Massage: More Than Just a Luxury Service

Massage therapy is often thought of as just a luxurious day at the spa, a day of relaxation and peace that alleviates all your stress. While that is true, regular massages offer so many benefits beyond just relaxation that promote overall wellness and health. Dr. Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD, the Chief of Psychiatric Services at Emory Healthcare, has led multiple studies focusing on the effects of massage, and has found that positive effects can be felt after just a 20 minute session. Other studies have shown that massage therapy can help boost the immune system by increasing how active the body’s killer-t cells are, which help fight off viruses and cancer cells.While the regularity of your treatments depends on your condition, weekly to bi-weekly massages are encouraged.

It is important to adjust treatment to reflect the change in external factors, especially in the winter when our bodies' defenses against colds, viruses, stress, anxiety, joint pain, low energy, and emotional upset are lowered. Due to the cold temperatures and long nights, physical activity is less appealing, causing decreased energy due to the lack of circulation. A massage can help make up for this by circulating blood, boosting energy, relieving stress, as well as other positive effects.

These positive effects include:

• Anxiety relief

• Aids in better sleep

• Balances immune responses

• Boosts focus

• Heals injuries

• Strengthens the immune system

• Cold and flu preventative

• Slows the nervous system

• Decreases heart rate

• Lowers blood pressure

• Changes EEG patterns

• Increases lymph flow

• Improves mood

• Increases energy

Types of Massage

Susan Arenkill, our Certified Massage Therapist and Reiki Master, offers the following massage services, with half hour sessions starting at $50. She can incorporate energy work into her massages, like Reiki, a form of energy healing centering around life force that promotes healing, or chakra balancing, which is the technique of channeling or clearing energy in the 7 chakras, or energy centers, located along the spine.

Swedish: This type of massage is all about promoting relaxation by releasing muscle tension. This technique is done with gentle pressure, and is beneficial for people who hold tension in their neck, shoulders, and lower back. Daily activities like sitting in a chair or working at a computer can cause tension in these areas, but Swedish massage is not limited to just the neck, shoulders, and back. This type of massage is best if you are primarily looking for relaxation and muscle tension relief from stress.

Orthopedic: This type of massage breaks down pain cycles, re-educates muscles, and increases range of motion after an injury or stress. It is beneficial to those healing from an injury, and focuses on the muscles and soft tissues surrounding joints. Soft tissue injuries like sprains, pulled muscles or torn ligaments, carpal-tunnel syndrome, frozen, shoulder, tennis elbow, tendinitis, sciatica, and bulging discs are all conditions this type of massage treats. Techniques like soft tissue manipulation, muscle compression, muscle contraction, and gentle pressure work to pinpoint areas of pain and promote circulation to those areas.

Reiki: Reiki is a Japanese practice that treats the whole person- mind, body, and spirit, promoting feelings of relaxation, well-being, security, and peace. This practice is based on the idea that life force energy, or Qi, flows through our bodies and is what creates life. If qi energy is low, then illness and disease are more likely to occur, whereas if it is high, health and happiness are abundant. Reiki is performed by placing the hands or palms lightly on the body or hovering above it to move energy along the seven chakras of the body.

Chakra Balancing: Chakras are the seven main energy centers in the body that receive, transmit, and assimilate life force energy, or qi. They are aligned vertically, starting at the top of the head down to the feet. Each chakra is associated with a color, a function, consciousness, organs, ailments, elements, and more. Chakras are connected to each other by meridians, or energy pathways. If a certain chakra is blocked, that means the flow of energy is blocked, causing numerous ailments associated with the particular chakra. If the chakras are open and balanced, qi is free to flow through the whole body, aiding in wellness. Common techniques for balancing chakras include crystals, reiki, sound and color therapy, meditation, yoga and other exercises, and breathing techniques.

Cranial Sacral: Also known as craniosacral therapy, this gentle technique uses a light touch to feel membranes and the movement of fluids in and around the central nervous system. Tension relief in the central nervous system promotes feelings of well-being, eliminates pain, and boosts the immune system. This technique can provide a deep inner balance, relieves stress, body tension and fatigue, relief from headaches and mental fatigue, neck pain, as well as relief from the side effects of cancer treatments.

Prenatal: This massage utilizes techniques from Swedish massage, with modified positions and pressure to ensure ultimate comfort for the expecting mother. The benefits of this massage include reduced swelling, lessens lower back pain, improves sleep, prepares your body for labor and birth, relaxes your body, and relieves pain naturally.

Massage therapy goes beyond luxury; it is a form of self care, of checking in with yourself to assess where you need extra help in your health. Stress relief and relaxation are essential to overall wellness, and have benefits that can keep you healthy year around, but especially in the winter when your body has to work harder. 20 minutes a day can lower your blood pressure, boost your immune system, promote better sleep, relieve anxiety, and circulate your blood for pain relief. Massage therapy is a medical treatment that can connect the body and soul for well rounded wellness and better health.

References

Cruz, Amber. “Reiki: Explaining the Benefits of This TCM Healing Modality”. Retrieved from https://www.eacuwell.com/blog/what-is-reiki.

Gregory, Brielle. “6 Healthy Ways Getting a Massage Benefits Your Entire Body:” Retrieved from https://www.prevention.com/health/g26305736/massage-therapy-benefits/.

“5 Awesome Benefits of Prenatal Massage”. Retrieved from https://celebratebirth.info/2019/08/prenatal-massage-benefits/#:~:text=A%20prenatal%20massage%20is%20a,for%20both%20mother%20and%20baby.

“25 Reasons to Get a Massage”. Retrieved from https://www.amtamassage.org/find-massage-therapist/25-reasons-to-get-a-massage/.

“Chakra Balancing Treatment”. Retrieved from https://atouchofbeauty.com.au/blog/article2/chakra-balancing-treatment/#:~:text=Chakra%20Balancing%20is%20a%20form,extends%20beyond%20our%20physical%20wellbeing. https://pressmodernmassage.com/blogs/going-deep/how-often-should-i-get-a-massage#:~:text=A%20general%20recommendation%20is%20every,the%20end%20of%20the%20pregnancy.

“Craniosacral Therapy”. Retrieved from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/17677-craniosacral-therapy.

“Reiki & Qi In Traditional Chinese Medicine”. Retrieved from https://www.thereikirefuge.com/2017/11/reiki-qi-in-traditional-chinese-medicine/.

“Top 5 Health Benefits of Regular Massage Therapy”. Retrieved from https://www.nuhs.edu/patients/health-information/articles/top-5-health-benefits-of-regular-massage-therapy/.

“What’s the Difference Between Swedish Massage and Deep Tissue Massage?” Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/swedish-massage-vs-deep-tissue#3.

“What is Orthopedic Massage”. Retrieved from https://www.benevidawellness.com/what-is-orthopedic-massage/.

“What is Reiki?”. Retrieved from https://www.reiki.org/faqs/what-reiki.

Unwinding Your Belly

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, summer is the season between the expansive yang energy of spring, and the inward yin energy of fall and winter. There are a few weeks at the end of August and the beginning of September where we are in what TCM calls late summer or “Indian summer”. This season is all about grounding yourself and digesting or processing your emotions. Emotions often have a physiological effect on the body and can be felt in the belly. The term “go with your gut” implies that intuition can be determined by feelings in the gut, and there is deep truth to this phrase. In “Unwinding the Belly: Healing with Gentle Touch”, Allison Post and Stephen Cavaliere discuss the effects breathing from the belly have on processing and understanding emotions. Late summer is the perfect time of the year to learn these techniques to support the body as the seasons change.

The spleen, stomach, and pancreas are associated with late summer, and there are many ways to support these organs. This includes: proper diet, maintaining balance, exercise, and breathing. Post and Cavaliere also suggest that there is a connection between the belly organs and intuition, and that the notion of intuition is, in a sense, the recognition of emotions and external stimuli felt within the belly. They encourage the following ideas:

• Listen to your body. Since late summer is the time before fall where energy turns inward, now is the time to begin the process of turning inward and processing your emotions.

• The center is essential with health, both emotional and physical, because the center houses the organs responsible for absorption and transportation of nutrients and feelings.

• It is important to nourish our bodies the best we can so that our organs can function their best and so that we feel our best.

• Understanding when the body is responding negatively to an improper diet and then changing your diet to better suit the body is the beginning of reconnecting to our center.

• Emotions are the connection between the brain and gut. The belly digests emotions as well as food and can be either nourished or damaged by what lies there.

• Emotions that we feel in our stomach- butterflies are excitement or anticipation, heartbreak is heartache, fear is felt as the rapid beating of the heart or the desire to urinate, worry eats at the stomach, and jealousy wastes the liver.

• If unresolved negative emotions are held inside too long without resolution, internal tissues, muscles, and fascia become stiff and blocked, inhibiting these organs from functioning their best.

• Unresolved emotions can cause stress, high blood pressure, and even the hardening of arteries.

• Positive feelings like excitement, joy, love, and happiness are also felt within the belly.

• The initial attempt to alter emotions is to change our thoughts, but you can not think feelings away, you have to feel them.

• Exercise the core to strengthen the core.

Post and Caveliere also teach the benefits of breathing from the belly, and how when we hold emotions in, we tend to constrict our breathing as well. Opening up our breathing, breathing fully and deeply, and feeling the belly expand brings all the feelings stored there to the forefront. They believe that changing the way we breathe is another way to reconnect to our core and the benefits are vast.

In her experience, whenever Allison Post met with a patient who was experiencing difficulties with digestion, movement, connecting with her body or emotion, or with healing, there was also an issue with the way the patient was breathing.

• Bringing simple awareness to your belly and how it feels immediately relieves tension and stress.

• Imagine constricting air flow and panting through life, and then imagine allowing yourself a strong and healthy air flow. Breathing is synonymous to living.

• Inhibiting breath is learned, and relearning how to breath is an essential step towards becoming comfortable in your body again.

• Breathing from the belly increases pressure below the diaphragm, creating a vacuum in the lung cavities. This causes air to rush to fill the void, providing ample oxygen.

• Panic breath occurs when the diaphragm is pulled upwards on the inhale, creating a weaker vacuum, filling just the top part of the lungs, allowing insufficient oxygen.

• Using touch is a technique to learn the feel of your belly and the points of tension or where you have difficulty filling with breath.

• The circuit of healing: stimulating the skin accesses subtle energies within the body. The nerves in the skin contain information about the internal stress levels of the body. This information is sent from the fingers to the areas of the brain that process these internal levels. Gentle touch creates a feedback loop between the body and the brain.

• Give yourself time to learn your body, rushing it can break the circuit.

• Delve deeper and stimulate the abdominal lymph nodes. Place your hands to the side of the navel and feel the vertical creases that lie on each side of the torso. Gently press deeper to stimulate the lymph nodes, all the while breathing deeply.

• Stimulating this spot releases waste stored in the nodes, working like a filtration process.

How to belly breathe:

• Lie on your back with your knees up, either on your bed or the floor. Make sure your knees are elevated, but not being supported by the hips.

• First, draw attention to the way you are currently breathing. Are your breaths deep or shallow, do they flow or get stuck in your throat?

• Next, bring your attention to your spine, and connect your breathing to the way your back feels on the floor.

• Then, place your hands on your belly, index fingers pointing towards each other, but keep your elbows on the floor. Inhale and feel your belly rise against your hands, then exhale and feel your hands gently fall.

• Attempt with each inhale to breathe in more air, and feel the expansion from your hips to your rib cage. Try to inhale and exhale without expanding the chest.

• Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth.

In these days between the busy and the slow, take the time to reconnect with your core, breathe deeply, and let yourself feel everything you have been holding inside. Feed your body the proper nutrition to allow proper digestion of both nutrients and emotions. The better you feel physically, the easier it will be to process your emotions. Try bringing attention to your breathing, and see what awareness comes to the forefront of your consciousness to allow yourself to heal.

References

Cavaliere, Stephen and Post, Allison. “Unwinding the Belly: Healing with Gentle Touch.”

Pulsifer, Jeremy. “Late Summer: The Fifth Season”. Retrieved from https://www.yinovacenter.com/blog/late-summer-the-5th-season/.

“Eat with the Seasons: Late Summer”. Retrieved from https://fiveseasonstcm.com/blogs/traditional-chinese-medicine-101/eat-with-the-seasons-late-summer.

“Late-Summer Health: The Chinese Medicine & Taoist Way”. Retrieved from https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/late-summer-health-tcm-taoist-tips/

Stress and Digestion

How do you typically react to a stressful event? Think back to something recently that made you anxious, worried, overwhelmed, or stressed out. If you go back to this specific memory, did you notice your heart beating more quickly? Did you become hot, sweaty, or flushed? The situation was likely uncomfortable, so did you have urges to suppress or avoid your emotions? Even after the event, did you still have lingering stressful thoughts or reactions? 

Unless you’re an extremely zen, perfectly peaceful person who spends your days meditating, you’re likely under a high amount of stress right now. Even our zen, mindful people experience stress, especially with the constant uncertainty and confusion about the state of our world. Although stress is common and normal right now, we must take steps to respond to it, move through it, and heal ourselves. Unaddressed stress can wreak havoc on our bodies, especially our digestive system. 

When we experience a stressful situation, our adrenal glands release cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. Cortisol makes our blood vessels function irregularly, adrenaline speeds up our heart beat and blood pressure, and bursts of norepinephrine are linked to panic attacks, hyperactivity, and increases in blood pressure. Problematic amounts of these three hormones can increase our chances of heart attack or stroke, while also affecting our digestion. You’ve likely heard about the brain-gut connection, which essentially is our understanding of how our brain communicates with a system of nerves that exist in the lining of our gut (our Enteric Nervous System or “second brain”). When our brain releases stress hormones, our digestion becomes disturbed, and we experience higher sensitivity to acid. Stress can also potentially cause digestive issues by altering the bacteria in our gut. This explains why we are more likely to experience heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, and nausea during stressful times.   

The good news is that we can be proactive about responding to stress. We can first observe how we’re feeling, what our mind is doing, and start to slow down our reactions. Once we acknowledge we are experiencing stress, we can take deep breaths and find ways to move through it. When we notice ourselves feeling stuck in worries, we can shift our focus toward something that will help us feel more calm and in control. 

Ideas for Reducing Stress

-Reconnecting with the body. Reconnecting with the body is a great way to get grounded and check-in with ourselves. This can be done through a body scan, gentle yoga movements, breathing practices, dancing, exercise, and other activities that help you get in touch with your physical presence. By focusing on the body, this often helps shift our attention away from ruminative thoughts. 

-Processing our emotions. Processing our emotions can also be a great place to start tackling stress. Sometimes, we need to take a few minutes to figure out what we’re thinking and feeling. This can be done through journaling, meditating, talking with a close friend/loved one/therapist, or whatever practices help you listen to your mind and soul with curiosity. 

We are here for you! Please reach out to any of our healers for specific ideas on tackling your stress. 

References

How Stress Changes the Brain and Body. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/how-stress-changes-the-brain-and-body/