Choosing a Massage for Better Peace of Mind

Mental wellness refers to a state of emotional and psychological balance where individuals feel a sense of contentment in their lives. They have developed a resilience to the stresses of life and can take whatever comes their way. This is a state that takes effort to achieve, and there are many tools out there to explore. There is a common misconception that massage therapy is a “treat yourself” type of service, reserved for special moments of relaxation or bouts of pain. Contrary to this popular belief, regular massage offers so many more benefits than just relaxation and physical relief. Stress, anxiety, depression, and many other feelings and conditions that affect our mental health greatly benefit from regular massage.

Mental Benefits of Massage

Stress is a regular part of life, and managing that stress can be difficult. Not only is the actual massage beneficial, but the usual environment provided during the service is often intended to heighten relaxation and peace. These spaces are safe, quiet, clean, and pleasant. Aromatherapy can be used to further relax, and calming, often meditative music will play. The lights will be dim, there may be a heating pad on the table to keep you warm, and your privacy will be respected. All of these touches are designed to allow the body to fully relax into the massage and relinquish any feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression that are lingering. This will allow the healing benefits to take effect. 

MindBody Benefits of Regular Massage

Reduces cortisol and adrenaline

Releases serotonin and dopamine

Fulfills the body’s need for physical contact and comforting touch

Reduces pain and tension

Improves insomnia, which improves cognitive function

Improves mood

Boosts energy

Enhances feelings of happiness and pleasure

Improves blood circulation

Delivers oxygen and nutrients to the brain

Eliminates toxins and wastes, allowing brain and organs to function at peak performance

Types of Massage and their Benefits

Swedish: Involving long, gliding strokes,kneading, and rhythmic tapping, this type of massage relaxes the muscles and releases tension. Swedish massage promotes overall relaxation, stress reduction, and improved circulation.

Deep Tissue: This type of massage targets deeper layers of muscles and connective tissues to release chronic pain and muscle tension. Deep inner work releases physical and emotional blockages, provides relief from chronic stress, and promotes feeling of mental well-being. 

Orthopedic: As a targeted approach to pain and injury recovery, orthopedic massage treats your body’s soft tissues like muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and helps individuals recover from pain and musculoskeletal issues. Pain relief can bring about feelings of better mental wellness through reduced stress and discomfort, better blood circulation, and reduced muscle tension.Orthopedic massage is a great option if you are recovering from an injury and want a gentle way to promote healing and relaxation.

Aromatherapy: The addition of essential oils to your massage will enhance the massage with the benefits of each type of oil. Lavender is known to be calming and relaxing, making it perfect for reducing anxiety and promoting restful sleep. Peppermint and citrus oils are invigorating and uplift the mood. Adding essential oils to your massage offers a sensory experience that stimulates the mind and body.

Hot Stone: In a hot stone massage, hot stones are placed on certain pain points of the body to warm and loosen tight muscles, as well as balance the energy centers of the body. The stones can also be used to apply gentle pressure along sore muscles, releasing tension and stress. The warmth of the stones is comforting and relaxing.

Craniosacral: Craniosacral massage focuses on the craniosacral system, which includes the nervous system and all membranes and fluids surrounding the brain. Using light, rhythmic touches, the therapist assesses areas of trauma or inflammation and will stimulate them to release. This type of massage is especially helpful for insomnia, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and stress. By improving the flow of cerebrospinal fluid throughout the body’s tissues, inflammation is reduced and relaxation is achieved. Tension is also released through the gentle manipulation of the fascia, or connective tissue.

While getting a massage for occasional tension or stress can help, those struggling with mental wellness may find regular massage therapy to be a great addition to their treatment plan to help them manage their symptoms. There are so many different types of massage that can provide different areas of relief, and finding the right one that caters to your individual needs could be just the thing to bring you peace of mind and body.

References

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/massage-for-depression-anxiety-and-stress

https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/mental-health/mayo-clinic-explores-the-role-of-massage-therapy-for-mental-health/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6519566/

https://www.inc.com/indigo-triplett/five-massage-therapies-that-can-create-mental-wellness.html

https://www.mentalhealthcenter.org/massage-therapy-for-mental-wellness/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/17677-craniosacral-therapy

https://www.westendwellness.ca/blogs/craniosacral-therapy-does-it-work-what-are-the-benefits#:~:text=Benefits%20Of%20Craniosacral%20Therapy,%2C%20neck%2C%20and%20nervous%20limitations.

Types of Tired

How disharmony contributes to fatigue
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), there are various types of tiredness one can experience, often caused by depletion and stagnation. Between blood, spleen, and kidney qi imbalances, exhaustion represents in different ways. Identifying the type of tired you feel can help determine where your deficiency lies as well as how to properly treat the symptoms, identify the underlying cause, and support your body while healing.

Blood Deficiency

TCM looks at the functions of blood rather than the blood itself. Deficiencies are noted by observing the tongue, skin, muscle tone, hair and nails, pulse, and body temperature. The relationship between blood and Qi is like yin and yang. Blood nourishes the organs and produces Qi, but Qi gives movement to the blood. So, if blood Qi is depleted, there is blood stagnation, causing various physical and emotional ailments. In TCM, blood is responsible for nourishing the body by flowing healthy, dense, lubricating, and oxygen rich blood through the organs and vessels, and providing flexibility and moisture to tissues. If there is a deficiency, dryness will manifest. Shen, or consciousness, is nourished by the blood’s support of balanced mental and emotional states. Deficiencies in blood disturbs this support, leading to many emotional imbalances. A blood deficiency diagnosis can mean there is not enough blood in circulation, or the quality of the blood is compromised and can not provide adequate nourishment to function properly. Physical exhaustion from over strenuous activities, acute blood loss from childbirth, donating blood, or injury, regularly heavy periods, nutrient deficiencies, and genetic predispositions can all affect the quality and quantity of your blood.

Symptoms:
Dryness can cause stiff joints and muscles, cracking joints, chronically sore muscles that can not be relieved with hydration, and dry or brittle hair and nails.
Disrupted Shen can cause anxiety, poor memory, brain fog, irritability, unease, and insomnia.
Other symptoms include headaches behind the eyes, menstrual related migraines, persistent chill, numbness or tingling in hands and feel, dizziness and fainting, chronic fatigue, depression, mood swings, difficulty falling asleep or falling back asleep, menstrual irregularities like missing a period or light period, hair loss, dry skin, constipation, pale complexion, and a pale tongue.

Liver blood deficiencies are characterized by headaches behind the eyes, poor concentration and memory, visual disturbances, and tiredness that makes you feel drained by the end of the day. Heart blood deficiency will show with palpitations, anxiety, and insomnia.

Remedies:
Herbal formulas are a great tool to help nourish blood, but should be prescribed by a licensed practitioner. Adequate rest is crucial for blood recovery. This includes proper sleep, and taking time out of the day and week to rest your body and mind during the day.

Overwork can exhaust the blood, so even small breaks throughout the day are beneficial.

Dietary changes that focus on balanced and nourishing meals regularly throughout the day can build blood levels. Eat regularly throughout the day, incorporate grains, leafy vegetables, and red meat, eat cooked food, avoid raw food, drink plenty of water, and avoid food and drinks that disrupt digestion like refined sugars, dairy, excess alcohol, fried food, and spicy and bitter foods.

While exercise is crucial for preventing blood stagnation, excessive exercise while blood deficient can exacerbate symptoms. Instead, exercise multiple times a week, but not everyday, exercise to the point of sweating, but excessively sweating, and make the exercises enjoyable. Try dancing, hiking, working in the garden, or swimming to move Qi and support blood health. Hydration is key, and can come in the form of water, soups, herbal teas, and hydrating fruits and vegetables.

Spleen Qi Deficiency

When discussing deficiencies of the spleen, it is important to note that TCM’s understanding and approach focuses on functions relating to digestion, energy metabolism, emotions, seasons, flavors, and overall vitality, instead of the physiological spleen. The main function of the spleen is to assist the stomach in digestion, transforming and transporting food, allowing the body to absorb nutrients while separating out waste. The spleen is also considered the main organ for the production of blood Qi, gaining energy from ingested food and drink.

Spleen Qi deficiencies are often caused by stress, overexertion, poor dietary habits like skipping meals or over eating, emotional imbalances, irregular eating, consuming too much raw foods and drinks, worrying, or feeling anxious.

Symptoms:
Fatigue, headaches, brain fog, muscle tension, poor appetite, bloating after eating, abdominal distension, irregular bowel movements, loose stools, weakened immunity, a tendency to bruise easily, lack of energy, weakness, or prone to illness.

Remedies:
Eat warm and cooked foods, avoid cold or raw foods, and limit dairy and sugar intake. Ingesting raw food can hinder and tax digestion, whereas warm and cooked foods are easier to digest and absorb.

Foods like rice, millet, cooked vegetables, lean meats, cinnamon, cardamom, honey, ginger, basil, cloves, dill, fennel, cooked or roasted garlic, and nutmeg are all part of the proper diet to promote healthy spleen function.

Incorporate exercises like qi gong, tai chi, or yoga. Gentle movements will stimulate the spleen’s natural energy flow, and will help relieve stress, improve digestion, and cultivate a sense of mindfulness.

Getting proper, high quality sleep will ensure that the body is able to perform all restorative functions while the body rests, like repairing damaged tissues and regulating stress hormones. Inadequate sleep can raise the levels of the stress hormone called cortisol, which can create feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. Proper sleep will ease feelings of physical and emotional stress.

Kidney Qi Deficiency

Kidneys are responsible for regulating the metabolism of water, filtering waste from the blood, removing waste from the body via urine, driving growth and development, reproductive function, and the health of the hair, bones, teeth, and ears. They are also regarded as the source for all yin and yang in the body, as well as the home of jing, the energy that is given from our parents at birth and remains with us for the rest of our lives. When in balance, kidney Qi will promote proper urinary functions, feelings of confidence, a sense of energy and alertness, the ability to think clearly, and support strong and healthy hair, nails, bones, teeth.

When out of balance, symptoms of kidney Qi, or yang, deficiency are considered “internal cold” in TCM, meaning the body is unable to warm itself. If left unattended, the body will function with less strength overtime.

On the other hand, yin deficiency in the kidney can cause symptoms that are hot in nature, like night sweats or dizziness.

Symptoms:
Yin symptoms include night sweats, dizziness,
Yang symptoms include sore joints and muscles, cold extremities, weakness in lumbar area or knees, exhaustion, sensitivity to cold, frequent urination or incontinence, diarrhea, decreased libido, feeling withdrawn, and fluid retention.

Remedies:
Acupuncture can help warm the body by improving circulation, reducing dampness, regulating fluids, and promoting healthy digestion. By stimulating certain points, the kidney can be supported, restoring yang energy and releasing stagnation.

Eat foods like goji berries, walnuts, pine nuts, grapes, raisins, rice, foods that are blue-black like eggplant, black sesame seeds, black beans, kidney beans, plums, figs, dates, or seaweed.

Cooling foods like lettuce, watermelon, bean sprouts, watercress, and fish are cooling and support kidney Yin by clearing heat from the body.

Foods like kidney beans, mushrooms, sesame seeds, celery, barley, and seaweed are used to dry out dampness, and are ideal if you are retaining too much fluid. Avoid foods that are raw, cold, sweetened with refined sugar, dairy, bread, yeast, and beer, as these all promote dampness. Salt is thought to support the kidney’s natural detoxifying functions, so adding naturally salty foods like saltwater fish, prawns, lobster, scallops, oysters, and seaweed are appropriate ways to consume nourishing salt. Make sure to drink enough pure filtered water.

Understanding each type of deficiency and how it can affect your body is the first step towards treatment and better health. The type of tired that we feel can determine the deficiency. If you experience chronic fatigue and brain fog, you may be experiencing a blood deficiency. If you are feeling fatigue paired with weakness and stress, you may have a spleen deficiency. Exhaustion paired with chills or sweats can be a kidney yin or yang deficiency, but these deficiencies are all treatable with a proper diet, adequate rest, stress management, acupuncture, and research.

Resources

● https://www.runeacupuncture.com/blog/blood-deficiency-a-dx-of-depletion

● https://www.wildearthacupuncture.com/blog/2021/12/14/spleen-qi-defiency-what-is-it-

and-how-to-deal-with-

it#:~:text=To%20address%20Spleen%20Qi%20deficiency%2C%20it's%20crucial%20to

%20adjust%20your,can%20weaken%20the%20Spleen's%20function.

● https://heavenandearthmedicine.com/blog/2023/4/10/blood-deficiency

● https://bokettowellness.com/blogs/journal/spleen-qi-deficiency-explained

● https://pinnaclepdx.com/diagnosing-patterns-yang-deficiency/

● https://www.iffleyac.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Food-for-Yang-Deficiency.pdf

● https://thejadecentre.co.uk/tiredness-fatigue-traditional-chinese-

medicine/#:~:text=In%20TCM%2C%20there%20are%20two,or%20an%20%E2%80%9Cex

cess%20condition%E2%80%9D.

● https://www.euyansang.com/en_US/understanding-the-role-of-the-

kidney/eystcmorgans2.html

● https://redleafwellness.ca/blog/the-signs-of-kidney-yang-deficiency/

Chinese Brushstroke Painting

Easily recognized by composition, subject matter, and coloring, brush stroke painting is a technique that dates back thousands of years. Originating in China, this technique was adopted from Chinese calligraphic ideographs, both in technique and materials. The calligraphic brush stroke was the dominant means of expression in Chinese painting, and was a discipline in controlling the brush to express emotion. While a disciplined practice, it is also a practice in mindfulness and balance through art.

Unlike other forms of art, like Realism, where the intention is to realistically capture the subject, brush stroke painting is about capturing the Qi, or inner spirit, of the subject. The brush strokes themselves have an independent quality of character that conveys the emotion and vitality of the artist. To achieve this, scholar artists rejected the use of color, believing it to be a distraction from the subject’s true essence, choosing instead to use black ink, mo, on white rice paper. Other rejected techniques include using light and shadow as modeling and opaque pigments to hide mistakes, relying instead on the shape of the lines to create contrast, and using ink of varying translucence. There is a distinct essence to each stroke, and strokes are defined by straight lines, dots, curves, hooks, or blots. Lines are characterized by the alternation of thick and thin in each stroke, giving the calligraphy or painting a personality. Common subjects include mountains, landscapes, humans, flowers, birds, rocks, and trees. Trees and bamboo are common subjects because they can be drawn with the same disciplined brush skills necessary for calligraphy.

Advanced use of texture and ink wash, like in the painting Summer Mountain, shown above, can date the painting to the Song dynasty. Using these techniques furthered the art form, moving away from the colorful painting preferred by court artists and professionals. This new form focused more on using calligraphic strokes as the main means of expression, and strayed from the more illusionistic, or representative, style that was popular at the time. Brush stroke painting became far more personal for both the artist and the subject, since painters in this style believed that each painting was a reflection of the artist’s mind, personality, and deeply held values.

With an emphasis on balancing yin and yang, the brush stroke approach to painting is similar to the TCM approach of transitioning from winter to spring. Winter is the season of kidney support and yin, jing, or vitality, and transforming jing into Qi. Bestowed upon us at conception, our lifelong vitality is shared directly from our parents, and conserving that energy is a lifelong balancing act. Spring is the season of the liver and yang, and as the seasons begin to transition from winter to spring, the liver and gallbladder become responsible for the movement of Qi throughout the body. If there is a deficiency in the liver, or any organ, they turn to the kidneys for support. This can cause an imbalance in yin and yang energy in the body, but there are many dietary, physical, and emotional choices you can adopt to best support your body through the changing seasons. Striving for physical, emotional, and spiritual harmony in one’s self is reminiscent of the artist’s desire to capture harmony within themselves and their subject. Much like art, it is not just about the outcome, but the process to achieve harmony.

References

• https://education.asianart.org/resources/an-introduction-to-chinese-brushpainting-techniques/

• https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/chin/hd_chin.htm

• Understanding Chinese Painting by T.C. Lai

• Hokusai- First Manga Master by Jocelyn Bouquillard and Christophe Marquet

• https://www.gathered.how/arts-crafts/art/beginners-guide-to-chinese-brush-painting

• https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39915

• https://www.euyansang.com/en_US/understanding-the-role-of-the-kidney/eystcmorgans2.html

• https://www.yasminhodgeacupuncture.co.uk/post/foods-to-nourish-kidney-qi-yang#:~:text=The%20Kidneys%20are%20associated%20with,Kidneys%20to%20rest%20and%20recuperate.

• https://www.tcmworld.org/winter-to-spring-kidney-to-liver/#:~:text=As%20Winter%20turns%20to%20Spring,prevent%20it%20from%20functioning%20optimally.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEN0CzGv5-Y

• https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39915- link to photo used for blog post