Over the last 18 years, it had been my experience that clients get to know their bodies in a new way through bodywork. Oftentimes, during a massage, a client may comment “I didn't know that I was tight in that area!” Massage is a way to get your mind in touch with your body, alerting you to any pain or tightness that you feel.
Pain is the body's cry for help. It lets you know that something is ‘off’ with your body, and getting a massage helps you to determine where your pain is. Each session assists you in becoming more conscious of your body’s needs – maybe you need rest, you worked out too hard, or you are under emotional stress. With regular sessions you will eventually learn how to determine where the pain starts. You’ll also feel stress leave your body during sessions, showing you what it feels like when your body is genuinely relaxed.
A Massage Therapist’s hands are trained to act as ‘scanners’ to help you feel your body, which leads to a client’s overall body-awareness hitting a higher level. Through the experience of regular sessions, you’ll begin to crave the peaceful feeling of having a stress-free body.
Massage sessions help clients to develop a healthier relationship with their body. With this relationship there lies is an innate desire to take better care of the mind and the body.
Diane Matkowski is a certified massage therapist. She can be reached via her email.