ABOUT

My passion is about helping others to be free of pain. The way I do this is by helping people to move more freely through using hands on massage and teaching self help movements. The late Thomas Hanna once said ‘The living body is a moving body. If life means movement then it may be permissible to think that more movement means more life and less movement means less life.’ How true this is. What kind of life would you like?

My name is Alison Emery and I am a Clinical and Sports Massage Therapist and a Somatics Movement Educator. I originally started my journey in massage back in 2005 as a bit of a hobby but in 2010 I was made redundant from Thames Valley University where I was working as an NVQ Assessor in health and social care. This seemed the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into the massage industry. I have always worked with people in a caring capacity working as a registered nurse in a hospital setting and as a project worker with people who were homeless. Therefore, working as a massage therapist was the perfect way that I could do something I was passionate about whilst helping others at the same time.

Once I had made this decision I embarked on some in depth training as I knew my skills were limited especially as I wanted to help people with chronic pain. I undertook an ITEC Diploma Level 3 sports massage course which was a starting point and made me hungry to learn more. In fact I discovered the more I learn’t in this field the more I realised how little I knew.  In 2012 I discovered a great organisation called the Jing Institute of Advanced Massage and embarked on my next phase of my massage journey. In 2013 I had completed The Advanced Certificate in Clinical Massage. In 2015 I went on to complete the BTEC Diploma in Clinical and Sports Massage Level 6, the highest level possible in this country. Whilst undertaking this training I was also building up my practice. I moved to Portsmouth in 2015 and have been growing my practice over the past 5 years.

I continue to learn more in this field. I feel this is important otherwise my practice will stagnate and I will not be able to offer the highest standard of care and treatment to my clients. Therefore, since 2015 I have undertaken further training in Advanced Myofascial Techniques with the amazing Til Luchau and also Scar Work Techniques with the gifted Sharon Wheeler. More recently I have found that my direction is starting to change again with the discovery of Somatics. Somatics helps to increase sensory awareness through movement which in turn increases movement options and reduces pain.  I came across a training provider called Essential Somatics and was lucky enough to train with Martha Peterson. I have now qualified as an Essential Somatics Movement Teacher and am offering online group classes and online 1 to 1 classes at present under the current climate. I have found that Somatics combined with clinical massage really compliment each other in my target to help people out of pain.

I currently run my massage practice from my home in Cosham, Portsmouth. I have tried using external clinics but have found that I prefer working from home as this offers me more flexibility to meet my clients needs.

If you would like more information about how clinical and sports massage or somatic movements could help you please give me a call on 07760100279.

Qualifications

  • Essential Somatic Movement Teacher Level 1 (May 2019) and Level 2 (May 2020)
  • BTEC Diploma Level 6 in Advanced Clinical and Sports Massage (Jing)
  • Advanced Clinical Massage Therapist Certificate which covers Clinical Massage for Lower Back Pain, Neck and Shoulder Pain, Pain in the Shoulder Girdle, Hip pain, Leg, Knee and Foot pain and Forearm pain. (Jing)
  • Anatomy and Physiology, (Jing)
  • Diploma in Indian Head Massage;
  • Clinical Hot Stones Massage; (Jing)
  • TMJ Face and Jaw Pain (Jing)
  • Working with the Spine (Jing)
  • Ribs, Abdomen and Thorax (Jing)
  • Pregnancy Massage; (Jing)
  • Scar Work (Sharon Wheeler)
  • Advanced Myofascial Techniques in Pelvis, Hips and Sacrum; Spine and Lower Back; Ribs and Sciatica
  • Diploma in Swedish Massage,
  • Diploma in  Sports Massage;
  • Registered General Nurse (RGN)