\Massage: The New Psychotherapy?
It's no secret that massage is good for the body, but did you know it's good for the emotions, too?
Doctors and other health practitioners are beginning to accept what ancient cultures have long understood: the human body is more than just muscle and tissue. It is also a highly sensitive mass of moving energy that can be affected by everything from environment to emotional stress. Emotions, such as fear or anger, have their own energetic vibration, a kind of "energy signature". Damaging emotions that are not released are often stored in muscles, forming knots and blocking the flow of vital energy.
We learn early which emotions to express, and which to suppress!
Although it might be more socially acceptable to hold in negative emotions, the down side is that our bodies become the "holding cell" for all those suppressed feelings, which crystallize within our muscular structure. Back stiffness, a bad knee, or a pain in the neck may actually signal a festering emotion or memory, which can then result in a more serious disease. Increasingly, as the mind-body connection becomes an undeniable reality, massage therapists are using emotional release points to free their patients from pent up grief, anger, and traumatic past events.
Suppressed emotions or memories eventually manifest as disease or depression
Feelings are meant to flow through your body with the ease of water. Laughter expresses itself naturally through the diaphragm and vocal cords. Anger and frustration are given a healthy outlet in running or martial arts, allowing the energy of those emotions to move through and out of the body. Positive emotions do tend to move more freely, partially because when we experience a negative thought or feeling, our first impulse is to quell it. Rather than disappearing, these emotions attach themselves to body tissue and emerge later in the form of chronic anxiety, high blood pressure, or some other illness.
Chua Ka-an is a form of massage that releases fear.
Chua Ka-an is a very deep tissue massage that can be applied to oneself or given by a massage therapist. It is an ancient Mongolian massage that warriors used to remove fear from their bodies before they plunged into the thick of battle. Chua Ka-an, which employs a stick called a "Ka," or "cleaning stick," is based on the philosophy that psychic tension is released along with physical tension. In Chua Ka-an, the body is divided into 27 karmic zones associated with a specific fear or other mental state. The goal is to clean out the body, which has become a virtual toxic waste dump of old fears and traumatic experiences.
Massage might be an emotional roller-coaster that ends with healing.
Many patients who receive massage experience an emotional release. This release can take the form of intense laughing, crying, or simply feeling the need to recount an old memory, and is a crucial part of the healing process. Increasingly, psychotherapists are recommending to their patients that massage be used in conjunction with psychotherapy sessions, so it is important to let feelings emerge naturally in the course of the massage and not attempt to stifle them. Communicate with your massage therapist so they know what is happening and can facilitate the release. Think of it this way: by finally allowing yourself to feel whatever is necessary, you might just be getting rid of more than a pain in the neck!
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