Why Education Matters in Bodywork: Understanding Your Healing!

Before I ever put my hands on a client, I spent over 25 years teaching psychology at Bridgewater-Raritan High School. My classroom was filled with lessons on learning theories, behavior, motivation, emotion, breakdown, and healing. I didn’t know it then, but those decades laid the groundwork for the bodywork practice I run today. The truth is, good healing doesn’t just happen on the table. It happens when you understand what’s going on inside your body—when you have agency, context, and confidence. That’s why education still sits at the center of everything I do.

You deserve more than vague ideas about "tight muscles" or "stress knots." Let’s discuss just a few of the important people, ideas, studies and experiments from psychology that guide my bodywork today.

Harry Harlow’s famous monkey studies taught us something profoundly human: contact comfort—the simple experience of safe, nurturing touch—is not a luxury, but a biological necessity. His infant monkeys consistently chose the soft, cloth-covered surrogate mother over the wire one that offered food. Why? Because safety, not just sustenance, is what fosters real growth. This truth doesn’t end in childhood. As adults, our nervous systems still seek that same felt sense of safety in order to soften, to trust, and to heal.

That’s exactly why gentle myofascial release works so differently than deep tissue massage or more aggressive forms of bodywork. It’s not about "fixing" or forcing the body to change. It’s about meeting the body where it is—with presence, patience, and respect. When we feel truly safe and supported, our bodies can finally begin to let go. The fascia, our body’s connective tissue system, responds not just to pressure, but to time, warmth, and compassionate attention. Just like those infant monkeys, we don’t open up under stress—we open up when we feel safe.

In childhood, that sense of contact comfort allowed us to explore the world with confidence, knowing we had a secure base to return to. In the treatment room, the same dynamic unfolds: when you feel genuinely safe and seen, your body begins to explore itself from the inside out. You can start to notice where you're holding tension, what’s been bracing against pain or trauma, and gently—without force—let it unwind. Myofascial release provides not just relief, but a foundation for reconnection. In that safe space, supported by grounded, listening touch, healing isn’t something that’s done to you—it’s something that rises up from within you.

Hans Selye, is considered to be the father of stress research. Seyle identified a clear pattern in how the body responds to prolonged stress. In what he termed as General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S.), the body moves through three stages: alarm, when a threat is first perceived; resistance, when we try to power through; and finally, exhaustion, when our systems can no longer keep up. Sound familiar? This is the slow creep of burnout. This is how chronic pain often takes hold—not as a single event, but as a cumulative overload on the body and nervous system.  

While we can begin to heal even from that state of exhaustion, it’s a much steeper and longer road. The earlier we intervene in the stress cycle, the more gently—and effectively—we can return the body to balance. Myofascial Release supports that process by helping to down-regulate the nervous system, unwind long-held tension, and restore a sense of safety in the body. It’s not just about treating symptoms—it’s about resetting the conditions that allowed those symptoms to take root in the first place.

We live in a world that certainly seems designed to keep us stressed and stuck in fight or flight mode. That’s the sympathetic nervous system—the one that says "Go! Now! Faster!" It has its place. But healing? That comes in rest and digest. That’s the parasympathetic system. That’s where repair happens. That’s where breath deepens, pain softens, and people say, "I feel like myself again."

And here’s the empowering part: it’s often the little things that make the biggest difference in interrupting the stress cycle and bring us back into a parasympathetic state. A few minutes of slow, conscious breathing. A quiet moment to feel gratitude. A daily pause to reconnect with your body rather than override it. Myofascial release can help you access these states more easily, giving your system the space it needs to rest, repair, and remember what ease feels like. These small, consistent choices are not fluff—they’re the foundation of resilience. And we’re here to support you in making them part of your wellness journey.

Making Healing a Habit

Habits don’t just happen—they form through a cycle known as the habit loop: cue, routine, reward. A cue triggers a behavior, the behavior becomes a routine, and a reward reinforces it. Over time, these loops become automatic—whether they support our well-being or work against it.

Breaking old habits or building new ones means disrupting this loop and consciously rewriting it. That can look like identifying your triggers, replacing your go-to responses, and intentionally reinforcing new routines that align with your goals. But here’s the key: your body has to feel safe and supported enough to make those changes.

That’s where myofascial release can make a big difference.

When your nervous system is in a constant state of fight-or-flight or freeze, it’s incredibly hard to change behavior. You might know what you want to do differently—but your body doesn’t feel ready. Myofascial release helps calm that survival response by releasing long-held tension patterns and restoring a sense of safety in the body. This creates the internal conditions needed for curiosity, clarity, presence, and motivation—all essential ingredients for behavior change.

MFR can also enhance your connection to your own body, making it easier to notice cues, respond intentionally, and stay consistent with your new routines. Whether it’s committing to daily stretching, improving posture, practicing breathwork, or even redefining how you rest—gentle, consistent support through bodywork helps those new pathways stick.

Change doesn’t require perfection—it requires presence, safety, and repetition. Myofascial release can be a powerful foundation for all three.

One of the most powerful things I’ve learned is that healing isn’t about being fixed. It’s about helping your body remember how to find balance. Sometimes you just need the right kind of input—safe touch, proper release, gentle awareness—to get there.

So yes, I talk science. I talk psychology. But more than anything, I listen to your body with mine. I teach you what I know because knowledge builds power, and power builds trust. And when there is trust—both in your therapist and in your body’s innate wisdom—that’s when the real healing begins. That’s what creates the ideal space: a place where you feel safe enough to let go, and supported enough to remember how to come back into balance.

You deserve to feel better. You also deserve to understand why you do so you don’t fall victim to old habits again.

Kurt Barbagallo, LMT Artfully Scientific Myofascial Release & Wellness Center
Lambertville, NJ | ArtfullyScientific.com

Note: I use AI to help me write.
I think like a scientist, so my writing can be a bit technical or stiff. The ideas are all mine—AI just helps me organize and express them more clearly.