What is massage - now there's question!
What is massage? Phew, where do I start?! It’s quite a question to be honest! There’s so much choice isn’t there. And so many different therapists to choose from.
It can be difficult to know where to start when you think that massage might be what you need.
In fact, the choice is so varied that I could give you an idea of some of what’s on offer, but probably not all.
But I know what my approach to my massage treatments is. So here we go …..
To me, massage is ....
Restorative. It’s a word we don’t necessarily think of when we start looking for a massage. I have toyed with various ways of describing my treatments, but I always come back to the same thing … restorative, holistic, therapeutic.
But whatever way it could be described, the aim is always the same. For you to feel better.
What do I mean by ‘feel better’
Our bodies are complicated. Or maybe it’s that the world is complicated and that shows up in our bodies?!
Our bodies are certainly intricate. A delicate and yet very strong balancing act. They can withstand a huge amount of what we throw at them, but they also require care. And sometimes it feels like it doesn’t take much for them to ‘break’.
I tend to think of that ‘break’ as a call for attention. Sometimes that can be quickly sorted by us, a quick cuppa and a biscuit, a chat with a friend. Other times it requires something more. And sometimes that is looking for support from elsewhere.
So, by feel better, what I mean is a gradual return to a place where you feel a restoration of that balance. Now that can mean all sorts of things in of itself and is probably something to discuss another day. After all, the term ‘balance’ can be quite loaded in our modern world. It can bring connotations of needing to get something ‘right’ in order to feel a certain way.
But for now, I mean pealing away some of that load. Whether that be that your body has been in discomfort and needs something to soothe tired muscles, or it needs someone to sink down through the knots that have appeared.
Or whether that’s having a relaxation treatment that helps to settle the nervous system down, taking the load off our often over-firing synapses so that some ease can return.
Ultimately, it’s about you
We are all different. Anatomically broadly the same to be fair. But what happens in that anatomy can differ significantly from one person to another. Our bodies are our own story, full of their history as well as their structure.
That’s where the restorative part of my work comes in ……
How do I work?
I create a treatment that does what YOUR body needs me to do. That might be sinking into knots or tense muscles, and waiting for them to give. Encouraging them to feel looser, for your body to feel freer.
Or space might be the order of the day. Space and time for the body to just ‘be’. Relaxing, soothing, easing. Bringing it to a point of feeling more settled and at ease.
Together (and that’s a key factor here, it’s about us deciding together what might work for you) if we decide a whole-body massage isn’t for you at this time, that actually certain areas require greater focus, I will still approach that in a holistic way. Listening to what you have told me you need and creating a massage that it all about you.
With a restorative intention at its heart.
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