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Why do so many therapists avoid "belly work"?

I've found many workshop participants are uncomfortable performing hands-on abdominal work, i.e., pelvic and respiratory diaphragm releases and sometimes even superficial belly techniques. This seems particularly true when working with pregnant clients/patients. Do you feel belly-work is under-emphasized in bodywork trainings? Does the area hold too much emotion or possibly too intimate for some? I've written a short e-newsletter & posted a video showing some basic, but useful structural integration techniques @ http://erikdalton.com/NewslettersOnline/Sept_09_Newsletter.htm

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Comment by Marilyn St.John on October 31, 2009 at 9:44pm: We learned belly work in school, the importance of it was repeated many times & the teaching of it was very thorough. Five years later, I almost always include it and clients love it. I have several IBS clients (men & women) who come in specifically because I include it, while many therapists do not. For pregnant women, however, I always consider the belly more "private" and my experience has been that those women usually prefer to do self-massage during that time.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 31, 2009 at 3:51pm: Erik, we'll leave a light on for you... always welcome, heck after a year or so, you may come out of retirement. I thought I would love it, when I retired at 39 in South Padre Island, Texas. In three years, I was going yonkers just laying around the pool and making day trips into Mexico! Congratulations on the house!! It is gorgeous! If you get too bored, one of the schools there wrote me asking if I knew any instructors.... "and just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in!" Michael Corleone

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 31, 2009 at 3:43pm: Good Schools, like Irene's gives you a step up. I agree about educating the client and with some as soon as emotional release is stated, they would prefer not to. We need through advertising also show more detailed work. Almost every photo promoting massage today has a beautiful woman smiling as she has her sholders rubbed.

The same with why men are not accepting massage as quickly. Everyone advertises in Brides R Us. You don't see aman getting a massage in tool magazines... think about it. Yea, I know cost versus profit. But I thought the issue was to get more men.

I sponsored some (female driver and male driver) race cars in Pensacola, FL. Are we thinking outside the box?

Comment by Erik Dalton, Ph.D. on October 31, 2009 at 3:36pm: Hey Mike:

Would love to present at the 2011 Massage Festival but don't know how I will feel about traveling once the Costa Rica house is completed (next week) and after my gruelling 2010 workshop schedule.

Like you, I maintain a love and passion for the work but there comes a time where you realize the cart is pushing the horse...or like Sissy Spacek said in her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter"..."I thought I was runnin' my life til I realized my life was a runnin' me."

Comment by Dave Marhofer on October 31, 2009 at 3:32pm: To Mikes commment, I went to school at Irenes. And in their hands on class, they spend a good deal of time on the abdominal region, iliopsoas, intestinal track, and diaphram release. I learned alot that night, but not all your clients are going to want it done, so it is up to the therapist to educate the client, and make them aware of the benefits of "belly work". It is the emotional center of the body, and clients are very sensitive, or even become embarrased should they have an emotional release, so you need to give them a moment to work through it. I have one client who will not leave until she gets her belly work, and actually gets excited when in her words "I finally get to her favorate part of the massage"

Comment by Darcy Neibaur on October 31, 2009 at 3:29pm: We learned a bit about the belly in school. I was the demo as none of the other ladies would participate. I was already familar with belly work from my mentor Mike H. I do belly work when it is asked for, which is probably half the time. Many of my co-workers do not do belly work for whatever reason and also do not do the face for the same reasons. Beats me. I have no clue. I do it all as that was how I was mentored to do. All those that I do the belly work on really enjoy it and are grateful to have the work done.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 31, 2009 at 3:11pm: You still with us for 2011?

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 31, 2009 at 3:11pm: Really! It is a great life. I live massage!

Comment by Erik Dalton, Ph.D. on October 31, 2009 at 3:08pm: Hey Mike:

Are you on line 24/7? Damn man...get a life!

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 31, 2009 at 3:03pm: I agree with Gloria, there is so little abdominal work taught in school. Then a lot of clients, especially ladies don't want it, for many reasons. So a lot of therapists have taken little to no CEs in this area. And Erik is at the far end of the spectrum with knowledge many of us will never reach, unless we try. It is a shame, for the clients and us. There is so much more to learn, never stop.