So what will it take?

I hurt.  I have this pain that doesn’t seem to ever go away. I have this nagging ache in my shoulders.  My back seems to always be sore.  I have really tight muscles.  This knot in my shoulder won’t go away.  I need a really good stretch.

Have you heard anyone say these things before?  Have YOU said any of these things before?  I’ve met so many people who have convinced themselves that they can simply “live with the pain”.  They’ve decided that cost of getting rid of that pain is greater than the cost of keeping it.

WHY??  Why would anyone ever think that holding onto a nagging, irritating, upsetting pain is somehow better than getting rid of it?  “I can’t afford any treatment right now.” “I’ll get around to it when it gets unbearable.” “I can manage for now.”  Putting off seeking help for your pain tends to only mean that, by the time you finally DO get help, it’ll be way worse than when the pain first showed up.  Just saying “Oh, I can deal with it for now” often gets us nothing but more pain.  When you actually do get around to tending to your pain, the treatments will probably be more expensive.

We as a society have been “trained” to “tough it out”, to “be strong in the face of adversity”, to “take it like a man”, and not to “cry like a girl” whenever it comes to pain. Those mantras are better suited for the gridiron than they are for day-to-day activities, but we have used them as blanket statements for all situations.  There’s no differentiation between hell week at the end of bootcamp and your 9 to 5 desk job.  But our bodies recognize the difference every day.

It’s important that we take care of our bodies as best we can, to treat them like the “temples” they truly are.  We get one body to live in during this life – don’t you think it would be nice of us to treat it with respect while we’re living inside it?  Ignoring those aches and pains does nothing good for you.  Those aches and pains are your body’s way of telling you that you’ve done something wrong, or that you’ve been injured in some way, and that you need to take some time to fix that problem.  Listen to your body.  Learn to understand what it’s trying to tell you.  Stiff shoulders? Sore neck? Bad back? Bad knee?  Check in with your body every day to hear what it’s telling you about what you’re doing to it.  Pay closer attention to these changes when they happen so that you can more effectively correct the problem.

How many times have you cut or bruised yourself and not noticed it until hours or even days later?  How many times have you noticed that you have a pain somewhere in your body and can’t remember when it first started or even how long it’s been going on?  These “mystery pains” happen because we’re not paying attention to ourselves.  We’re not giving our bodies the attention they deserve.  We’re just going through our days as quickly as we can to…. get on to the next day where we’ll do the same thing again? Does that make any sense at all??

So I ask you: So what will it take?  What will it take to make you pay better attention to your body? What will it take to make you take better care of your body? And what will it take to make you realize – before it’s too late – that THIS is only body you’ll be getting in this lifetime.

Don’t Just Lay There – Talk to Me!

I’ve been practicing massage for almost 8 years and I’ve both seen and experienced the joys and benefits of a great massage. I’ve also seen and experienced the rare “not so great” massage. What was the difference? Why did one massage not live up to my expectations like another did? I believe it’s because I failed to communicate my needs with my Therapist.

As a Massage Therapist, I’m expected to have some specialized knowledge and understanding of the human body. I’m also expected to be very intuitive and be able to find “hidden knots” in my clients bodies. Well, while I can say that yes, these I do and I can, what I can’t can’t say is “I know exactly how that feels”. I’m not “living on the inside” of your body. I do not know what your particular sensitivities are. And I most certainly can’t feel the massage you’re receiving from me (though sometimes I wish I could). For any information concerning what’s going on inside YOUR body, I need to communicate WITH YOU. I need to ask questions, check in WITH YOU, verbally assess your reception of the massage and your body’s reactions to the massage. One thing I have yet to master is reading minds; until such time as I do master that skill, I will continue to ASK YOU for your feedback on the progress of your massage.

Some people are completely fine with whatever pressure is applied to their bodies during a massage – some, but not all. Everyone else has preferences about pressure and technique that they enjoy. It’s the job of the Massage Therapist to ask their client questions about these preferences, to find out as much as he/she can about their clients’ massage likes and dislikes, so that the massage session can be tailored to that client and produce the best possible results.

Don’t be shy the next time you get a massage. Let your Therapist know what you like and what you would like to try differently. Let them know where they should be working on you so that you will receive the best results. It’s only through open communication that the team of YOU and your Massage Therapist will be able to achieve your personal health goals.