Help a Psoas Friend in Need 

When longtime San Franciscan and Psoas friend, Dan Donovan, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March, his friends huddled together and hatched a plan to help. Dan is an amazing friend and father, a highly skilled craftsman, politically devoted to the greater cause, and most of all our favorite man.

by Chez Shadman - Newsletter Editor, Office Administrator

Jodi Mainwaring wants you to love your body as much as she does. And if you've ever felt her hands pushing deep into your muscle tissue, you know the exact love of which I speak. Jodi's deep touch reaches far and wide. No knot is safe, no muscle strain stands a chance! While it may not exactly always be a lulling effect (no pain, no gain, right?), it's certainly a pleasurable experience overall.

Jodi has lived in San Francisco for the past five years, after having spent her formative years in the countryside of Northeastern Washington State. It must be that combination of subtle country living and nitty gritty city life that has helped her become one of the most welcoming, attentive and effective massage therapists this town has to offer. And she's all ours . . . and yours as well!

Deep Tissue or Clinical Bodywork?

We got your back!

by Scott Schwartz, Co-Owner and Sports Massage Therapist

Since Summer 2003, when Psoas first opened its doors, we have evolved into the most trusted place in San Francisco to receive clinical bodywork and Sports massage. Clinical bodywork tends to be focused on specific parts of the body. This involves investigating the cause of any areas in question and alleviating the condition, then restoring soft tissue health, manually. Typically this is done with the aid of strengthening exercises and/or stretching. Sports massage, as practiced at Psoas, involves caring for sports injuries, maintaining soft tissue health, and attempting to increase athletic performance by increasing efficiency and flexibility of sport specific muscle groups.

Over the past 8 years we have refined our interview process in order to provide our clients with the finest clinicians in the city of San Francisco. We believe our hard work (it's an extensive process) has paid off and we've done just that -- our staff is second to none. With that said, over the past year we have realized that we've been missing something.  In reality, our staff bordered on being too clinical. Their expertise was needed almost entirely on the clinical end of the bodywork spectrum and we were therefore unable to provide our clientele with the option of receiving a superior deep tissue massage that allows for fuller body sessions.

At the conclusion of sessions, we often hear:

•  "Wow - my back feels better than ever."
• "I feel like I can actually throw a ball again."
• "I can feel my foot moving properly."
• "That pain is gone."

We weren't hearing

•  "AH - that was fantastic."
•  "How luxurious."
•  "My whole body feels rejuvenated."

We have always been great at fixing stuff, helping people recover from injury and surgery, alleviating nerve issues and repetitive strain, re-teaching muscles what their jobs are, balancing the body etc... And while we certainly have always provided quality deep tissue, we wanted the "AH" so we went out and got it!

Over the last 8 months we have hired some of the best deep tissue therapists around and we are proud to introduce them to you. We know they will be a great addition to our already seasoned crew of clinical and sports massage therapists.

Introducing:

Vincent Cascio:

Vincent has been practicing massage therapy since 2000. He describes his work as a deep, full-body, flowing massage session with specific targeted work on problem areas. He has a keen ability to find those "crunchy" areas and tackle them hands on. His work is deep and focused. He can work on desk workers and athletes, alike, and wants to help people in pain. 

Johnee Gower:

Johnee has been practicing bodywork since 2004. He attended California Healing Arts College in Santa Monica where he obtained a 720-hour degree. Since then he has worked at upscale spas as well as with Athletes from Los Angeles to San Francisco. While his joy lies in Deep Tissue and Restructuring of body memory & movement, he incorporates an energetic element to his work and considers himself more of a healer than a mere body mechanic.  

Liv Miller: 

Liv Miller completed an 800 hour training program in Portland, Oregon and worked 4 years with auto injury and repetitive stress clients. Liv specializes in deep tissue techniques. She is a San Francisco native, a Kundalini yoga instructor, does acro-balance and is an avid cyclist.

Margaret Eisenberg:

Margaret combines Deep Tissue, Trigger Point Release, Swedish, and facilitated Stretching, as well as more subtle work such as Jin Shin Jyutsu if/when appropriate.  Her clients have appreciated that she uses multiple varied strategies over time, to address a given issue.  She is keenly aware that clients' mental/emotional stresses affect their bodies, and therefore makes sure to respect these issues, and to incorporate that awareness into her work.

I would place our new deep tissue specialists up against any deep tissue therapists out there. They are detail-oriented while being fluid, relaxing while really working muscles, deep while not painful (unless you like that kind of thing).

One great thing we're finding is that our clinical and deep tissue specialists are working incredibly well together to help clients reach their goals faster and more efficiently. This balance provides the type of work that all clients are seeking and allows all therapists to do the work that they specialize in.

The pride that the staff and ownership has in Psoas is derived from a strong feeling that what we do is help make people's lives better. We fix you when you are broken, we relax you when you are stressed, we help make you better athletes and help you stay active with less pain further into your life.

The addition of our new Deep Tissue team rounds out our staff nicely and makes us very proud. We hope you find them as talented and caring as we do.

It's time to put your soles to the concrete and join Marathon Matt for this installment of The City 13.1 Training Program. There are many races this summer and Matt and his team of dedicated running coaches are going to help you stay active, stay limber and stay running with awesome weekly workouts and trainings.  Whatever your racing goals may be, 13.1 can help you reach them. 

The program includes ALL of the following for a mere $150!

• 3 weekly professionally coached run workouts (Tues @ 6:30PM (2 locations-Marina & Psoas Massage + Bodywork), Thurs @ 6:30PM, and Saturday @ 9:30AM)
• A technical running shirt
• $25 Fleet Feet San Francisco store credit!
• A twice weekly email newsletter supporting your training.
• A comprehensive training schedule
• Chomps, GU,and GU Brew provided by GU Energy.
• Clinics/Seminars with PSOAS Massage+Bodywork, MV Nutrition, and more.
• Over 150 fun teammates to run with!
• Team social events (bar nights, team dinners, etc.)!

Goal Race: The2nd Half Marathon associated with the San Francisco Marathon on Sat., July.31, 2011 

Workout Specifics:

• Tuesday night run workouts @ 6:30PM launch from the Marina Green Monkey Bars (adjacent to Marina/Webster) AND outside PSOAS Massage+Bodywork @ 333 3rd Street (btwn Folsom & Harrison)
• Thursday night workouts @ 6:30PM launch from the Marina Green Monkey Bars (adjacent to Marina/Webster) and include '2' options: A bootcamp workout OR a speed workout
• Saturday morning runs @ 9:30AM launch form the Marina Green Monkey Bars unless specified otherwise in the schedule/newsletter

Sign up online for The City 13.1 OR Call Marathon Matt to register over the phone-415-572-4437.

QUESTIONS/CONCERNS? EMAIL MARATHONMATT@MARATHONMATT.COM

We're All Ears and Waiting For You 

At Psoas, we are here to do our best for you. And we're always looking for feedback to make us a stronger massage and bodywork studio. Don't hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do to make you happier. And if you have a success story to share, we'd love to hear that too! After all, our goal is to make you feel better, and knowing what works will only help us improve our technique in the future. So shoot me an email with any thoughts or stories to: chez@psoasbodywork.com. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Morning or Weekend Sessions?

We have them both! 

We know that many of you have had difficulty scheduling sessions at the times that suit you best. And here's what we're doing to make your experience at Psoas even more fluid and accessible:

We are extending our morning hours! And we have plans for an even more expanded morning schedule in the future. Our weekday sessions begin as early as 8am Monday, 8:30 Tuesday through Thursday, and 7:30am on Fridays!  

And for those of you who are unaware, Psoas is open 7 days a week, which means you can get your bodywork on either Saturdays or Sundays, starting at 11am and ending at 5:30pm. 

So if you're an early riser or prefer the weekends, please give us a call to see what availability we have for you!

2011 Calendar of Sporting Events

With the multitude of sporting events held in the Bay Area, it can be more of a workout trying to keep all of that race information straight than it can be to train for that upcoming triathlon! Well thanks to our comprehensive

2011 Calendar of Sporting Events, you can focus all your energy on adding mileage during your runs or increasing your racing speed. Click on the link and see what your next sporting event will be!