I've always loved music and some of you may know that I really enjoy singing and have sung with many groups and choirs around Brighton over the years as well as writing my own songs. Sadly my guitar playing skills leave a lot to be desired (!) but I think one of the reasons why I enjoy doing massage so much (as well as relaxing people and helping to improve chronic pain conditions of course!) is because giving a massage is in some ways like playing an instrument.
There is a musicality to massage in that there are 7 basic massage techniques or strokes/moves which form the basis of all massage modalities. Within a massage treatment these strokes or moves are creatively put together (depending on the clients needs) in different ways, to create different rhythms, speed/tempos, attack (the amount of pressure applied to the body!) in the same way as notes are arranged in a piece of music.
Giving a massage is like dancing with your hands on someones body in that each technique flows rhythmically into the next. It's tuning in to the clients body and mind and knowing how much pressure to apply, how fast the pace should be and when to just pause and simply hold the body without seemingly doing any thing at all. The massage session hopefully should take you on a journey in which the rhythm and tempo of the strokes relaxes the body of muscular tension, calms the mind of stress and anxiety and sooths the soul.
To be in a groove means to be flowing with life, no resistance just content and happy with our situation, circumstance, or whatever we're doing in this present moment. Most of the time though in our daily lives we feel stress and a resistance to what is, which knocks us out of our groove. Feeling ill or in pain in our body also makes it harder for us to hit our stride so to speak. This is why massage is so powerful and transformative because it brings us into our bodies and allows us to escape the constant chatter of the mind; it relieves us of stress and aims to release us from muscular pain. A good massage helps us to loose ourselves in the present moment, it puts us back in our groove!
The actual music being played during the treatment can also help with letting go and relaxing into the the massage for both the client and the therapist which is why I'm always on a quest to source good music that is suitable for a massage session. Of course every ones taste is different and what helps us relax one session, we may not be in the mood for the next, so I'm slowly getting a good collection of sounds together.
This is not to say however that music has to be played in the background, far from it. In a world that is so noisy, it is incredible healing for us to spend time in silence and for the massage itself to help connect us to our own internal rhythm and groove.
Physiologically, our muscles are made up of fibres very much like the strings on a stringed instrument. For a muscle to function properly these fibres need to be aligned alongside one another. Over time or as a result of bad posture, emotional stress, injury or overuse, a local area of muscle fibres can mat together into a hard lump or 'knot'. These knots or adhesion's together with muscular tension affect the nerves governing vital organs and represent blockages in blood, lymph and energy flow. They prevent fresh oxygenated blood from reaching local muscle tissue, toxins build up and we begin to feel those troublesome aches and pains. A good therapeutic deep tissue massage realigns muscle fibres, breaks down knots, adhesions and trigger points and effectively puts the body back in tune!
Massage teaches us good body awareness thus helping to improve our everyday posture. Shoulders are realigned down away from the ears, the neck is lengthened and the chest opened. Space is created in the upper body and like a wind instrument that has been cleaned, breathing becomes easier and deeper thus nourishing and oxygennating the whole body. Massage helps us look after and care for our instrument!
I love giving (and recieving!) massage and have been practising and homing my massage/bodywork skills for 14 years. From working with the seven basic strokes/moves of giving a good massage, which I'll always return to because of their positive effects on body and mind; to refining my touch and learning to become more sensitive to the muscle tissue and to the grooves between the muscle fibres that lay beneath my fingers. In this way i'm able to achieve better results when working with chronic pain conditions as well as hopefully creating a deeper level of relaxation.
When we're in a groove we're in harmony and balance with ourselves and others. Massage puts us back in our groove by helping us to return to our centre, to the present moment, where mind, body and breath is connected and there is no resistense of any kind. We are given the opportunity to let go of stress and anxiey and over time chronic pain is relieved. We become 'in tune' with ourselves.
So get into that groove and book in for a massage soon!
Beth x
