Name: Joseph Hunton Bodyworks
Address: 600 N 36th St #416, Seattle, WA, 98103
Telephone: 206-799-5117
Price range: $$$

About Us

Being in pain is exhausting.

Every aspect of life requires more effort. Simple activities drain your reserves physically, mentally, and emotionally. Your ability to do the things you love contracts and the world shrinks. You can easily become depressed about your condition and anxious about the future. You wonder if you can be the person you really want to be. You ask when will it end, when will I feel good again?

There is a solution to your pain, emotional distress, and compromised quality of life.

Your body can return to its’ natural pain-free alignment. I have developed a treatment program, utilizing a combination of cutting-edge bodywork techniques.

My name is Joseph Hunton and I have been working with people and their bodies since 1998.

I am a Certified Hellerwork Practitioner and Licensed Massage Practitioner. My unique combination of manual therapy techniques range from structural deep tissue massage, to gentle visceral and cranial manipulation, to subtle energy medicine.

My approach is practical and results oriented.

I look for the underlying causes of your pain and dysfunction. My goal is to unwind tension and unlock patterns of strain held in your body. My work facilitates alignment, balance, order, flexibility, and ease.

Bio/Mission/Philosophy

Joseph Hunton Bodyworks is about moving my clients through pain to greater ease and balance.

I specialize in injury treatment, muscular/skeletal dysfunction, structural medicine and body/mind awareness. My clients are diverse and of all ages. The common threads are either that they are injured and in pain or they want to enhance their body and body/mind awareness.

Raised in the big east coast cities of Brooklyn NY and Washington DC, I have maintained a practical get-it-done attitude.

I graduated from college with a BA in psychology and spent several years counseling adolescents in a group home setting. This work, along with being a single father to my wonderful, now adult daughter, helped me develop and value loving compassion and clear boundaries.

My second career, as a General Contractor, fed my love for working with my hands and honed my respect for a level foundation and aligned structure.

Both are very important for bodies! After many happy and successful years of contracting, I yearned for a new arena to combine my interests in people and skills in building. In 1998, I graduated from the Northwest Hellerwork School and became a licensed massage practitioner, making the leap from remodeling houses to remodeling bodies.

I have worked in some of the preeminent Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Clinics in the Puget Sound.

Today, I have a private practice in Seattle where I create a safe place for bodies and minds to heal. My in-depth knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics, non-judgmental listening skills, and perceptive touch allow me to connect with my clients and recognize the unique interconnections between each individual’s mind, body, and spirit.

My Mission

I strive to facilitate health and healing no matter where a client may be in his or her healing process. I work with sensitivity and respect to unwind patterns of strain and pain to create more ease, balance, and integrity within one’s physical and emotional structure. I believe educating and empowering my clients to sustain the improvements made in treatment is not only rewarding but one of my primary functions.

My Professional Philosophy

I believe the body/mind is oriented towards health, and given the opportunity, it will move in that direction. I believe that it is my job is to create a treatment program to meet each client’s unique needs and that a safe, nonjudgmental, relationship between client and practitioner provides the context to allow healing to occur. I believe mind, body, and spirit are inseparable. When a skilled practitioner is truly present and listening, all of these components are addressed, a door to healing opens, and health is available.

Professional Credentials

Certified Hellerwork Practitioner

Licensed Massage Practitioner

Professional Affiliations

Member of the International Association of Structural Integration

Member of the Association of Bodywork and Massage Professionals

Past President of The American Hellerwork Association

Past Member of The Board of Directors for Hellerwork International

Treatment Techniques

Joseph Hunton Bodyworks is based on the belief that no one treatment technique or therapeutic modality works for everyone.

Some clients are too sensitive for deep tissue massage, and some clients crave deep work.

Some clients are very aware of the energy running through their body and respond powerfully to energy medicine, and others don’t sense or respond strongly to the energetic level.

There are certain parts of a body that respond well to strong pressure, like those stubborn knots in the back and shoulders.

More sensitive structures like organs, nerves, and blood vessels need a gentle sensitive touch to release strain.

On some days a client may need to release emotional holdings. Another day the same client will get the most benefit from postural awareness and movement education.

Often a combination of several different treatment techniques in one session is most effective.

I develop treatment programs that combine several highly effective therapeutic techniques.

My ability to access and utilize different modalities allows me to meet the varying needs of each client and their body. It is my unique combination of modalities that make my work so highly effective.

The therapeutic modalities I specialize in are Hellerwork Structural Integration, Visceral and Cranial Manipulation, and Source Point Therapy.

Each of these approach the body from different angles and different levels. However, they all share common goals. These modalities all work towards balance, ease, integration, and vitality in the body. As the body approaches these goals pain, dysfunction, tension, and stress are relieved and released.

Hellerwork

I will always remember receiving my first Hellerwork Session.

I was not injured or in pain, but a friend said it was “cool stuff” and would be good for me. A contractor for many years, I had my share of aches and soreness and certainly some emotional holdings. Not really knowing what to expect, I put myself in the hands of my Hellerwork practitioner. By the end of the session, my breathing was much easier and deeper. I felt lighter, yet very grounded. Sitting with my checkbook on my lap, I could not, for the life of me, figure out what I was suppose to do with it! After a moment, I smiled, realizing that something had shifted. My reality was changing. I thought, “I want more of this.” That was just the beginning of my experience with this life altering treatment modality.

Hellerwork is a powerful system of somatic education and structural bodywork, based on the inseparability of body, mind, and spirit.

Joseph Heller created Hellerwork by incorporating movement education/awareness and body-centered human development processes into Ida Rolf’s lineage of Structural Integration.

Deep tissue bodywork combined with movement education and dialogue about the mind/body connection guides you to new options, both physically and emotionally.

As your body reveals the connection between your movements and its alignment, Hellerwork restores your body’s natural balance from the inside out.

Hellerwork feels like a slow deep massage.

Tension and strain in the muscles and connective tissue (fascia) are released, lengthened, and balanced. Skillful touch guide the practitioner to work at a level, which allows the body to feel safe and able to let go. The bodywork should not be painful. Your body will be sending you the message, this feels good and I like what is happening.

During the 11 section series, the systematic release and reorganization of muscle and connective tissue re-establishes the structural balance of your body.

Chronic tension and pain dissolve. Movement becomes more fluid in both your physical and emotional life. A comfortable sense of being lifted and supported replaces the stress and strain of carrying your body through life.

Visceral and Cranial Manipulation

Gentle. Powerful. Critical.

You may experience pain so deep it feels like no one can reach the source.

Different types of treatment may give some relief, but the respite doesn’t last. For years, I have been treating clients with Visceral and Cranial Manipulation. I consider this modality one of “the best-kept secrets in bodywork.” Originally developed by French Osteopath Jean-Pierre Barral, Visceral and Cranial Manipulation releases strain, adhesions, and impingements at the deepest levels of the body. Today, the collective wisdom of generations of healers informs my practice.

Car accidents

bad falls, sports injuries, old surgeries, or any other physical and emotional trauma can cause strain and injury to organs, nerves, blood vessels, bones, ligaments, and the cranial sacral system. These “deep” sensitive and critical parts of the body collect tension and injuries just like muscles do.

Restrictions in the visceral and cranial structures will cascade through and surface in all parts of the body causing a multitude of symptoms and dysfunction.

The body perceives these structures as critical to its’ survival and will tighten muscles, restrict movement, and reduce function to “protect” compromised viscera in an effort to relieve stress and irritation on these deep structures. Unfortunately, these adaptive responses still hurt and can continue long after the initial injury has healed or can actually prevent the original wound from healing.

For example, restrictions in the lower intestines can cause low back pain.

Adhesions in the covering of the spinal cord can cause neck pain and headaches. Impingements in the nerves and blood vessel feeding the legs can cause inflexibility, muscle fatigue, and edema.

When I treat a client with “deep” pain, a careful assessment guides me to the restrictions in the body.

Then, using gentle hands-on manipulation, I relieve strain in the underlying nerve, blood vessel, or organ, etc. As the viscera is freed, adjoining muscles and joints relax, the restrictions that guided me to the site release, and the body can return to normal function. Pain that has lasted for years can be released in minutes. Clients are often amazed at how much better they feel after a treatment. This modality is well worth a try for chronic pain.

Source Point Therapy

Energy Medicine for the 21st Century

It is no secret our bodies are made up of energy.

As quantum physics moves to the forefront, scientists now concur that human bodies are dense collections of energy. To be on the cutting edge of medicine today requires awareness of the connections between the human body and the energy field. While we used to believe that our bodies ended at the skin surface, it is now clear we live within personal energy fields that extend several feet around us.

Each human energy field is a complex, dynamic matrix of communication constantly interacting with other energy fields.

When we interact with people and/or our environment, we receive and send information through these energy fields.

A simple non-invasive energetic approach to healing

Source Point Therapy is based on the premise that our personal fields exist within a larger matrix that offers us the universal blueprint for health. This blueprint contains information on the order, balance, harmony, and flow necessary to sustain life and health. When there are blocks, leaks, or breakdowns in this communication, our bodies suffer. Our body literally does not have the information it needs to know what is wrong, make adjustments, and be healthy. Chronic pain, muscular skeletal dysfunction, loss of vitality, and disease manifest in our body challenging our quality of life.

During a treatment session

I reconnect individuals to the “blueprint”, the matrix of healing energy. This technique utilizes a diagnostic process of scanning the client’s energy field for obstructions in the flow of energy and information. These blockages often indicate the source of the client’s presenting symptom complex.

Source Point Therapy also soothes, balances and facilitates the flow of energy in the body.

Once reconnected to the “blueprint,” clients who come in feeling anxious or stressed often leave feeling calmer, lighter, well grounded, and more at ease.

This technique is very effective at pointing out where to work to achieve the greatest change throughout the whole body.

Source Point Therapy allows me to find and address the underlying source of pain and dysfunction while simultaneously providing relief for the symptoms. Clients report feeling energized yet balanced and grounded after a session.

Treatment Sessions

Treatment sessions are scheduled by appointment only, and last one hour. My bodywork clinic is located in the Fremont Space Building. Payment is accepted at time of service with the exception of active L&I and PIP claims. Conditions, Regularly Treat:

Back Pain

Neck and Shoulder Pain

Pelvic Pain

Hip, Knee, and Foot Pain

Repetitive Strain Injury

Fibromyalgia

Myofascial Pain Syndrome

Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries

Work Related Injuries

Muscular Skeletal Dysfunctions

What to Expect

Intake/Check-in

Our initial session will include a history of your body, injuries, surgeries, medical conditions, past therapies, and any other events surrounding a current injury. Subsequent sessions start with a check-in to discuss how your body has been assimilating the work, what changes you have noticed, and how are you feeling in the moment. While I will answer any questions you have or speak to your concerns throughout our sessions, check-in is a great time for this as well.

Assessment

Assessment of your structure and your movement patterns will help me determine the best way to work with you in each session. I use very specific diagnostic techniques, so that your body can direct me to your primary restrictions. Your body’s cues guide us to the most effective treatment for you.

Treatment/Bodywork

You will receive most of your treatment on a massage table, although seated and standing work may be included. I combine several different treatment techniques in every session. You will experience a variety of pressure and sensation through deep tissue massage, gentle manual therapy, or subtle energy medicine. You may be asked to make slow movements while I work, releasing patterns of strain and tension. You may also be asked to get up several times during the session to reassess range of movement and alignment. Communication is very important during sessions. I often ask, “What does this tissue feel like?” “Is this tender?” “What are you noticing?” Your feedback is vital to evaluate what is going on in your body and the best way to treat it.

Evaluation

After the treatment, we will reassess the structure of your body. You will check your pain levels, balance, and range of motion. Together we will evaluate your progress, observe what has changed, and determine what needs more work in future sessions.

Logistics of a Treatment Session

Prepare for the session as you would for a workout or yoga class. It is best not to eat a big meal right before or plan a strenuous activity for after a treatment. Your body will need time to integrate the work before placing a strong demand on your system. Drink lots of water after the session. The work may break free and release toxins. You will want to flush them through and out of your system. You may be sore after therapy, as if you had a good workout. This should not last for more than 24-48 hours.

Clothing

Come prepared to change into “treatment clothes.” I want you to be as comfortable as possible. We all have different levels of modesty so appropriate clothing for women includes tank tops, sports bras, workout shorts, yoga outfits, two piece bathing suits, or underwear. For men tank tops, workout shorts, or underwear.

Fees/Insurance

Fees for treatment sessions are payable at time of service with the exception of active L&I (workman’s comp) and PIP (motor vehicle accidents) claims. Payment can be made with cash, check, or credit card.

Fees for Treatment Sessions

(per session) $135.00

Prepaid session packages

6 session package (($60 savings)) $750.00

11 session “series package” (($135 savings)) $1,350.00

Insurance Options

Dept of Labor and Industry

Joseph Hunton Bodyworks bills directly for active workman’s compensation claims. We are a registered provider for the Washington State Dept of Labor and Industries. A prescription from your Healthcare Provider will be necessary.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Joseph Hunton Bodyworks bills insurance directly for active PIP claims. You will need a prescription from your primary care physician.

Standard Health Insurance

Joseph Hunton Bodyworks does not bill directly for standard health insurance coverage. I am not a contract provider for health insurance companies For Health Insurance clients, we accept payment at time of service. An “insurance friendly” receipt is provided to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. You should check with your insurance company to learn their policy for reimbursement of treatment costs made to non-contract providers.

Testimonials

Daniel Zizza L.Ac.

I have seen Joseph for a variety of muscular-skeletal and neurological symptoms and have received great relief for all. I really appreciate his blending of skills, Hellerwork, cranial-sacral and visceral manipulation, energy work, all of which he uses with such great facility to inform him on where work is needed to relieve the patterns of restrictions leading to the pain and dysfunctions being experienced. In addition, he has a great eye for seeing where structural and postural patterns are leading to problems, and making helpful suggestions on how to correct these postural patterns to relieve symptoms. I am a licensed acupuncturist with over 21 years of clinical practice, and I work with people with many of the same problems that Joseph does. Because of this, I have an even greater appreciation of the depth and degree of Joseph’s skills and of what he offers his patients. Working with him as one of his patients has really inspired me in my own work, and helped me to tune in better to listening to my own patients’ patterns. I highly recommend going to see Joseph for the very best in bodywork care.

Elizabeth – Kirkland, WA, High Tech Sales

I came to Joseph with shoulder and lower back pain. I was also experiencing headaches and fatigue. After 12 sessions with Joseph I started to feel relief that lasted. I had tried everything before: Chiropractic, massage and acupuncture. Hellerwork was able to address how my life’s stress from home, pending layoffs at work, a destructive boss and infertility was leading to pain in my body. I can attest to how the mind and its effects on the body are inseparable. Checking in with Joseph and targeting treatments was highly effective. I have no lower back pain now and my shoulder is much improved. I have learned how to prevent pain from returning. If you have experienced chronic pain for years and tried everything, don’t give up, try 12 sessions of Hellerwork with one of the top practitioners in the US and experience relief from your symptoms.

Tania, Redmond, WA

A friend, who gave me a glowing reference about his professionalism and effectiveness, referred me to Joseph. She described Hellerwork, as “It’s deep tissue massage like Rolfing which also looks for any emotions and mental stress we are under that are adding to our pain”. I was experiencing pain in my knee and unable to walk down hill without my leg locking. Joseph Hunton was able to work on my knee and release the tight muscles that were contributing to the pain. My posture was corrected and I discovered that at work, when stressed, I was curling my leg around my chair and straining my knee! Ergonomics, stress, emotion and a past knee injury were all considered in my treatment.

Sam H, Seattle, WA Mental Health Counselor

Everything ached, my back and joints. I was facing a divorce and burn out in my job and my body was suffering. There are many schools of thought for healing and as a therapist I had tried talk therapy and exercises like yoga. The missing piece in my self-care was around my need to learn stress-relieving techniques through breathing and posture to alleviate pain. I now incorporate mind and body work in my practice with critically depressed clients. I feel centered and physically and emotionally better from my time with Joseph. I would recommend Joseph to any psychotherapists in need of new techniques and self care.

Tom C, Firefighter and Competitive Athlete

Being a professional firefighter and competitive weight lifter puts high demands on my body. Joseph Hunton has done an amazing job of pinpointing problem areas and fixing them. He has made me a better performer on the fire-ground and in the gym. His knowledge of how the body works is outstanding. His work has improved my range of motion and endurance. After working with Joseph I improved my personal lifting record by over 20% and became the IKFF National Champion Kettle bell Lifter, Senior Division. I would highly recommend that anyone who wants to improve their body and their performance go see Joseph.

Jane Martin, M.A., Hellerworker

Joseph has been my Hellerworker for 8 years. He does very skillful evaluations and his knowledgeable bodywork always results in improvement and relief. Others have commented accurately on his skills, so my comments focus on the unique relationship we have built to address the pain and discomfort in my body. He senses what is required to meet me where I am in my pain, stress and tightness. He doesn’t push too fast or too far, instead working with presence so that I can “see” into my own areas of discomfort as he works. This allows me to relax those areas and bring them back into my awareness in a welcoming and healing way. He provides a kind lens as he listens deeply to me and my body. I trust him. His work has made a huge difference in my mobility, comfort, flexibility and overall health.

Katelon T Jeffereys LMP

I came to see Joseph after over a year of what started out as mild tingling and numbness, had become severe carpal tunnel and thoracic outlet syndrome. Being a massage therapist myself, the symptoms of these two ailments were affecting my sleep, my life and my work. I had started my treatment seeing two physical therapists, one after the other, and the symptoms had gotten worse. Then I went to see two active release therapists, one after the other, receiving their very intense and painful therapy, and still I wasn’t free of the symptoms Upon starting treatment with Joseph, in a very short time, with the use of his gentle, precise, caring touch, plus the exercises he gave me, my symptoms began to recede. Gradually it healed completely, never to return. Imagine my delight that this came with light touch! With my 30 years of experience as a professional bodyworker myself, and my lifetime of chronic asthma and other injuries, I have been to many, many therapists over the years. I have found Joseph to be not only an effective, skilled therapist but also a very supportive, and thoughtful listener. I love how Joseph continues to expand his already wide variety of therapy offerings. I highly recommend Joseph. In fact, my clients have to stop me and ask if I am trying to get rid of them, when I tell them how wonderful he is and how much I feel he could help them, too!

Anita M

I had already done a full course of physical therapy on my shoulder for nine months and they told me that I’d done as much as I could and I wouldn’t get any better. What Joseph was able to find out was it wasn’t about the shoulder at all–it was about my neck and holding tension in my neck that was causing misalignment. Once he did his poking and prodding it was pretty amazing; it only took four to five sessions before feeling relief. Now I’ve been symptom-free for eight months. I like to swim in the mornings and hadn’t been able to do it for a year and a half and now I’m back swimming three times a week. I look at my relationship with Joseph as a life long thing.

Kim F

I got a lot more relief from Joseph than from the work with the physical therapist that my physician had recommended. It’s because he includes movement re-education and he helps you build awareness about how you hold yourself and your habits of movement and posture.

Lisa M

I had a 12-week session with Joseph and am now in maintenance mode. It has altered my life in many ways. The numbness and tingling in my hand has not been back at all in 1 /1/2 years. I also had chronic pain in my shoulders and ongoing pain in my back, and it’s all gone. I’m a sign language interpreter and I know people in my field that can’t even work any more because of RSIs. Joseph helped me not get injured in my career by taking care of myself way above and beyond anything I could have imagined.

Mary A

He’s very talented at being able to determine where the source of the problem is. It’s the first time I’ve ever had a practitioner who’s been able to get deep enough in a gentle enough way that I can feel things uncurl He’s very talented at being able to feel the tension in someone’s body and he knows his stuff really well.

Laura W

Joseph has wonderful personal and technical skills. And it’s the combination of the two that makes him such a great practitioner. I wouldn’t be interested in him if he didn’t have skills in both those areas.

Ulrike C

Meeting and working with Joseph has been the most incredible bodywork experience for me. His technical skills allowed him to find out in my first session what was causing the problem. Joseph has a big gift and with his healing energy and intuition he was able to access my trigger points and release them. He creates a space where healing can take place on a physical and emotional level.

Sandy

I love working with Joseph to restore my body. I wanted to actively participate in healing (unfreezing) my shoulder. Bodywork with Joseph taught me about my muscles, and gave me exercises (tools) to assist my own healing. I could see and feel the progress. It gave me great hope, and I am well on my way to a restored healthy shoulder. Thank you Joseph!