Tinley center wants to ease your stress
Darcel Rockett
The Star, December 23, 2004

 

There is a theory that when one feels angry or jealous, it is not directly caused by another person.

Rather, these feelings are merely projected externally from internal reaches of the physical body.

The 12 therapists at Beyond Wellness Therapeutic Massage & Haling Center in Tinley Park subscribe to this belief.

And the center's director and owner, Don Massat, refers to this theory when describing his holistic approach to dealing with stresses on the physical body.

"Our bodies' tissues contain memories and emotions, but through our upbringing and day-to-day lives we've learned how to suppress those emotions," Massat said. "If one holds these in for a long time, the stresses may manifest into a physical, emotional or mental disorder. (At the center) we may release heavy emotions by working with clients in altered states, reaching the core of the problem."

This theory is not the only part of the business that is not mainstream. In other ways Beyond Wellness shows itself not to be the typical spa or pampering place, Massat said.

Instead, it is an alternative health care center that specializes in looking at the cause rather then the symptoms via the correlation between the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual parts of a person.

Massat, who some may describe as a "city shaman," and his group of massage therapists and "lightworkers" (enlightened therapists who release various energies from the body,) do this by providing a variety of massages and body work that use both Eastern and Western modalities.

Beyond Wellness offers many types of massage, including Swedish, Sports, Esalen (full body massage with flowing strokes), Prenatal, Deep Tissue, Jin Shin Do (an acupressure massage via gentle finger pressure), and La Stone Therapy, which uses warm and cold basalt and marble stones for massage.

CranioSacral Therapy is a unique technique that detects through touch the motion of a client's head in order to locate critical points of restriction in the cranium and the treat headaches, ear and eye problems.

Another system of healing, Reiki, uses the laying on of hands to restore the balance the body's energy.

Massat said the various techniques are used to help recipients reclaim their personal power by creating a positive environment where the negatives can no longer remain.

He said energy defenses that were raised for past traumatic experiences are relieved, allowing the body to be more open to personal growth opportunities. In other words, living your life forward without the past traumas hindering your physical and mental state, he said.

"(The technique) Miasm Release Therapy deals with multidimensional trauma," said Massat, a Tinley Park resident.

"Miasma, a lower vibrational energy that attaches to heavy emotion (hate, anger, fear, and worry), affects one's thinking process. Characteristics of a miasm include mental disorders such as depression, anxiety attacks, addiction, and schizophrenia among others.

"We release the abuses, fears and insecurities and feel there's a big demand for such worked beyond the medical model that's just treatment on a physical level. But this is something one can't traditionally advertise; people need to come in and see it to believe it."

According to Massat, people are coming in from around Chicagoland to take advantage of the unique treatment. He said he has more than 2,000 clients and nobody receives the same massage as the pervious client, because each individual is different.

The prices range from $65 to $200 (per session) depending on the number of therapists and time involved.
Massat, who opened the center six years ago, said work done at the center has led to an array of healings. He said a child born with no hearing in one ear, on whom Massat performed craniosacral work, is now starting to regain his hearing.

"By working in all different levels -- part technique, part working with people -- we can expose patterns that can hinder you," Massat said. "In a world where everyone is looking for the drive-through cure through medication, Beyond Wellness offers something very special. This group of massage therapists and lightworkers are bringing body work to another level."

Massat, who came to the world of massage 20 years ago after a hip injury, is doing this through his four-year-old institution, Sacred Journey Institute.

The school for massage therapists is geared to teach the combined knowledge of anatomy with sensitive hands-on body work to explore the physical and mental body by intertwining perception and intention with meditative use of inner eye, inner ear and the empathic heart to communicate and heal the physical, emotional, mental, astral and spiritual bodies, the institute's Web site says.

All the therapies found at the center are said to aid in digestive and urinary, respiratory and cardiovascular, skin, reproductive, terminal and musculo-skeletal ailments.

Massat said the work being done at his facility, which is also a research center for mental health disorders, is showing remarkable results in dealing with schizophrenia. He said psychologists and psychotherapists have sat in on sessions to witness the results and patients have been brought in from various parts of the country to partake of Massat's philosophy.

"What we do is not a substitute or even an alternative to medical model," Massat said. "I look at it more as evolving the present model.

"All physical problems, as well as mental, and emotional disorders, have an energetic core. We understand that there is a crucial interrelationship between the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual aspects of our being.
"Wellness is more than physical vitality. It is a process of growth and striving to balance mind, body, and spirit."


More information about Beyond Wellness Therapeutic Massage & Healing Center, 16345 S. Harlem Ave., Suite 2, Tinley Park, is at (708) 614-6860.

Darcel Rockett may be reached at drockett@starnewspapers.com or (708) 802-8817.