08/23/2026
Featured Article
An Excerpt from
Soft Tissue Revolution: The New Bodywork Paradigm
by Larry Heisler, M.A., LMT
When I was in my late teens, I began studying Asian Healing Arts.
It was all under the name Macrobiotics.
The classes I took were not just about organic, locally sourced plant-based eating and natural foods cooking classes.
They also included nutrition theory, oriental visual diagnosis and assessment, macrobiotic medicine and philosophy, acupressure points, traditional barefoot shiatsu, Five Element Theory, Do-In (self-acupressure massage), meridian stretching, chi kung, martial arts, meditation, chanting, sacred sounds, essentially all things yin yang. When I asked my teachers why we had to learn about meridian energy lines and Japanese bodywork, I was told that shiatsu can dramatically speed up healing by alkalizing the blood stream and boosting the immune system.
I initially had no interest in doing massage.
I was an Assistant Principal in the school system with degrees in counseling, education and later nutrition.
Little did I know how far my alternative education with these amazing Asian and American Masters would take me.
I would be using these teachings the rest of my life.
If you told me when I was in college, initially majoring in engineering, that one day, I would be the founder and director of the longest running school of massage in the State of New Jersey and would eventually teach massage therapy to thousands of students, I would have said you were bonkers.
Yet 51 years later, here we are.
Turned out that the very first massage treatments I gave were in the style of macrobiotic barefoot shiatsu, I was originally taught.
That turned out to be just a warm-up.
Over sixty thousand massages later, thousands of which were performed on athletes, along with many years of dedicated study in Oriental and macrobiotic medicine, I have the clinical tools and understanding to formulate and share my somewhat unique approach to soft tissue therapy.
There were so many amazing and poignant things I learned from this lifetime course of study that fueled much of my understanding today and specifically about the subject of “How did you get that body?”
I cordially invite you to share in the wisdom I have garnered from my amazing teachers.
The ideas you are about to consider truly is a new massage paradigm.
Nothing short of a Soft Tissue Revolution!
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
Why do you think Bob Hope, Rose Kennedy, George Burns and Queen Elizabeth of England called massage therapists their fountain of youth?
All of them said they got or get a deep tissue massage every single day!
For Mr. Hope, he told his last massage therapist, Judy Kemecsei, LMT, that he received a massage every day for 63 years!
She was Bob Hope's massage therapist for 7 years, 7 days a week!
According to these centenarians, deep tissue massage was/is the secret to their longevity.
It does make sense.
Deep tissue massage prevents the body from freezing up.
It prevents or slows down the arthritis from setting in.
A deep tissue treatment keeps the body soft, warm, pliable, flexible and dare I say it, OXYGENATED.
Oxygenated is another way of saying alkaline and as you might have heard, cancer and many degenerative diseases cannot cultivate in an oxygen enriched environment.
So, you do the math. It’s a good jumping off place to begin.
Once an individual’s body is soft and pliable, you’ll have easier access into the injuries, scar tissue and the energetic system.
Can you say Ponce de Leon?
SO IMPORTANT!
One day I bumped into my teacher, the famous macrobiotic diet guru, Sensei Michio Kushi.
He put his hand on my heart, looked directly into my eyes and simply said,
“Larry, give it all away. The more you give, the richer you’ll become.”
Then he smiled lovingly and tapped me on the chest and kept walking.
I’ve tried to do that everyday of my life and I have the feeling that you have too.
Perhaps our guru is Hippocrates, known to be The Father of Medicine. Hippocrates said, massage therapy (The Greeks call anatripsis) should be part of the treatment plan for every complaint and condition.
Are you a massage, soft tissue therapist or a healer of some sort?
If you are, this message is especially for you.
What you do is so, so important.
The world needs your gifts now, more than ever.
No one does what you do. No one.
A good pair of hands can…
break up the hardness, the adhesions, the glue that makes us old, rigid and inflexible, rid the body of trigger points and scar tissue,
strip away the fascial armoring, relieve pain, lessen suffering,
open blockages and imbalances in the energetic system.
You oxygenate and alkalize the blood stream that helps in healing and especially prevention.
You release endorphins and boost the immune system.
You keep the arthritis from setting in.
You literally reverse the aging process by making us look youthful, even flexible.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY…
You devoted your life to compassion and empathy, in touching and improving people’s lives and making a difference.
That means we won’t have to lie about you at your funeral.
You are, a healer in the hands-on tradition.
