Report from Art Riggs Deep Tissue Massage Sydney Workshop

Art Riggs Deep Tissue Massage workshops organised by Terra Rosa started 4th November 2010 at NatureCare College, St Leonards, Sydney. It is a 3 day Fundamentals of Touch. Arts approach is a relaxed and fun learning environment. This workshop gave an understanding of touch, depth of layers and the ability to direct intention. It covered proper use of biomechanics and toolsSay no to thumbs, Use fingers, knuckles, fists, forearms, and elbows. Art showed how to utilize body positioning to facilitate release of restrictions, and increased knowledge of therapeutic strategies. In addition to muscles, he showed how to cultivate an understanding of the osseous component for effective bodywork, including vertebral articulation and mobilization, and working to create freer ribs movement. Arts teaching approach is unique, instead of showing a stroke that you would copy, Art will give you a dozen of approaches that you can adapt and make it your own. Cultivate an effortless, pleasing and effective touch! All participants are amazed with Arts style of teaching, knowledge and kindness. The comments are: One of the best teachers I have come across What a generous, patient and humble teacher Art Riggs is, what a pleasure and privilege it was to be in his class. Art is just great at being the humble expert! He had the perfect balance of theory and hands-on and is flexible enough to adapt the content to suit the class dynamics and yet still meet the course objectives. Art Riggs is an amazing teacher. So generous and knowledgeable as well as being very approachable.

Fun, warm, unflappable, generous with time. great at correcting bad habits. kept things simple & on track The second part of the workshop, Integrated Deep Tissue Massage, continued 8th-9th November. Art started with strategies on how to market yourself, communicate with clients, and distinguishing deep tissue from relaxation massage. The Humanity side of massage that is rarely discussed in any workshop is really emphasized. Art demonstrated how to do the structural evaluation while doing your massage work how to get the soft tissue feel, joint function, where is obstruction or problem? Very hands-on, plenty of chances to ask questions Enjoyed every minute Art Riggs is generous, open, relaxed, very engaging, informative, interesting and an excellent communicator. Art is able to adjust the programme to the specific need of the group so everyone went away with things relevant to them.

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The final Advanced Deep Tissue Massage was on 25th28th November. It goes into more details covering the whole body. First, the quality of touch is again revisited. Then Art covered body reading of strain patterns on the feet. Anatomy, demonstration is all covered for the ankle, knees, hips, back, pelvis, abdominal area, vertebral column, chest, arm, shoulder, and neck. The class run the full day from 9 am to 6 pm. You get what your money worth, full 8 hours per day. Youd never experience this in any workshop. Comments include: Art is generous with his knowledge and time and is clearly passionate about bodywork. His enthusiasm is infectious. Never seen so committed instructor to spare his break to provide extra information. I would have to say that this is one of THE BEST workshops I have attended. Comments on the workshops include: This workshop was excellent, Art is the best instructor I've seen, he is the most humble, patient, generous, easy going in addition to teaching in an easy to follow manner, mixing the theory and practical perfectly.

People would have walked away with a lot more knowledge whether they were new therapists or therapists that have been practicing for years.

The series of workshops were facilitated in a way which allowed attendees to interact, while learning skills and knowledge which can be applied to our individual practices. Art managed to get excellent group interaction right from the beginning; the course was interesting, informative, extremely well presented and very relevant to our work.

I've really enjoyed Art's workshop and found his way of working very inspiring. It has been a privilege to see him demonstrate his work and show us much more than a really useful, clever and comprehensive collection of bodywork techniques. What is also great it's the humanity and compassion Art is channelling through his work and the deep connection he is able to achieve through his hands. I am very grateful to have been able to learn with all the other participants to the workshops, the atmosphere has been really supportive and encouraging.

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Personal testimonials include: Thank you Terra Rosa for organizing Art Riggs workshops in Sydney. It's been an incredible experience and the best investment in my profession I've ever made! Art's extensive knowledge and genuine personality made these workshops very inspirational. Thank you Art for being such an amazing mentor! Zuzana Gaalova, Queenscliff, NSW. I am very happy to had the opportunity to meet Art Riggs. As a Massage Therapist he is the best experience since I left TAFE college. I am very lucky to have him as a mentor. You cannot imagine. He taught me to "sink and slow, he put his hand on my hand and told me to let him take the movements. He taught me to feel like how I can change the body's structures. I did it, I felt it. I had been practicing his work and I am improving every moment. His approach is great. He is not just a teacher, he is a master. His passion, patient and charisma are just amazing. Juliana OsorioRamirez, Sydney. Excellent practical advice, excellently delivered that will be of major benefit to me in my day to day work. It has provided me with the perfect grounding and structure to achieving and delivering several different ways to work effectively on soft tissue. I really got a great amount out of the series, it covered all my objectives and more. The one to one training was excellent, I would highly recommend to others. Overall excellent. Would love to do it again!! Tracey Langham, Anglesea, VIC. Art Riggs is a great educator - knowledgeable, caring and willing to share his information. Two assistants(Colin Rossie and Tom Shand were great) made it very easy to get feedback and help during practical sessions. I feel the information and techniques learned will be able to fit very easily into my massage treatments. Margaret Markus, TAFE lecturer, Sydney.

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