Massage" used in day care centres and "Massage in Schools" for children of school ages. Mia has done volunteer work in neonatal units in Sweden, supporting parents and helping them to bond with their baby. She has created two videos, one for infant massage and the other for massage for infants, children and adults with special needs. Mia has combined her experience, together her colleague Sylvie Hetu, to create the "Massage in Schools Programme" and introduced it into the UK in 1999.
Rolf Elmstrom
Rolf Elmstrom, a former electronic engineer, became a Massage Therapist, graduating from the Scandinavian Chiropractic School. He worked as head teacher at the Axelsons Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the largest and most renowned school for massage and manual medicine in Scandinavia with more than 6000 students every year.
He currently manages two companies: He serves as editor of the largest massage magazine in Scandinavia and does educational consulting in manual medicine. He is also in charge of Axelsons Institutes three massage schools in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka and Yonago) that he started eight years ago. More recently, Elmstrom and his staff founded and built the World Massage Forum, a global community for touch professionals on the Internet.
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