Touchstone Hands-on experience from around the world helps
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This article appeared in the Hour Detroit Magazine |
The office on Catalpa in Royal Oak is almost faceless. In fact, it’s easy to drive right by this stretch of businesses in a heavily residential area.
But in The Wellness Clinic — housing massage therapists, hypnotherapists,nutritionists and physical therapists— is a company with a name as simple as its exterior: Mario Massage.
In this ordinary place, Mario Ashcraft performs extraordinary massages. He keeps it basic: no facials, manicures, pedicures or other luxuries.
I was first told about the site by a co-worker who’s plagued by chronic neck and back pain. She raved about her experience. Then another colleague recommended Mario Massage. I was a bit skeptical, but I checked it out.
On my first visit, I opted for The Royal Treatment, consisting of Thai, Swedish and hot-stone therapy.
Thai massage (acupressure and assisted stretching and yoga positions) is performed with the client entirely clothed. Then came a deep-tissue Swedish massage, where the client is unclothed, save for a sheet. The hot stones are glided along the body to stimulate blood flow.
Upon repeated visits, Ashcraft began to get more familiar with my muscles and where my tension points tend to be. So he added hot stones and towels to my usual Swedish treatment, to increase circulation.
There were times when I felt so blissfully zoned out, I could barely lift myself off the massage table. Once my neck so stiff, I could barely turn it. Whatever knot there was, Ashcraft untied it, and my whole range of motion was expanded. Ashcraft is familiar with a stressed out workforce.
“Most of my clients are professionals, and in corporate America, there are individuals doing the work of two or three people,” he says. “The stress level is high, and some clients tell me they feel as though a weight’s been lifted after a massage.”
Why is Ashcraft so good? Maybe it’s his unconventional background. He was trained in the U.S., as well as in Thailand and Myanmar (formerly Burma). “I was working with a doctor in Burma, and he performed nervetouch therapy on people who had strokes or paralysis, and it was very effective. That was one of my motivations for going [to Asia] — I wanted to learn new things.”
Ashcraft also has studied martial arts “on and off for about 20 years,” and he sees a connection to massage therapy. “Tai chi, for example, teaches you about sensitivity,” he says. “You’re more mindful about how you move and breathe, and you become more sensitive about how your clients walk and breathe, too.”
In addition to body massages, Ashcraft offers a half-hour chair massage, which focuses on the upper body, as well as facelift massages. Almost any massage therapist can make a client feel relaxed. But Ashcraft has far more than just a deft touch.
George Bulanda
http://www.hourdetroit.com/
