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Monday 10am - 7pm Tuesday 10am - 9pm Wednesday 10am - 5pm Friday 10am - 9pm Saturday 10am - 9pm Sunday 10am - 9pm

https://tianma.uk/, https://riversidebooking.as.me/Tian-ma-tui-na

Tian Ma Tui Na Massage, 1-3 Victoria embankment, Nottingham (2025)

07/05/2024

Today your breath guides your movement.
Tomorrow your movement guides your breath.

When you first get practicing various arts, often you are told to link the movements to match your exhale and inhalation rhythms.

However as time goes on and the movements change, we learn how to move in ways which contract or expand the lungs as the body and movements become unified. Of course from a physiological point of view it was the chest moving the lungs and the rest of the body moving on that rhythm. However as we go on and become more aware, we can develop the chest movement to lead the others.

Equally, while in yoga nidra sessions we are told to feel ourselves breathing into our feet. Which of course isn't completely realistic from a litteral sense as the oxygen isn't filling up into everywhere, it still only reaches the bottom of the lungs. What does happen though are the muscle chains that are used to open the body and the lungs can work more.

As youre sitting or standing, scrunch each toe up individually while relaxing and feel how these movements adjusts the chest, now repeat that with individually clench each finger to a fist. Again allow yourself to feel the impact this has on the chest and other aspects of the body.

So what is actually meant by breathing into our feet is not the air going to our feet but instead using all the muscles in the body to initiate the contraction and expansion of the chest, which is how it fills with air.

There can be many physiological benefits to this as well of course to the psychological and emotional releases. One is that the nerves in the feet are the furthest away from the brain so it can engage the biggest part of the nervous system and one often forgotten, in day to day trivial life. The lymphatic system is pumped by muscular movements so these gentle movements of the whole body contracting and expanding can help to pump it. Similarly the small tensing and relaxing of muscles allows for blood to be needed and used, so it will be getting replenished easier.
Another but definitely not the last benefit, is that I brings awareness to the smaller less used muscles within the body. This allows us to not just feel them as tensed or untensed, instead the levels of tension within them and awareness of what it feels like and how to relax them.

Of course this isn't going to be a one time hit to be fully aware and able to do this instead will come from practice and feeling what's happening not trying to think or force it to happen.

24/10/2023

"Intention leads the qi"
Qi is the commander of blood

So what does this mean for qigong?

Well to start with its very useful to create the intention of healing when the body is in a specific posture even momentarily. To feel expansion or the muscles release or what ever it may be in that situation. However, this is no different to meditation in the quiet room that has no distractions but this shouldn't be the only time and place you're doing so.

This should be the exact feelings with the qigong practice. Yijinjing for example is taught thru very extreme postures and intensities. But does that mean you can only create that intension at that level when doing the posture or should you be able to recreate it in smaller amounts in every day life.

Forms certainly are useful as they are the vehicle for driving the intention but they're just physical like lohan bringing everything into the kidneys. The form doesn't do that when you're practising you're doing that while doing the form. Just as if you make a slight "mistake" and the intent is there then that's the main thing. However you could he doing the form physically perfect but if your mind is on what's for dinner then there's nothing truly happening and it becomes a pretty dance. Sure over prolonged time of sitting in seiza or with your arms above your head blood flow may stop. Generally though, it's not going to change that if the arms too high or elbow slightly out.

While I'm not trying to say don't worry and do it all wrong, don't care if it's correct or not. Maybe less care on what bits are important to be correct. Just as repetitive movement with your knee out of line can harm that but once probably will be OK.

What is important is correct intent as this inturn controls everything before it. Do you intend to do the movements as correctly as you need to? Is your intent of things happening the way it needs to be. Such as everything expanding or everything contracting or projection out of one point. If you struggle with is then yes go back a level.

It's no different to worrying so much about what you eat the stress probably does more harm than the few grams extra of sugar.

27/05/2023

Tian Ma Tui Na Massage Experience Nottingham

Rejuvenate your body and restore harmony!

Indulge in the incredible benefits of Tui Na Massage, a therapeutic masterpiece that will leave you feeling balanced and revitalized. With its precise pressure-kneading techniques and targeted joint correction movements, this full-body deep muscle massage is a true game-changer. It's time to correct any imbalances and disharmony within your body, activating your innate self-healing abilities and preventing future ailments.

From the very first session, you'll witness the remarkable effects of this extraordinary therapy. Bid farewell to those nagging back, waist, and neck pains as they gradually fade away. Feel the tension release from your muscles, particularly around the vertebrae and joints. Experience the refinement of your movements and revel in the detoxifying benefits that Tui Na Massage brings.

But wait, there's more! To enhance your healing journey you'll also have the opportunity to benefit from acupuncture, cupping, Warm Bamboo Massage, fire massage, and reflexology. As well, when needed, exercises perscribed to help you specifically.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to prioritise your well-being. Go across to tianma.uk to secure your appointment and embark on a transformative Tui Na Massage journey.

14/05/2023

A review of the 'secrets of heavy hands' book and the system the book is based on.

Firstly before we get going this is in my opinion the most underrated exercise that one might class as qigong or fu zhu gong fa. Regardless of what else you practice you should be working with this too

The 2 books on heavy hands were pretty much how sifu ripski taught me it.

The first book being superbly a this is what you need to do and the correct ways to do it now go and do it.
The more intellectual question asked on what I should feel etc were generally answered with "shut up and practice it" or "go practice and you tell me" the initial warnings on chasing fire etc and telling you what not to feel were useful.

Book 2 is basically a few years later of fine, you can have some more information on it and finetune it. Still very much practical directive and reminders and lots more things to not do as to do. Just ways to do them more specifically and some corrective directions but at the heart it Is still a practice to experience and not talking over tea or reading of a book would remind that. Which the conciseness covers into well. It also explores how this fits into other practice and the meditative side if it too.

As for the heavy hands practice itself, It is definitely the most impactful practice I have learnt both for martial and health benefits. It's also the system I've practiced the most and taught the most in my acupuncture and tui na clinic.

This practice hits the heart of tcm with the idea that both physical and mental tensions will restrict the person's health so releasing this is needed, especially on the muscularskeletal system and how that impacts the body. A big part in this was that lots if traditional acupuncturists would be able to base a treatment purely off the pulse and how that has been constricted in different ways, with the post treatment pulse then been measured to compare. While at first glance this seems more a cardiopulmonary issue. It is infact the tension, knots and tightness within the body that will tighten upon the veins and arteries reducing the flow, much like muscles can cause trapped nerves.

The meridians themselves also show this, they aren't magical links with portals from the points to the organs or merely metaphorical but instead they anatomical. Take the lung channel in the arm starting at the top edge of the chest. With the attachments of the bicep and pectoral major here. With the tightness in the bicep causing the point to be pulled snd further tightness to be across the front of the chest, and tight chests can leave the lungs less room to expand and contract. With the same for the other meridians too. Over all these meridians being a suit of the body that when one part is tightened other points then all get pulled and tightened often causing various changes to posture,weight distribution and centre of gravity. When teaching this I often suggest you choose an area of the body and tense it as tight as you can, noticing how slowly more and more of the body tenses the tighter you tense up the initial part. Especially if you then tense other areas too. Tui na, cupping, acupuncture etc, works to release this tension either by hitting into the initial spot and origin of tension or by distally working to encourage relaxation to multiple points that send chain reactions of more areas released too.

Heavy Hands fits in perfectly here as its a full body release and relaxation practice. It aims to keep good structure of the body so the various twists and turns of life start to be unwound. Same with the relaxation of the hands. As you keep so much tension in the hands it causes the arm and chest muscles to need to tense too in order to keep the tension there. However by allowing this area to relax and working the relaxation from the feet to the hands subsequently the areas in the middle, such as the muscles and fascia around the abdomen and organs within it. It's like a tube of elastic fasted to the ground and pulled tight. In the middle there is lots of tension and next to no room for movement, if you had something in the tube it would be held firmly in place. Where as loosening off the elastic would allow more movement of it and anything inside it would be able to move up too.

So yes if you haven't guessed yet I believe everyone should be practicing heavy hands regularly. I wouldn't go as far as saying it alone could cure and prevent any health issue because that's at best crazy snd at worst a law suit waiting to happen. I do believe it can help though and should definitely be part of an holistic approach to the treatment of most conditions.

https://www.lulu.com/shop/neil-ripski/secrets-of-heavy-hands/paperback/product-jk7y5e.html?page=1&pageSize=4

04/05/2023

Your massage therapist should be a friend not an enemy!

You do not have to feel beaten up afterwards to have recieved a good deep tissue massage. Infact for us the opposite seem to be true and our clients that get the more benefit from the treatment that last often say they're suprised it wasn't as painful. This is because here we don't use force and strength vs strength of the tension as this cause the muscles been worked on to respond with tension. Instead we rely on a relaxed but strong structure and correct techniques.

This relaxed pressure encourages the muscles being worked on to start to relax so that it's easier to work deeper and the muscles will be working with the therapist rather than against. It's no different to if someone grabs your hand gently and friendly even if they squeeze it tight compared to someone grabbing it forcefully. One of them is more likely to cause you to be at ease and feel safe the other threatened with causes a tensed up response.

This relaxed working together approach therefore allows the therapist to give a far deeper level of massage than by using force with it also been more enjoyable too. Of course there may still be levels of pain or discomfort with this treatment when working tender areas. But generally it is far less with the treatment impact lasting longer as the muscles that were encouraged to relax will keep relaxing.

07/04/2023

Tian Ma Tui Na Massage

Based from the Riverside Natural Health Centre at Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Bringing a deep release and relaxation to your mind and body.

Tian Ma Tui Na is medical massage, based upon the techniques learnt and used within the hospitals and village practices of China, long tradition combined with evidence based medicine. With James taking this further, with his post graduate qualification in Applied sports and exercise medicine and his degree in acupuncture. He has mixed the East and west deeply within the practice. Working both on the areas of discomfort and how they relate in with the rest of the body.

Straight from the first session there can benefits to be felt, working on those niggling and annoying problems that are holding you back in life. Whether it's helping reduce stress, ease pain or improve range of movement, this can help.

There are 4 main supplementary therapies that can be used to enhance the sessions. Although, there are many others that James has learnt on his travels in China and studying in England that can be incorporated. These can be booked specifically or can be recommended in the session if you wish.

▪︎Acupuncture: Bringing forth knowledge from his degree and years of practice. James can seamlessly include Acupuncture to support the treatment; either distally or on local areas to give the session an extra but more subtle Depth- especially on areas too sensitive for massage. Allowing extra dimension to the session in a rather gentle way.

▪︎Fire Massage: An amazing therapeutic technique that creates high levels of relaxation. This an extremly old traditional Chinese therapeutic technique that uses herbal balms placed upon areas of the body, with warm damp towels placed upon that. Alcohol is then placed upon the towel, and is briefly lit on fire for a few seconds at a time. This causes a deep but relaxing heat, which allows the pores of the skin to open and the now warm herbal balms to be absorbed better. After the fire is done the area is gently massaged and helping to press the herbal mix into the body too.

▪︎Reflexology: Working on either the head/neck, hands, or feet. This deep tissue release of the tension in these areas can be extremely relaxing on there own. So mixing them into the treatment can lead to a full body bliss. These aim to help release the extremities and head, helping to create release from the edges that work right into the middle.

▪︎Cupping and bamboo Massage. A great combination that uses warm bamboo sticks to massage deeply into muscles and then the cups to create vacuum to release the muscles with the opposite pressure.

To book your session please use this link to our online booking page https://RiversideBooking.as.me/Tian-ma-tui-na

Most sessions will be will be 90 minutes however follow ups can often be an hour in length if needed. Alternatively you can book the individual support treatments as a stand alone session.

For more information please visit https://tianma.uk/ Or if you have any more questions feel free to drop us a message here or give us a call on 0115 9864990

Tian Ma Tui Na Massage

07/05/2024

24/10/2023

27/05/2023

14/05/2023

04/05/2023

07/04/2023

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Monday	10am - 7pm
Tuesday	10am - 9pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 9pm
Saturday	10am - 9pm
Sunday	10am - 9pm