The Benefits of Relaxation Massage

As a massage therapist I often find clients tend to be very set in their ways when it comes to what they expect in a massage. More often then not, the first question a client will ask me is if I give a “deep massage”.

Quite often, deep has come to mean good in clients’ minds regardless of what else may be happening in their life. The idea of “deep” is the area I feel educating a client can be most beneficial.

I am at heart a therapeutic therapist and this means I often use a fair amount of pressure in a directed way to achieve a change in muscle length and tension to alleviate a clients discomfort.

This being said, there are times when it is better for a client to lay back and enjoy a more relaxing full body massage. This is especially the case in today’s fast paced society where the pressures of work and family life leave little time for a client to relax and allow their body a moment return to a state of balance where it can rest and heal itself effectively.

When I speak of a body in balance, I am speaking more from the perspective of the nervous system. Many people don’t realize that the vast majority of the bodies processes are controlled by the autonomic nervous system which functions beyond our awareness. This system is very sensitive to our emotional state and responds to stresses in ways we often do not realize.

The autonomic nervous system is separated into three aspects which ideally balance each other out. They are the enteric (largely responsible for the function of our internal organs, the sympathetic (responsible for our flight or fight response to stressors) and the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for our rest digest phases).

Many people in today’s society live in almost a constant state of stress. This state causes the sympathetic nervous system to kick into high gear. And do to our constant exposure to stresses in modern life, once the sympathetic nervous system has kicked in, we rarely take the steps necessary to help this system settle down. Although in the short term, an elevated sympathetic nervous system does cause our senses to be heightened and decreases our reaction times, it does so at a great cost to the body as there are little resources remaining for the body to heal itself.

It is these times of heightened stress where many are most aware of the aches and pains in their body as muscles tend to hold more tension. It may also be at these times, when the most effective way to help the body heal is to provide a relaxing massage that helps to calm the sympathetic nervous system and thereby allow the parasympathetic nervous system to become engaged. It is the parasympathetic nervous system which directs the bodies resources to healing.

So the next time you book a massage, take a look at your life in the moment and decide what sort of massage really would suit you best. Remember, you book a massage to help you feel better and you are in charge of what happens in the treatment. Be honest with yourself and your therapist to ensure you have the best treatment you need.