Explore, Discover Your Body, Your Health With Bodywork

My earliest child or better babyhood memory is about exploring my surroundings. There was a strong urge to crawl forward (I couldn't walk yet) towards a plant at home. The urge was just about seeing something new and unseen and getting a taste of it and what it is. The motivation and curiosity that lures us to move out is very primal. At least in my life, supposedly there are people, who never ventured further then an hour away from their birthplace.

Massage and bodywork gives us a whole new territory to explore. Just like we as a civilization explore deep into outer space, we haven't really looked at our oceans at home. Before my life with yoga and massage, the back was just something behind me and out of site. After a few yoga sessions, I was so amazed to actually feel and become aware of my spinal column. I never thought it possible to actually feel it. A few deep tissue sessions, made me feel muscles that I never knew existed. The experience of my body and life has been greatly altered by gaining this body awareness.

In this short essay, I'd like to sketch a rough map to show you, what there is to explore and find. Just like in the old days, when the stories of home coming sailors would inspire the next generation to sign up for the next journey across the ocean. This is based on my experience. Your experience will doubtlessly be different. Just, like the homecoming sailor from the Caribbean had a different story to tell, then the one going to Japan.

The Beginning

If you never had a professional bodywork session, it all starts out being new. You'll have to schedule an appointment, someone will be asking you about your health history. Maybe, this part is still familiar to other medical visits, just like leaving the familiar homeport. Then there are new things, like lying on a massage table. There will probably be a nice atmosphere with mellow music, dimmed lights, maybe candles. Just laying disrobed under sheets is a new experience.

When I had my first professional bodywork session, I didn't really know the drill with disrobing, and nobody really bothered to tell me. So, freshly arriving from Europe and being raised in a nudist family, I just lay naked on top of the sheets. Why bother getting under the sheets? I wasn't cold. The therapist came and politely moved the sheets over me. My girlfriend later educated me :-).

My next massage session was a few years later, and I had thoroughly absorbed the 'American prudery'. So, when the massage therapist offered that I could keep my underwear or take it off, I thought, she implied being uncomfortable, if I wouldn't keep my underwear on. Well, far off again. In order to do good work, the therapist needs access to your body. The hips have a lot of muscles, which affect the thighs and the back.

I'm sharing this with you, because in the beginning, it is just something new and to get comfortable with. Too many people don't talk about it, which makes it hidden and secretive, which doesn't help.

The next overwhelming part is that the body falls into a slumber state. It kind of feels, like you are still somewhat awake, and you might walk out of your session, thinking that you didn't fall asleep, while you just missed to realize those mini naps that happened. It's a nice mellow kind of place to go to. For me, it lasted a day or two.

Personally, it starts with feeling the hands of the therapist going over my body. The muscles send a nice mushy, happy vibe to me. Then, I start to see colors, like in a dream state. The colors sometimes become shapes. The shapes sometimes move and it's a semi-dream. Then my mind releases subconscious thoughts, ideas and memories. I forget about getting a massage. The mushy, happy feeling, colors and thoughts just blend together. One day, I was getting so absorbed that I was dreaming about lifting cars around in a parking lot, when suddenly the therapist asked me something. It was quite a shift to put down the car, and figure out, where I actually was.

Past the Pink Elephant Stage

This stage is kind of like a soldier going to battle. The first time, everything is overwhelming. During the civil war a lot of 'first timers' reported seeing pink elephants. There senses were just so overwhelmed. After a few sessions, one usually knows the general flow, sequence and experience to expect. And, one starts to pay attention to what actually happens. There is a huge field of touch, techniques and emotions to be explored.

For example, a massage on an emotional day has a totally different impact, then one on sore day after a big hike. How does it feel to get some loving touch, when the times are needy? How does it feel to get lactic acid moved out of sore legs and buttocks?

There is an exploration in the body to really get to know your physical side. It took me a long time to realize that I put all of my stress into my hamstrings. They just go tied, when I get stressed. I find that so interesting to figure out. Where does your stress go?

Or, I found this small band on my quadratus lombarum (lower back muscle), which is very sensitive. It's easy to miss. Where are your spots? As you get to learn your body better, you can direct the massage therapist to those points. The result are really tremendous massage experiences. For example, when someone firmly presses my Gallbladder 21 (acupuncture point), it feels so releasing, and like I am leaving my body. Another example is my massage therapist, which has a very favorite technique to work around her spine (on erector spinae). She just gets a whole session just doing that.

At this point of receiving bodywork, there is a lot of exploration, and after a while you'll learn, what makes your body tick and can direct your session to go into that direction.

Another part of massage is to learn to relax. Did someone ever tell you 'relax'? It's not very useful, when a lion is chasing you, because you don't know how. We are typically raised and don't know, how to relax our muscles. Massage and bodywork helps us to feel, what a relaxed muscle feels like, so that we can do it on our own, and are not reliant on a massage anymore to feel relaxed. Also, massages go quickly deeper, because during the session, the muscle has to be merely touched, and you can relax it consciously.

Destinations

Another stage to explore is to set a certain goal for the massage. For example, say you have a neck problem from a car accident, whiplash. Providing that the chiropractor took care of injuries that need his/her attention, massage can go a long way in rehabilitating. There is an exploration in the range of motion. There are a lot of times twitches in the movement at certain places. It's an exploration to find those places. Then slowly go through those movements and discover, what the body feels like and how the impulses come up. And, the nervous system can learn to give up those no longer needed protective measures. Maybe, when the head gets moved into the position of the impact, certain muscles tense up. Feel, which once they are and learn to relax them, guided by the pleasurable and supportive palpation of your massage therapist.

I had once a series of deep tissue sessions to help loosen up my neck. We spent 1 ½ hour just on the neck. Boy, can I tell you, how much aware I have become of all of the things going on in my neck. How many muscles I discovered during those session!