Who doesn’t enjoy a relaxing and therapeutic massage? If you have an injury or condition that impacts your physical wellbeing, you may consider pursuing massage therapy to promote healing. Few people realize that massage therapy provides so many benefits for the body, mind and soul.
Heal Your Body
Traditionally, people seek massage therapy when they have an injury or an illness to treat. There are a wide array of targeted massage therapy techniques available and depending on the method you choose, massage therapy can help you recover from a variety of diverse health conditions and injuries. For example, sports massage can help restore your range of motion, strengthen weakened muscles, extend and relax tendons and much more.
Another popular kind of massage therapy is trigger point massage. It helps with conditions that involve nerve pain, including:
- Fibromyalgia
- Diabetes
- Repetitive movement injuries
- Pain from poor posture
- Nerve compression causing back and leg pain.
Other forms of massage therapy can also treat:
- Digestive disorders
- Headaches and migraines
- Myofascial pain syndrome
- Post operative pain
- Osteoarthritis
- Problems from sitting at your desk.
Massage therapy can increase your circulation, which boosts your cardiovascular health and supports you as you seek to improve your health or performance.
Support Your Mind
Massage therapy isn’t just a physical treatment, there are powerful mental and emotional benefits as well. According to the Registered Massage Therapists’ Association of Ontario, massage therapy reduces:
- Stress and stress related conditions
- Symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Headaches
- Chronic fatigue syndrome.
Massage therapy has such a positive impact on your mental well-being that cancer patients are using it to support them through chemotherapy and other difficult treatments. Massage therapy can reduce their nausea, fatigue, and depression. Those with other serious conditions, like Parkinson’s disease, HIV/AIDS, or those receiving hospice care also use massage therapy to increase their quality of life.
Those who are not suffering from a serious condition or a mental health disorder will still enjoy the effects massage therapy has on their mind. It helps you to sleep better, relax and can make your more productive in other areas of your life.
Express Your Soul
Massage therapy hasn’t traditionally been an aspect of many Western religious or spiritual practices, so few have considered incorporating it into their spiritual life. But elsewhere in the world, the spiritual potential of massage therapy has been noticed and praised. Ancient Chinese and Indonesian massage therapy practices closely intertwine spirituality with physical touch. In Hawaii, a spiritual practice of giving and receiving massage, called Lomilomi massage, is used as an effective treatment to heal the mind and body.
Perhaps it’s this knowledge of the long tradition of religious massage therapy in the East that has inspired Westerners to try incorporating massage into their own practice. Many spiritual communities now offer or encourage massage therapy as a way to connect with one’s soul or strengthen one’s beliefs. There is even a Christian Massage Network that offers massage as “a union of physical and spiritual healing for the mind, body, and soul.” If you’re a spiritual or religious person, you may find nourishment for your soul on the massage table.
Contact us at Absolute Pilates and schedule a massage to see what physical, mental, or spiritual benefits message therapy can offer you.
