I have decided to do an experiment with a client of mine. She is going to receive one massage on a monthly basis and write about her thoughts and emotions surrounding her experiences. My aim is to explore the mind-body connection and how massage impacts a person's overall well-being. This is not a scientific endeavor, but rather a journey that offers insight into how massage therapy can play an integral part in an individual's personal wellness program.


Client A writes about Session 4:

If you recall, on my end, this experiment was prompted from my yearning to not be a total wreck all winter like I was last year (and every winter before). Monthly massage has been a big part of my routine, as has going for 20 minute walks in nature (regardless of the weather), taking 4000 IU’s of vitamin D3, cooking a lot of delicious warm, healthy meals, working out at the gym with friends, doing creative projects, and spending a lot of quality time with the people I love.

I recently read an article that validated my very intentional way of beating the winter blues called: “How hygge can help you get through winter.” For anyone who knows me on the other side of the screen, this is the big reveal (I’ve been raving about hygge for weeks).Here is a helpful link to the article: http://www.mnn.com/family/family-activities/blogs/how-hygge-can-help-you-get-through-winter

Denmark is rated the happiest place on earth, but it’s also one of the darkest. What gives? Hygge. Hygge is a Danish word that has no direct translation into English.  Its rough meaning is the feeling of Christmas coziness all year round. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a perspective, a lifestyle, a kind of person or place that emulates these qualities. It’s “cold hands and a warm heart.”

Unlike most massages I have had in the past from Kate or anyone else, tonight’s was void of images and thoughts. It was purely relaxing. Part of hygge is relaxing, letting all the stressors fade away, letting your imagination drift, while not having a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you ought to be doing something else.

During the massage, a few tight spots on my neck, shoulders and bottom loosened up quickly. Kate mentioned that sometimes after you eliminate tension that has been harbored in a spot for a long time, getting work done on that area is just relaxing. No grand visions or revelations. And I tell you, that is just fine. This massage left me unable to lift my head at the end because I was so calm. Rolling over to get off the table took up every ounce of willpower in me.

This massage was more of a purely physical experience, so I was more conscious of Kate’s ability to know when something hurts and naturally lighten up without exchanging any words or sounds. This is a unique talent that not many people have. In the warm silence that filled the room, I experienced hygge; I drifted in and out of deep relaxation…and maybe a little bit of sleep. 

I have decided to do an experiment with a client of mine. She is going to receive one massage on a monthly basis and write about her thoughts and emotions surrounding her experiences. My aim is to explore the mind-body connection and how massage impacts a person's overall well-being. This is not a scientific endeavor, but rather a journey that offers insight into how massage therapy can play an integral part in an individual's personal wellness program.

Client A writes about Session 3:

We are only three months into this experiment and I am already starting to notice the long-term health and ethereal benefits. These monthly massages have made me far more aware of my body. I had no idea, for example, that I am constantly clenching my gluteal muscles. The result? A big ‘ol pain in the butt. Literally. My gluteal muscles and the other muscles that have attachments at my hips have been wound up for years. The tightness and pain in these areas has prevented me from even attempting some of the stretches and yoga poses that are supposed to open them up.

After only two months of consistent massages, I notice many parts of my anatomy that have been a problem areas in the past are no longer as intense. Because of this, Kate was able to really concentrate on helping me let go of the chronic tension in my hips and glutes during this session. 

If you are interested in chakras like I am, the low back, hips, and gluteal regions are connected to the root and sacral chakra. The root chakra is associated with feelings of security, stability, fear/ trust, and safety. The sacral chakra is associated with relationships, intimacy, sexuality and sensuality. Whether you subscribe to the idea of chakras or not, it’s good to know that massage can be a deeply emotional thing. It loosens up areas that you have been holding tension in for a long time, because of something either physical or emotional. It only makes sense that letting go could be an emotional or spiritual experience as well.

I have decided to do an experiment with a client of mine. She is going to receive one massage on a monthly basis and write about her thoughts and emotions surrounding her experiences. My aim is to explore the mind-body connection and how massage impacts a person's overall well-being. This is not a scientific endeavor, but rather a journey that offers insight into how massage therapy can play an integral part in an individual's personal wellness program.


Client A writes about Session 2:

"One month might be too long between massages for me in the beginning of this experiment. My shoulders, neck, hips and lower back were pretty askew by today. I 
was not great about exercising or stretching between massages, which certainly did not make matters better. I came in a bit dehydrated and stressed from work. It took me about a half an hour to let the internal stress dissipate. I’m making up for the dehydration now. I am always amazed how drinking tons of water after a massage makes the results stick longer. 

Usually, I like to think of a massage like a painting: you work on all the different parts equally and before you know it, you have made an image that is balanced. However, it is incredibly powerful to have a concentrated massage on a problem area once in a while. I have held lots of tension in my neck since I was a kid, especially after I was the passenger in a fairly horrible car crash when I was just shy of 16 (if you’re wondering, no, I did not hop in a car on my 16th birthday to learn how to drive after that). Kate worked a lot on my neck and shoulders today. It seemed like 12 years of stress, injury and hunching over books and computers started to melt away. 

I noticed a tingling feeling many times during this massage, as if little pulses of painless electricity were emanating from certain points.* During one of these pulses, the image of a very warmly lit wooden house at dusk came into my mind. I watched a man and myself holding hands in the woods, looking at this very cozy scene. After that, my mind seemed to melt away with my body."

*Tula Note: Client A is describing the direct effects of Connective Tissue and Trigger Point Therapy.

I have decided to do an experiment with a client of mine. She is going to receive one massage on a monthly basis and write about her thoughts and emotions surrounding her experiences. My aim is to explore the mind-body connection and how massage impacts a person's overall well-being. This is not a scientific endeavor, but rather a journey that offers insight into how massage therapy can play an integral part in an individual's personal wellness program.
 
Client A writes a thoughtful entry the night before her first massage of the series:

"Last winter was rough. I distinctly remember a day in mid-January when my two 
best friends and I had a very serious conversation determining if we were all 
depressed because of the weather or if this was our permanent lot in life. I was 
lying on the floor in sweatpants, a giant sweater, booties, and a fur hat swaddled in 
a sub-zero sleeping bag. Around me were the remains of a dinner consisting of 
cookies, hot chocolate and a can of soup…literally…a can full of soup. I hadn’t moved 
most of the day. 

This past summer, no longer depressed and happily enjoying some time at the beach, I 
resolved that this winter will not (can not) get me down the way it has in the past. 
Every year, I am part of the masses who start working out around April, making lists 
of fun things to do all spring and summer, and savoring every waking hour from April 
until night creeps in earlier and earlier. 

To be perfectly dramatic, there is a direct correlation between the darkness of the 
days and the darkness of both my mind and my body. I can feel it coming on already. 
Tonight I almost started crying when I noticed it was getting dark at 6:30. I’ve pretty 
much stopped stretching. I haven’t consistently done cardio in an embarrassingly long 
due to injury, then complacency. 

I am sitting quietly with myself tonight to determine what my body and mind need 
this fall and winter to avoid six months of the blues. I am 28 years old, but my body 
feels like it might cease working any day. From head to toe, there are aches and 
pains that prevent me from enjoying the simplest things, like stretching in the 
mornings, walking on the crunching leaves, sitting in a movie theater. I have come to 
think that these pains are normal. They aren’t. 

My hamstrings, hips, right knee, bottom, lower back, shoulders, neck, and jaw all 
scream out in different levels of intensity. My lower back, hips, neck and jaw are 
particularly pesky. They have all hurt in some way for years now, and I can feel them 
getting worse. I have had massages in the past, but only when my body was 
aching badly. I realize that my body and my mind are all part of the same package. 
When one is off, the other follows. I have realized that the first step of maintaining 
balance this winter is to get my body out of crisis mode. Rather than responding to 
the pain that accumulates with a massage, I am going to use massage as a tool to 
keep my body out of crisis. Hopefully my mind will follow!"