Lindsey MacNeil, RMT
Registered Massage Therapy is not only for the physical body but can also be beneficial for your mental and emotional wellness. We sometimes try to separate the mind from the body but it is important to recognize that one inevitably affects the other, even when we aren’t completely aware of the connection. As a Registered Massage Therapist, I frequently witness the impact of these connections with my clients.
Have you ever felt anxious? Have you recognized the physical symptoms associated with your anxiety? Have you felt the muscles in your neck and upper back tense up? Did you feel pressure in your chest or through your back? Did you feel tired or even suffer from headaches? Have you ever felt so sad that you can feel the sadness in your body? Your body may have had a heaviness to it and you may have felt a lack of energy.
Just as our mental and emotional state affects our bodies, our physical state affects our mental and emotional. Take for instance if you are someone who has suffered with chronic pain. Did the pain ever lead to feelings of frustration, upset, anger, anxiety, depression or even just a sense of not quite feeling yourself?
These are simple examples of how you can’t disconnect the mind from the body and vice versa. One always affects the other, sometimes in helpful, positive ways and sometimes in disruptive ways.
I whole-heartedly believe that we need to calm our minds in order to allow our bodies to achieve a higher level of relaxation and overall wellness. Massage therapy is not only a tool to balance the muscular tone of the body and address imbalance, but also a tool to aid in emotional healing and mental wellness. When we are able to soothe our racing thoughts, ease some worry and lessen our heartache, we will then see that our muscles respond accordingly and can more easily melt into a relaxed state.
Our bodies can become symptomatic from our emotional state. When we have big emotions stored within us they need to come out somewhere and sometimes that appears as: tension, pain, low energy and even a weakened immune response. It is important to understand why your body feels the way it does so that you can gain the most out of your massage therapy session. The mind-body connection is just as important as the physical symptoms you feel – let’s start making more connections so your wellness journey can THRIVE.
For years, as an RMT, I would target only the physical system of my clients without regarding their energy or emotions. Once I made the connection to target the whole person instead of just a piece of them, I found people left their treatment feeling an increased level of calm, stillness and openness within themselves. I now consistently take time to make the connections of why my clients feel the physical symptoms inside of their bodies. I take the physical, emotional and energetic person into account. Should someone have pain residing in their physical body due to an emotional hold, I use mindset, breath work and fascial release to unwind the mind and massage techniques to relax the nervous system. I believe when we can allow the mind to rest the body will follow.
Book with Lindsey MacNeil, RMT at thrivemassagewellness.com
Reach out at lindseym@thrivemassagewellness.com