Do you know all the emotional benefits of massage? Well-being, letting go, better sleep, serenity or reconnection with your body. We tell you everything...
Massage is often viewed as a luxury, a pampering or self-indulgent extravagance. Research shows that while massage is definitely a “feel good” experience, it has numerous mental and emotional benefits linked to neurotransmitters and hormones released through therapeutic touch. Yes, we all know massage can increase muscle flexibility, blood circulation and our joints’ range of motion. But massage can do more than that. Massage can reduce stress, elevate our mood, help with depression and anxiety, improve our sleep and increase our sociability.
The 5 Great Emotional Benefits of Massage
Do you know the many emotional benefits of a massage?
#1 - A Feeling Of Wellbeing
Let's start with a bit of biology: it is hormones (chemicals secreted by the body) that regulate emotions in our body. They respond to a mental stimulus and do not try to counterbalance the problems: if you are under stress, the stress hormone will be produced in large quantities, while the production of a calming hormone would be a much better choice... Fortunately, there are massages to rebalance all this!
When a masseuse, who knows their work well, puts their hands on you, this is what happens in your body:
levels of adrenaline (anxiety hormone), cortisol (stress hormone) and vasopressin (aggressive hormone) decrease significantly
the production of dopamine (happiness hormone), serotonin (wellness hormone) and oxytocin (tenderness hormone) is boosted and invades your body
#2 - A Reset For Your Body And Mind
The session starts, and it only takes a few minutes for you to disconnect from everything. This is called letting go. In a calm, warm environment, with soft music, a sifted light, the smell of incense and the scent of massage oil, just close your eyelids to make the void in your mind. Massage is one of the techniques of mindfulness, that helps individuals think of absolutely nothing at all. To achieve this state of semi-consciousness, do not fight against your body telling you to close your eyes when lying down!
That's why, when we get up from the massage table after 1 hour of palpations, one feels that someone reactivates us after a period of sleep and that we slowly regain our footing with reality.
#3 - The Body Finally Has The Freedom To Express Itself
All of our so-called negative emotions affect our body. Stress, anxiety, nervousness or anger, cause muscle tightness, intestinal pain, heart palpitations, headaches and so on. If you are confronted with these emotions chronically you must absolutely talk to your therapist before the massage because it will allow them to adapt their technique to your conditions. By insisting on certain areas of the neuralgic system, they will be able to undo the knots of your body, thus promoting relaxation.
That's why it's not surprising to cry, tremble or jump during a massage session, on the contrary, it proves that your masseuse is an ace and that they understood your problems.
#4 - Achieving Serenity And Being Present
By the regular practice of massages, you will eventually reach quite quickly a state of intense serenity. You will make peace with yourself and refocus on the main: you. Achieving this state of serenity during a massage is not easy, as it is not always easy to relax with a snap of your fingers.
You have to gain some experience of knowing your body to be able to tell your masseuse the points on which to insist. This will take you instantly to nirvana... or a deep mindfulness state. When this deep state of well-being is reached, you can resume your daily life, but you will soon realize that you are apprehensive in a different way, that you have facilities to prioritize, that you are more easily able to concentrate and that you are less emotionally fragile.
#5 - You Feel Good About Yourself
Massage also helps to boost the elimination of dead cells, to wake up a slightly bumpy transitand to activate the blood circulation. Moreover, the masseuse will advise you after your session to drink a lot of water to remove all toxins and other impurities that have been removed from the walls of your organs thanks to palpation and that just need to be evacuated.
So, after two visits to the toilet, you feel clean from the inside, which brings a real sense of self-confidence, you feel good about yourself and, of course, it shows.
The emotional well-made massage is part of the logic of a good lifestyle. If you need to relax, but you drink 5 litres of coffee a day, it's going to be very complicated for your masseur to get to something, even if you've booked it for 2 hours. To be totally effective, you need to combine these sessions with regular breathing exercises, periods of relaxation in sauna for example, or why not, yoga sessions.
Here at Namtip we have very skilled masseuses that can help you with your body relaxation and pain relieve needs. Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any doubts about our massage therapies, and we will gladly advise you on which services are best for your situation.
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