• Remedial Massage Therapist,
• Mother and Baby Therapist
• Modern and Traditional Cupping Therapy
• Scar Tissue Therapy
• Infant Massage
• Ear Candling

Let me introduce myself. I’m the mother of two young children, one with special needs and the other, very special in her own way. They keep me on my toes and everyday is a learning experience for us all.

With my kids being just 4 and 5 years old, they do tend to dominate my time so I like to find things we can enjoy together. We recently discovered ten pin bowling, we love being creative and getting dirty.

I have always enjoyed working with people and find the human aspect of my job very rewarding. The more we know our clients, the better we are able to help.

 Set aside your idea that massage is only a lovely way to indulge and spoil yourself. While it’s true that massage reduces stress and, let’s face it, feels amazing, there is so much more that a Massage Therapist can do for you. 

My area of special interest is caring for women at various stages of life and improving your quality of life. Whether that is helping you (and your body) cope with a new baby, keeping up with a busy family, dealing with a stressful career or coming to terms with the changes associated with menopause and aging. There are many ways that various massage therapy techniques can be applied to help you. 

You might have heard that deep tissue massage is painful and thought that it’s just not for you. Some deep tissue techniques can leave you feeling a bit sore for a few days but there are alternatives. Cupping can achieve the same results without pain. Modern cupping techniques don’t even leave the tell-tale red rings of the traditional cup-and-flame method. 

During the course of our lives we often find ourselves with scars. This could be from injury, cesarean or even stretch marks. Some scar tissue results in adhesions that cause pain or restriction in movement. Others, such as stretch marks, leave us with damaged and weakened tissue. There are ways that we can help to soften scar tissue, release adhesions and rebuild damaged tissue. 

Introducing a new baby to your household can be stressful for everyone. I work with families to help settle babies and improve parents’ confidence (mum and dad) through teaching massage therapy specifically designed for babies. 

I look forward to working with you to help you achieve your goals for a more active, less stressful and pain free lifestyle.

 

Women are unique and special in that we transform many times in our lives.

• We are young women.
• We are driven, career women.
• We become pregnant and experience huge physical and emotional changes.
• As new mothers we change again.
• We raise a family which gives us new physical and emotional challenges.
• The kids leave home and we enter menopause. WOW!

Each of these stages of our lives presents us with physical and emotional changes and challenges. I consider myself to be in the unusual position of being able to relate to women in these various phases and I want to educate women as to how massage can help improve your quality of life.

Why do I think I can relate to you?

Before I had kids I was a career woman, working up to 70 hours a week. It’s exhausting and stressful. Massage can release the tension that builds up in your muscles from sitting at the computer for far too many hours each day and reduce your stress levels.

My transition to motherhood was swift and rocky. My kids were known as the menopause babies. I had a pre-term baby, had no experience of babies, could not relate to my baby and had only 11 weeks to get used to the fact that I was going to be a mother.

My kids are only 4 and 5 so this is still quite fresh and a bit raw. Given my experience I feel like I can really help new mums and their babies through teaching baby massage. It settles babies, improves mums’ confidence and a huge range of researched benefits for mother and baby.

Now that I have a young family to raise I am learning how difficult it is to fit everything in to your day. It’s a physically and emotionally demanding job. You are constantly doing things for someone else and neglecting YOU. Your muscles ache from carrying school bags, kids and shopping. You have to remember everything. Massage will ease the muscle pain and release ‘feel good’ hormones to reduce stress.
I had entered the early stages of menopause before my kids were born. 4 years later, it’s really starting to ramp up. My joints ache. I take an ice pack to bed every night and I don’t sleep well.

For many women, it can also be a time of rediscovering and reinventing yourself. After 20+ years of dedicated service to your family, they have gone. Maybe you were a head-turning young woman who now feels a bit invisible.

It’s a time of emotional and physical change and turmoil. Again, regular massage has proven benefits in improving your quality of life through the release of hormones to help you feel more ‘balanced’. Hormones also improve your mood. Massage will also help move fluid through your body and reduce puffiness and fluid build up in joints.

As we age, the fluid builds up in our joints aggravates arthritis and, as we become less active, we need to stimulate our muscles so we can continue to enjoy our passions in life.

My name is Jillian and I am a Remedial Massage Therapist at The Centre of Wellbeing. I specialise in Mother and Baby massage therapy for all of the stages of motherhood.

If you’re interested in any of these aspects of how massage can help you, come and have a chat to me or, better still, make an appointment for a massage.

book now on line or call 03 9763 0033

Do you remember when you were young?

Do you remember those special moments when everything in the world felt good and there was nothing that you could not do?

How old were you, and what made those moments special?

We can all remember back to our early childhood, to those early days when all we had to worry about was not getting caught doing something naughty or trying to sneak that extra treat. But have you ever thought about as a parent what it is like for your very young children and babies.

Every one has the same basic needs at a very young age. We need food, shelter, and most of all they want love and to feel secure. At a very early age babies respond to touch. It is their first language you could say. They like to be held, comforted and reassured. Babies respond to voices, sounds, colours and textures and they learn to communicate with us too in their own limited fashion.

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring this language of touch further.

Gillian Cosgrith will also be holding a mother and baby massage course on Friday 27 November where you are parents can learn more about the language of touch to assist your baby development in the early formative years.

A massage has many proven health benefits, including stress relief, loosening tight muscles and releasing tension and pressure on nerves. If you are considering having a massage you need to ask yourself “how do I feel and do I have any chronic pain”. This will help you decide what type of massage you need and how frequently you should schedule a massage.

 Each massage therapist has a different style and you might need to experiment to find what best suits you and your needs. Think about what you want to get out of your massage. Are you looking for stress relief or treatment of chronic pain? It is important to explain your reasons for booking a massage to your massage therapist. They can then suggest an appropriate treatment plan to best achieve your goals.

Many people ask “how often should I get a massage”. The simple answer to this is “whenever you feel you need one”. If you feel your muscles starting to tense up, your body starting to ache or you are experiencing stress then a massage will help.

A weekly massage with have the greatest benefit for your health and quality of life. However this is not always possible. When addressing a chronic pain condition, it is often recommended to have 2-3 massages in quick succession to address the issue, then reduce to fortnightly or monthly massages to maintain the benefits achieved. The longer you wait between massages, the more opportunity you are giving your muscles to revert to their previous state.

 Investigate the massage therapists in your area and find out what type of massage techniques they use. Book yourself a series of massages with different therapists and using different techniques. Then you can decide what works best for you.

 Listen to your body. Book a massage as soon as you think you need one and communicate your goals with your massage therapist and you will achieve the maximum health and wellness benefits from your massage. Most of all, enjoy your massage time. It is your time and it’s all about you.

 

TOUCH IS AS IMPORTANT TO INFANT HEALTH AS EATING AND DRINKING.

 

Baby massage may seem superfluous or silly to some people, but it does have significant health benefits. In fact, touch plays a much more important role in human development than scientists first imagined. Consider these facts: Skin is by far the largest of all of our sense organs. It develops early in utero – at less than 8 weeks the sense of touch is already highly developed – before there are eyes or ears.

By Dr. Alan Greene – Practicing Paediatrician

 

Baby massage has been increasing in popularity for many years. More and more parents want to learn infant massage having heard about the benefits it can provide.

Research has also found that caregivers feel more confident, less stressed and feel a closer bond with their baby after learning infant massage.

Learn safe and effective massage techniques by booking an infant massage session with Jillian call 03 9763 0033

There are a lot of choices today about where, when and who with you get your massage.

There are Spas, franchises in your local shopping centres, or your local small business.

So why get a massage from your local massage therapist?

You can get your massage from the same person every time. This has many advantages. The main one is that we get to know you and we are able to follow a treatment plan that suits you best. You will not have to “tell your story each time”. We also learn your preferences, the pressure that you like and ensure that you are enjoying and getting the best result posible.

We are very good at what we do best. The massage team only do massage and there are only 3 of us. The other staff are specialists in their fields also. We have all under gone extensive training and are required to have continuing ongoing training to maintain our credentials. With this in mind you know that you are getting the best possible treatment for your requirements.

We will call you back. When you call us, sometimes we cannot always get to the phone. All you have to do is leave a simple message and we will call you back as soon as we can. You can also make a booking via our online booking system using our booking system.

Small businesses are important to the community. Your money goes to a local business which then gets spent at other local businesses. There are no franchise fees to pay or big corporates getting a cut. Everything supports the local population.

We care about you because we live amongst you.

Rob Melville is a local massage therapist who has been providing services to Knoxfield since 2000. If you would like to contact Rob he can be found at The Centre of Wellbeing, Anne Road Knoxfield or calling 03 9763 0033.