Just for a moment… Imagine that your body is your best friend!
It is easy for us to take the body that we live within, and that we in fact are, for granted. Our body and its functions can seem so automatic to us that we come to ignore it even when it starts to cry out for help in the form of pain or fatigue.
We put up with physical discomfort so often because ‘we have no time’ and defer addressing it indefinitely thinking that work and other responsibilities are so much more important. It is only when these ‘cries for help’ become severe and chronic problems that many of us consider them worthy of any consideration.
If your closest friend told you that they were being pushed around and ignored in this way, you would probably think it was abusive.
Often people only come for massage treatment once their stress and discomfort have built to a point where they are already experiencing pain, numbness, chronic stiffness or tingling in the limbs. In these cases, I believe that a series of targeted massage treatments over a 4 week period can have a cumulative benefit which far exceeds that of the same treatments given intermittently.
Far from being merely a luxury, regular massage can be a very effective strategy to alleviate pain and accumulative fatigue in a stressful world. Massage helps to prevent small physical discomfort from becoming chronic problems, while providing rejuvenation and boosting productivity, vitality and alertness. This in turn nourishes other aspects of our lives
Massage can help us to unclench from the stress response providing immediate results in a number of ways because it can be targeted during the session to affected areas. Massage can alleviate fatigue and tension from muscles while also assisting the release of toxins via the lymphatic system. It also improves blood circulation and digestion and regulates our breathing. The various massage traditions differ from each other in focus and emphasis but they can all enhance the functioning of these systems.
Massage is also an enjoyable way to reinforce a natural posture, increasing health and vital force.
So be kind to yourself and support your best friend with regular massage.
Catherine Allegade is an ATMS accredited remedial massage therapist specialised in a range of massage traditions.
