Life is Good with Massage
Stress can occur from a number of situations; constant worrying about upcoming events, sudden accident or bad news, physical injury, unhealthy eating habits and the list goes on. Over the years, I’ve witnessed the effects stress has on the body and how people react to it, it varies for everyone, but the most common areas where tension is felt is in the neck, shoulders and upper back, or lower back, butt, and upper legs.
As we move through our day, depending on the stressors in our life, it can start to affect us physically with headaches, tingling or numbness in arms and legs, or more serious issues such as illness, disease or fatigue. These stressors also weigh us down mentally. As the day goes by we feel drained, making it hard to concentrate and possibly irritable. If we endure too many days of these stressful situations, the essence of our being feels off balance. We start to lose that connection with who we are, and what we want to achieve.
In the many years, I’ve been a massage therapist, I have seen and read lists of claims of what massage therapy can do for people, anywhere from Fibromyalgia to a better range of motion, from TMJ to a better night’s sleep and so on. Yet, what I believe is more important than all those claims is what I’ve felt and witnessed from all the people I’ve worked on.
Good for the Body
The body is just fascinating to me. We all basically have to same bone structure, same muscles for mobility, same nervous system, organs, glands and so on, but we all perceive tension, pain, or sensations all differently. Even when it comes to the release of pain and tension, we all feel it a little different. Probably one of the best parts of my job is being able to see the client after their massage and see the relief in their face, noticing how the stress, pain, and tension has escaped their body.
I have seen people who have had neck pain for weeks and after one massage session the pain was gone and didn’t come back. I have clients that come in every week with severe body pain who are looking to get an hour or two of relief, and it’s glorious for them if the pain departs their body for a day or two.
Good for the Mind
For many of us, stress is more than just physical. Stress comes at us from all angles mentally as well and weighs heavily on our minds. Anxiety, worry, fear, lack of control, low self-esteem, overwhelm, and all of their cousins plague us with constant pressure. They haunt us, and weaken our thoughts, creativity, and focus. We become dazed, moody, and beaten down as we continually struggle to recompose ourselves.
I have seen many clients who come in looking totally drained mentally. Their eyes are glazed over as they try to stay alerted for just a few more moments before relief is on its way. After their massage, these clients exit the massage room feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, as if a dark cloud was lifted from their state of mind. They now walk with a swing in their step and feeling like they can push on once more.
Good for the Soul
At times we can become so physically sore and/or mentally wiped out that we become disconnected or imbalanced with our core. We struggle in many aspects of our life to feel centered once again. We long for the time when our soul felt at peace, inspired and joyful as we carried out our days.
Massage is more than just a body rub, it connects and addresses issues with the energetic system of the body. Massage allows one to regain this sense of re-connection. It’s as if the reset button was pressed and communications with the whole body are restored. It links all of you together, as you’re able to become one with yourself once again.
I will never forget a visit from one of my clients a few years back. When she came in, and I don’t mean to be rude, but she looked awful. Her eyes were lifeless, her face was drooping, she was overwhelmed with stress from work, her body’s pain sensors were out of control causing soreness everywhere and she was very irritable. She expressed that she felt so imbalance and she was on the verge of getting a cold, of which she had zero time for. Not only did she talk about being run down, she looked the part as well.
She only had time for an hour massage that day, but when she exited the massage room she left that run down, overworked, a disconnected person behind. I was truly stunned as she entered the foyer. It blew me away to the point where I got chills. This woman’s transformation in that hour was uplifting for me, it filled my soul, and it reminded me of how powerful massage really can be. This woman’s eyes were sparkling with joy, her face had lifted, a smile beamed from ear to ear, a new sense of health washed over her and her entire body and soul radiated with love, peace, and harmony, it was absolutely beautiful.
