The Team
We are a massage school dedicated to the teaching of Californian Massage . This type of massage has a restorative and liberating purpose, being at the same time very deep and intense.
In our massage school we work on the muscular part as well as the emotional and energetic part of the person. Throughout this teaching, we will emphasize both parts and their interrelationship.
The main objective of the Californian massage is to make the person disconnect from their daily life and enter into a state of deep relaxation. This is achieved with a deep and careful physical work, with an integral and constant presence on the part of the masseur, which entails a deep listening to everything that is happening in the massage session.
In this massage school we work from the Hara (energetic source located in the second chakra) and we will pay special attention to the postures of our own body, as well as to our breathing.
The Californian massage sessions are very slow and harmonious, with a fairly slow rhythm and a fairly constant pressure. The integration of all this work is fundamental, and we achieve this through long movements, the hallmark of this type of massage.
Xavier Gil
Certified Esalen Massage Teacher by the Esalen Institute (California, USA) (2019)
I graduated in Psychology in 1995 at the UB (Barcelona), but I have always lived psychology as one of the legs of the stool, essential, yes, but you can hardly sit on a stool with only one leg.
Since always, my motivation and my vision of the human being was holistic and integral, therefore, in an intuitive way I launched myself into the search for the other legs of the stool. I tried contemporary dance, theater, yoga, meditation …. All these disciplines had a great effect on me, but this effect was multiplied when I learned about massage.
Through contact with another person’s body I finally managed to break the barrier I felt between myself and others. From the beginning I felt the massage as a complete integration with the person with whom I was sharing the session at that moment.
Something magical happens when you treat a person’s body with care, respect and love, the body loosens up, energy flows, emotions are unleashed…and the final sensation is one of deep peace and relaxation. And the wonderful thing is that these emotions usually occur in both directions, in both the receiver and the giver.
I can finally sit comfortably on my stool!
Linda Benoit
Assistant Director of the Californian Massage School Barcelona.
I grew up in nature between rivers and mountains in a village in the south of France, next to the natural park Des Grands Causses. My professional interests and my desire to know the world led me to study abroad.
After studying child psychology, sociology and communication I worked for more than twenty years in the fashion industry. Within international corporations, in areas of team management, visual merchandising, window dressing and in areas of customer service, as well as control and monitoring of business lines. This allowed me to live outside Europe and integrate new behavioral and cultural codes.
My desire to grow as a person led me to make a radical change in my life, redirecting my energy on the path of personal wellness and energy therapies. First as a tool for personal healing, then as a response to my desire to share this knowledge and serve as a channel to help others.
My training is in Californian Massage, Deep Tissue, Lomi-Lomi, Thai, Reiki and in continuous training in Gestalt and Existential Coaching.
These techniques and the sensitivity for conscious listening allow me to guide, channel, connect and become a channel of support so that the other can also connect with their own listening and increase the level of awareness with feeling and breathing.
Currently I combine my activity as a therapist and teacher at school, with training in various techniques to awaken the awareness of touch.
Linda Vismayo
Anatomy and Physiology Trainer
At the beginning of the 90’s in Caracas, the city where I was born; I graduated in Dramatic Art, in search of myself and my passion, I developed in this field without being totally possessed by the interpretation.
In this eagerness I studied different styles of dance (jazz, contemporary, Arabic dance) even being already residing in the city of Barcelona, I graduated in dance therapy (AfroYin Method). Parallel to this, I always found in touch a way to express myself. Until one day I had the enlightenment that this would be my path and my passion.
Since then all my focus has been on my training as a body and holistic therapist. Since 2003, I created my own style of massage (Vismayo Method), where I mix tools such as: Californian massage, Ayurveda massage (Abyangha Pada), Hot
Stones, crystal therapy, Neurolinguistic Programming, shamanic medicine, among others).
I have obtained the qualification in organic psycho osteopathy, in 2018, along with other training in microbiota and nutrition, turning my treatments into an Integrative therapy, where I assume each individual from a multidimensional perspective. Simultaneously all these years I have immersed myself in teaching in very diverse areas ranging from massage, Tantra, self-transformation through dance to human anatomy, the latter being a fascination for me and my research. I love the human body and touching it transforms me as well. This is my passion and my talent.
Perry Holloman
Developed the Esalen® Massage Teacher Training Program.
Perry has lived and taught Esalen® massage at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, since 1979. He has been training teachers worldwide since 2009.
He also created the Deep Bodywork® program at Esalen and teaches professional bodyworkers how to develop advanced bodywork skills.
Ingrid May
Lateral Decubitus Massage Trainer (pregnant women) – Founder Oasis School (Argentina)
Ingrid May is a German trained physiotherapist, trained as an Esalen massage therapist in 1983 and has been a member of the Esalen Massage team ever since. Since 1989 she has been teaching Esalen massage, first at the Esalen Institute, later worldwide.
Uniting her knowledge of the body with her love of the spirit and awakened touch has been her passion for 50 years.
Maria Naveira
Lomi Lomi Trainer
María Naveira is a trainer and body therapist with more than twenty years of experience in the field of holistic wellness. She began her career in therapeutic and sports massage, but soon realized that health encompasses body, mind, emotion and spirit. This vision led her to specialize in holistic and oriental therapies.
She has lived in different countries in Europe and spent long periods of time in Asia, where she trained in Ayurveda, Traditional Thai Massage, Reiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Sound Therapy. These experiences broadened her understanding of healing from ancestral perspectives.
The encounter with Traditional Hawaiian Massage (Lomi Lomi Nui) deeply transformed her way of working and understanding the body. She trained in Malta, Poland and Hawaii, where she obtained her Master’s Degree.
Today she combines body therapy with training, accompanying transformation processes and sharing the essence of Lomi Lomi Nui.
Martin Olsen
Harmonic Hammock Trainer
Martin began his journey at the age of 21, when he began to question routine life and sought a path that would allow him to live with meaning, help others and work with his hands. Thus he came to the Oasis School, where he trained as a body therapist and developed multiple roles: student, assistant, supervisor and teacher.
The guidance of her teachers Marcelo Bartroli and Ingrid May, founders of Californian Massage, deeply marked her vision. With them she learned to live without judgment, to open the heart and to accompany processes from the presence and authenticity.
During more than twenty years of experience, Martin has integrated practices that invite to let go of rigidities, embrace the shadow and celebrate life. Today he shares his work at the Californian Massage School Barcelona, especially through Harmonic Hammocks, a psycho-physical technique that promotes freedom, softness and holistic well-being.