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What is Amma Therapy? A holistic approach to healing

Welcome to your career in chinese medicine and holistic healing. Because you’ve been reading the Portland Pedal Power blog you’ve read all about the Wellspring School for Healing Arts and their fantastic programs preparing you for a career and life change practicing acupuncture, meditation, tai chi, amma (massage) therapy, and other chinese medicine practices. You thought to yourself “Hey, this is amazing and right up my alley”, and decided to begin looking into the programs because you’re a healthy individual and you want to spread the health to the rest of the world. There are so many paths to healing the world though, which one should I choose?

One of the most popular methods of natural healing is massage therapy. Lets be honest, EVERYBODY loves a good massage, and if someone says they don’t its because they haven’t found the right therapist. You don’t even have to be an individual who is tremendously into natural healing to appreciate the benefits that massage therapy can give. We know we LOVE our massages. But since we’re looking at chinese medicine we must ask, how does massage affect energy and the balance of energy in the body? So you’ve turned back to the PPP blog to find this post informing your of the Wellspring School’s Amma Bodywork Therapy program that is beginning in October 2012! What is Amma Therapy?

Amma therapy a specialized form of bodywork therapy that combines deep, therapeutic, circular digital pressure and acupressure point stimulation with Chinese medicine principles for accessing and treating imbalances in the energy system.

So needless to say ‘Amma’ is our word of the day today. This word is the oldest known word used to describe massage therapy, and is a bodywork style that even predates acupuncture.  This, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see from above is not your average style of massage therapy! Like acupuncture, Amma focuses on the balance and movement of your energy (Qi (ch-ee))  throughout your body using a variety of massage therapy techniques and rely solely on the power in your own hands. It is a comprehensive form of holistic healthcare and a profound healing art that involves training in a lineage form of asian bodywork and chinese medicine. So if you’ve ever wanted to hold power, this is quite literally your opportunity! It is a comprehensive form of holistic healthcare and a profound healing art that involves training in a lineage form of asian bodywork and chinese medicine.

The Amma Bodywork Therapy Program is a 1000+ hour program that is taught over six, 15-week segments and takes roughly 24 months to complete. For the full curriculum see the Wellspring School’s website.

For more information regarding the Wellspring School for Healing Arts, and other Portland Pedal Power vendors, partners, friends, and updates, follow our blog! Seriously, do it!  Or follow us on Twitter @PDXPedPow or Facebook!


Wellspring School for healing arts. Holistic health for the holistic being.

So you’re a healthy person!  You check up with the Portland Pedal Power blog on a regular basis to see what great new sustainable and organic foods we’re delivering.  You exercise and bicycle and do other fitnessy type stuff.  You drink water and tea with lots of antioxidants to stay hydrated, sharp, and have healthy cells with reduced free radicals.  You have studied various dietary plans to see which one may best fit your personality and lifestyle.  Yet despite all your efforts, you still feel there’s something missing.  You feel there is so much more you can do and learn and your body, your life, and your soul are all still just a little out of balance.

On the other hand, perhaps you’re looking to get healthy and learn more about nutrition.  You’re new to this whole “healthy lifestyle” thing that all your friends have been ranting and raving about.  Maybe you’re stressed out in life and want to find out more about how mediation can save you from stress related disease.  Perhaps you’ve been to China before and have seen elderly people practicing Tai Chi on the Great Wall, or in a park, and have wanted to try it out, and learn about other forms of moving meditation.

Whatever the reason, you, my health nut and health challenged friends, are ready to take the next step toward true spiritual and physical health, and Portland Pedal Power has just the place for you to accomplish this.

…take the next step toward true spiritual and physical health…

The Wellspring School in Portland is a center that teaches you the art of holistic health with focus on nutrition, dietary vitamin and supplement training, various forms of meditation, and amma (massage) therapy.  This is one school that, even though they were born in Boise, their home and heart is in Portland.

In late 2011, The Wellspring School launched a series of community classes geared towards providing opportunities for individuals to experience a little bit of self-care. From meditation, to Tai Chi, to shamanism, people can sample different classes at low prices. Heading into Spring 2012, The Wellspring School continues to offer weekly community classes dedicated to wellness for the whole person.

Stay tuned for upcoming workshops (Whole Foods Cooking, Caring for Cancer Holistically & Intro to Wholistic Nutrition) this summer. Don’t forget about our certification programs Amma Therapy (Asian Bodywork) and Wholistic Nutrition too. The next ones should be starting up in Fall 2012 and Winter 2013 respectively. Make sure you check out our website from time to time to see what’s coming up.

The Wellspring School also recently announced the upcoming (June) closure of its Boise, Idaho location. We will focus all of our energy moving forward on building our school presence in Portland. We love Portland!

We are very excited about dedicating ourselves to growing our business in Portland! Special thanks to Portland Pedal Power for helping us get the word out and making this a possibility for us. We always ask our students where they hear about us and consistently the response has been, “I saw this flyer….”