Every day, I see people who are in pain, exhausted, and feel as if they are pushed to their limits on a daily basis. Although many people know massage is good for pain and will seek out a massage therapist when they are actively in pain, it is my job to teach people that massage should be a part of their monthly (if not more often, depending on the situation) routine for physical and mental well-being.
Nowadays it seems pretty common knowledge that massage is beneficial for the physical body. The ability of massage to increase circulation, reduce waste from musculature, increase nutrient flow, improve muscle tone, and most of all reduce pain response in the body is generally why people initially come to see me.
But there are several benefits of massage that often get overlooked. The first benefit is simply that it is an hour or hour and a half out of your day that is solely focused on you. Time solely focused on you without distraction is often overlooked in our society, and I frequently get both men and women in my office with very hectic lifestyles, kids, etc. who spend time on everything else and everyone else but themselves. This lack of "me" time can result in compromised immunity, headaches, and other stress related disorders. A massage should be a time of relaxation, where you can turn off your cell phone and not worry about the list of things that need to be done. It is a time where your body feels safe to go from the constant "on" position that it so often is in to a state of relaxation and a state of non-doing. This state is essential to decrease stress response in the body overall, decrease inflammatory responses in the body, and to increase both mental and physical wellness.
Along the same lines, one of the other hidden benefit of massage is general stress relief, as well as enhanced mental wellness. A regular massage routine can have dramatic effects on mental health. It has been shown that massage increases dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain (to what extent these levels rise is still being researched). For patients with chronic depression and anxiety getting massage regularly I have clinically found to be important, as it is for anyone undergoing high levels of stress in their lives, compromised immunity, such as in cases of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or autoimmune conditions. A massage can provide a safe place to be nurtured by another human being, and the healing power of touch is quite remarkable- I am still amazed at the changes in overall stress, improvement of sleep and a sense of mental clarity a massage session can bring.
The last benefit that I often see in my office after a massage session is increased sense of how the mind and the body interact and the influence one can have over the other. People often don't pay much attention to their body unless it is actively causing them pain, and especially those with a history of high stress, a history of abuse, or addiction issues tend to be less embodied overall. It is my job as a massage therapist to help you feel at home and comfortable in your body. Feeling at ease and physically in your body will allow you to pick up when you start to drift from a natural sense of balance. By allowing yourself to be able to identify triggers that result in a negative response, you can then adjust your lifestyle, diet, or relaxation routine to allow yourself to come back into balance both mentally and physically.