416-368-5300 ext. 244 or Ms Moore Direct: 289-314-5736
concierge@sweetgrassspa.ca
Located in a beautiful restored 19th century loft building in Toronto's Historic Queen Street East district, sweetgrassspa is the most exciting new luxury spa in Toronto. Oasis of tranquility and relaxation, sweetgrassspa is a sanctuary of splendid escape. Ms Moore is delighted to be featured as the "Guest Zen Therapist" in such uplifting environment and serene atmosphere.
Starting on July 20, 2010, Ms. Moore is available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and two Saturdays per month. Enjoy the beautiful ozone pool, whirlpool and steam shower. Experience the infra red sauna, designed to detoxify your body, reduce pain in joints and muscle and promote deeper sleep. Indulge yourself with delicious spa dining created by Executive Chef Lorenzo Loseto of George Restaurant – ranked as one of the finest restaurants in Toronto.
At sweetgrassspa Ms. Moore is offering Zen massages of 60 min. /$120, 90 min./ $165 and 120 min. / $225. For more blissful benefits, longer treatments on a regular basis are recommended. Her wonderful technique promotes a deep sense of well-being and delicious relaxation. sweetgrassspa is the first spa to offer Ashiatsu and Bamboo Fusion massages in Canada.. Here are the following treatments:
Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage: Julie is one of a few Canadians certified in this amazing technique. She was trained in the USA to perform the famous Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, which is known as "The most luxurious massage on the planet!" It is a compression massage using deep, smooth effleurage gliding strokes all over the yang part of the body. Julie's main clientele for this new modality is often top executives, elite athletes, actors and musicians who need to maintain or enhance their professional performance by harmonizing the flow of Qi in their body. This Zen massage increases synchronicity between their physical, mental and emotional aspect of the self, reaching a state of complete control over the functions and distractions of consciousness.
Bamboo Fusion Massage: Ms. Moore is the first certified Bamboo Fusion Therapist and instructor in the country. The heated bamboo sticks glide easily and deeply across the body. Reducing physical, mental and emotional tension, this amazing Zen massage encourages your body and mind to become one again and feel "Zenly re-energized". The original Bamboo Fusion massage is the hottest luxurious massage in the spa industry.
Zen Shiatsu: This Japanese massage relaxes and invigorates the body. Ms Moore uses thumb, palm or elbow pressure on meridians. This unique technique helps your body and its internal organs to reach balance and encourage the self-healing process. You remain clothed and no oils are used on the body. The treatment is performed on a table or the traditional Japanese style on a mat on the flow.
Japanese Foot Massage: The body as a whole system can be improved through foot massage. By stimulating the human bio-energy, this massage improves circulation, balances internal organs and meridians to enhance your overall health. You are massaged from the toes to the knees. Regular treatments can help prevent ailments and slow down the aging process.
Zen Hybrid Massage: More delightful than a traditional massage, this is an exclusive pampering aromatherapy massage designed especially for you, incorporating various techniques such as guided relaxation, Ashiatsu, Bamboo Fusion, Zen Shiatsu and Japanese foot massage. Excellent healing combination as essential oils and massage has mutually enhancing effects. This Zen Massage is simply luxurious, Zen and Organic… all about YOU!
You don’t want to miss this amazing “hot & hip event” on February 11, 2010,
6 PM until 10 PM
at Hästens Store Toronto, Distillery Distric.
55 Mill Street
Building 8.
RSVP at info@hastenstoronto.com
Guest will discover the most luxurious massage on the planet “Ashiatsu” (Barefoot Massage), Bamboo Fusion massage (with warm bamboo stick) and Barborganic the favourite organic Skin Care Line of the LOHAS (Life-Styles of Health and Sustainability) prominent industry insiders and celebrities such as Madonna, Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leonardo Di Caprio or Cameron Diaz.
Come to enjoy an evening filled with shopping, live entertainment, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a fashion show, prizes and more...
(see PDF invitation)
RSVP at info@hastenstoronto.com as soon as possible!
See you there! Please note it is a 19+ event…
In October 2009, Julie came back from Florida, where she had the great pleasure to study the original technique “Bamboo Fusion” with the founder Nathalie Cecilia (LMT) and her business partner Karen Lay (LMT).
Warm bamboo massage is wonderful for clients craving "deeper pressure" on their body. The bamboo tools penetrate and calm down the muscles faster, bring a feeling of deep relaxation down to your soul. Even the client's skin can actually become suppler.
The bamboo tools, used to perform this amazing treatment, is made of 100% bamboo and designed for full body massage. The bamboo holds heat very well and is so comfortable for therapists that it becomes an extension of their hands. Compare to hot stone massage, the bamboo is easy to warm up and is portable. No need of the crock pot which take so much space and isn’t portable. Therapists do repetitive movements during traditional massage, which can result in repetitive use injuries such as carpel tunnel. Using the bamboo tools help the therapists perform deep pressure movements with true ease.
Bamboo is beautiful and considered "lucky" by many people. It is a highly renewable resource. Bamboo Fusion is advancing in popularity also due to its green nature. Many luxury resorts and spas in the USA are now incorporating the original Bamboo Fusion into their spa menus as a new exotic and luxurious treatment. For more information please contact Julie via email or at 289-314-5736.
People from around the world have experienced a moment to relax, breathe, discover and enjoy the simple healing power of “Zen Massages by Julie Moore”. The following treatments are available:
"Shiatsu" means, "finger pressure". Julie uses thumb, palm or elbow pressure on meridians. This unique technique helps your body and its internal organs to reach balance and encourage the self-healing process. You remain clothed and no oils are used on the body.
The body as a whole system can be improved through foot massage. By stimulating the Qi (human bio-energy) this massage improves circulation, balances internal organs and meridians to enhance your overall health. You are massaged from the toes to the knees.
Designed for executive travelers, you will learn effective and easy techniques to integrate relaxation in your daily life. Based on your needs and habits, Julie can teach you Qi Gong, Zen meditation and Meridian stretching. The sequence of 21 movements of Qi Gong focuses on breathing and muscle relaxation, and balancing the yin and yang. Zen meditation calms the agitated mind and Meridian stretching improves on the flow of energy in your body. Julie’s Zen classes will give tips to feel better at the physical, mental and emotional level.
In luxury hotels, appointments are $200 for 70 minutes, $300 for 2 hours. Please contact Julie directly for more information at 289-314-5736 or by email at julie@zenshiatsutherapist.com
The pressure is deep, the feet nimble, and the weight off your shoulders
By Doug Warren
Globe Correspondent
January 11, 2009
TORONTO -- I have a history of letting women walk all over me. Just ask any of my friends.
But I had never had a woman literally work me over with her feet until, on a visit to Toronto, I stopped into the Yorkville Avenue studio of Julie Moore, Zen Shiatsu Therapist.
Moore, 46, a native of Quebec City, is a petite woman who gave up a successful business career in 1998 to become a practitioner of shiatsu - or "finger pressure" - a Japanese form of bodywork based on the holistic system of traditional Chinese medicine. Working with shiatsu master Tetsuro Saito, Moore learned to use finger and palm pressure in an effort to restore balance in the natural flow of energy known as "qi" (pronounced "chee") throughout the body.
Moore also learned that doing the work, particularly on her larger and more muscular clients, took a toll on her body. So, several years ago she began training in Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, which melds elements of the ancient practice of ashiatsu - or "foot pressure" - massage with Western techniques. The key is the use of a raised table and overhead bars to support the therapist's weight.
"It's much more effective for my clients to use my body weight and my foot, which is much larger than my hand, to apply just the right amount of pressure," said Moore, who weighs 122 pounds. "It's also a lot easier on me."
Ruthie Piper Hardee developed the bar therapy regimen and is credited with bringing this rapidly growing form of massage into the US mainstream. "You could say it's a barefoot bonanza that's really sweeping the country," Hardee, 52, said in a telephone interview from her Denver office. Since the 1990s, Hardee's program has trained nearly 4,000 practitioners in Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, including Moore, who is certified in advanced levels.
Those therapists use wooden bars bolted into the ceiling or a portable apparatus with overhead bars to maneuver above their clients and to support a portion of their body weight as they vary the amount of pressure they apply with one foot, or sometimes both feet. That combination helps create "the longest stroke ever and the most luxurious massage on the planet," according to Hardee.
I was eager to find out whether Moore could back up that claim. Soon after arriving at her small but comfortable studio for my 90-minute session, I was lying face down under the covers on the massage table, which was slightly wider than normal to accommodate Moore's footwork. On the floor under the face cushion that cradled my head, she mixed some Japanese mint oil with hot water and the resulting fragrant steam brought my sinuses alive.
With her hands, Moore applied a light lubricating oil over my back and legs while quietly explaining some of the concepts of shiatsu, which she has incorporated into the bar therapy program. She reminded me frequently to breathe in deeply and expel tension on the outward breath. Before I got on the table, we had gone over a 1-10 scale for pressure and discomfort levels and how I could signal her to stop if I felt any pain. "A 6 is good," she said.
Moore then sat on a high, rolling stool in front of my head and began using her feet, particularly her heels, on my neck and upper back. Her feet rotated side to side as the heels dug in. The strokes were long and firm and felt remarkably like hands.
She then shifted to a standing position on my back, with a portion of her weight supported by the bars she grasped near the ceiling. There was no discomfort as Moore worked her way along the bars and down my back and onto my thighs. Her strokes became incredibly long as she built them up: At one point, her foot worked its way up from my ankle, along my leg, over my back, and down my arm, all in one fluid motion.
In a follow-up phone interview, I asked Moore how she achieved such exceptional results. "It's really all in the training and concentration," she said. "You are high above the ground with oil on your feet and hands and you have to hold onto a wooden bar over your head at all times. A lot could go wrong. You have to be very focused."
I also wanted to know how she keeps her feet clean and user-friendly. She said she washes them frequently and always wears clean socks to ensure that everything is sanitary. She also keeps nail files and skin scrubbers handy to smooth out any rough spots.
Back on the table, everything was going very smoothly for me. Moore's judiciously applied foot pressure had probed deeply into tight muscles, and her whispered urgings to release and relax were having the desired effect. I was drifting in and out as I surrendered to darkness without fear. Maybe this was balance. Maybe I was falling asleep.
Moore brought me slowly back to reality by first asking me to turn over. She placed a small stone on my forehead and then massaged my head, neck, and shoulders with her hands. My poor feet were suffering more from pangs of inadequacy than any physical ailment, but Moore made them feel better by finding and gently stimulating pressure points on the soles.
Problem areas that Moore had identified during my treatment - my right shoulder and forearm - were addressed with a few drops of straight mint oil, which was cool and refreshing on the skin. After I got dressed, Moore served me peppermint tea and a small piece of chocolate as we talked about the bar therapy and her efforts to balance my qi.
I felt remarkably at ease following my treatment, in both mind and body. Moore's feet had found their marks and her deep tissue work had unraveled most of the knots my muscles had built up with time and stress. If it wasn't the most luxurious massage I've ever had, it probably was the most effective. Moore's inclusion of aspects of her shiatsu training was a complementary bonus.
Traditional ashiatsu has been performed in Asia on a floor mat for thousands of years, and over the centuries it has sometimes strayed into the massage parlors of the Far East. Hardee and the growing number of therapists like Moore trained in Ashiastu Oriental Bar Therapy have brought it into the day spa with outstanding results. A whole new massage movement is afoot.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.