How Massage Helps You Emotionally
The world is often a harsh place filled with others that demand expectations of us but the therapy room can be a sweet escape from the pressure of this. Massage and natural therapy offers so much on the physical level but also on the emotional and even spiritual level as well.
As a therapist, I have had the pleasure of wonderful conversations both lively and filled with laughter during a treatment. Just this week, I had someone arrive quiet and with a slump in their body. Because we had worked together for so long , I knew something was wrong. Without going into detail I made it my mission to strengthen their body and mind with the genuine intention of caring for them. Smiles were exchanged and even laughter broke through the weight of their day. This is a privileged position of service. It can happen anywhere, but in massage therapy the comfort of being cared for and accepted for who you are, is uniquely combined with the receiving of touch.
Muscles respond to emotional stress is a unique way. Although most of us have character defects and have the capacity of hurting others or having others hurt us. The nervous system reacts by tightening the muscles in a way that can cause much discomfort.
Although treating muscle injuries, which at its core is clinical in its approach, it is a whole person that enters the room with all the emotional burdens that encompasses them. Perhaps it is a young mother that is single and working over time, perhaps it is a stressed business owner with a poor diet and very little sleep. Each person is their own world. There will be times in a massage where you will want to be left alone and sleep and that is OK. There will be times where the caring touch of your therapist could bring out tears of frustration from the hardships of life. This is alright too. The treatment room should be a place for healing on many levels.
Although I often sit down with each person and discuss goals that involve logical instruction such as examining range of motion or selecting an application of heat or ice packs ,I also see a vulnerable human being.
Massage therapists are placed in a unique position to bring each person, in their delicate state, into a place in their mind where they can trust, be at ease and receptive to what the therapist can offer. Massage therapists see the injuries and stress levels of people day in and day out. At times, silence coupled with a comforting presence is more than necessary. The world today burdens us with over stimulation and it’s a battle to find the slower and peaceful moments in life. But we all need them.
I wish for each of you, a place where you can find that in the therapy room and beyond. Where you and your therapist work hand in hand without the distractions of the world to bring you to a place where you feel cared for, accepted and lovingly encouraged when you need it.
