Massage Therapy Benefits

I recently decided to take myself off to investigate massage therapy benefits because of a story told by a client about how massage and bodywork had helped her overcome the problems she had with her bad body image.

My intention with these pages is to share with you my innermost thoughts relative to my body as I experienced each massage therapy modality in the hope that it might help you take yourself off to experience the benefits of massage.

Having a negative body image can change so many aspects of our lives. Not just how we feel about buying clothes, doctors appointments and going out, but an area that is often under-explored is our worry about being touched.

Our skin is the largest organ in our bodies. To give you an idea, skin the size of an average size watch face has more than 3 million cells, up to 340 sweat glands, 50 nerve endings and 3 feet of blood vessels. So the massage therapy benefits of all those body parts is enormous.

One of the massage therapy benefits when skin is touched is that it reverberates through our bodies. Touch is a form of communication that brings about changes in our neural, glandular, muscular and mental systems. Touch also reassures, comforts and helps develop self-esteem. It's also pivotal in developing the ability to trust and understand the needs of others.

People need touch to thrive

Research done in both the 19th and 20th centuries shows that when babies aren't touched they literally waste away and have problems with the development of their bones. Nowadays massage therapy benefits for even babies are being talked about.

Research done with adults shows that regular touch lengthens our lives and cuts down on doctors visits. It releases seratonin and oxytocins and reduces cortisone - touch is a great stress reducer. This is one of the many fabulous massage therapy benefits.

Animal studies show us something interesting: Newborn rats, who were held for 15 minutes each day for the the first three weeks of their lives, had vastly slower brain cell deterioration and memory loss as they grew old, compared with rats who hadn't been held.

And rabbits that were fed a high-cholestrol diets and petted regularly had 60% less blockages in their arteries that rabbits on the same diet without the petting.

We need to be touched just as we need food, water and air. We've all experienced that sense of bonding through hugs or being touched on a shoulder. Touching is a way of communicating love, reassurance and support without words that people who feel uncomfortable in their bodies.

How we feel about touch

How we feel about touch depends largely on which culture we're born into. In the 1960's couples in coffee shops in various parts of the globe were observed relative to the number of touches they exchanged. In Puerto Rico couples touched approximately 3 times a minute, in France 1.8 times, in America 0.03 times and in London... they didn't touch.

It's also interesting that America and Britain have high rates of obesity.

Sometimes though we've got the message that touching can be shameful, sinful and dangerous and something to be avoided because of what it could lead to. We may not even realize we have these subconscious beliefs that make us feel inhibited about natural physical contact with others.

And certainly that would be a reason why many overweight people go without touch as well as massage therapy benefits. They're ashamed of being touched.

It's also why massage devices like the Reflex-o-Board and also the aquamassager have become so popular.

I hated being touched

But how we feel in our bodies also affects how we feel about being hugged, caressed and making love. I know that when my negative body image was enormous (ironically mostly when I had a gorgeous body) I was quite sure that all my husband was thinking about was how much he hated touching my fat and revolting body but felt he should put on a good show out of duty.

I was wrong, he merely hated how much I hated being touched, and how I would squirm away, or get changed with the lights off or pretend to go to bed early and be asleep to avoid love-making.

Even an affection hug was something to have body worry about: would he feel that roll bulging over my jeans or around my bra strap? As for love-making... well I wasn't really present because I was so busy in my mind worrying about all the body parts that I was quite sure he was thinking negatively about. Talk about projecting my thoughts onto him -- poor guy!

One of the things that I think has been healing from a 'being touched and body image point of view' is going for massages and enjoying the many massage therapy benefits. Not just different kinds of massages to find out which I like best, but also going to different massage therapists to see if I felt any different about my body from one therapist to another.

Do you go for massages? What are the massage therapy benefits you think you receive from them and most importantly do you think they have any impact about how you feel in, or about, your body?

These are what some of the online members said when I asked them about body massages:

"I have never had any negative feelings about showing my body to a therapist, because I feel that they've seen in atll and look on my body as an instrument to work on and heal, not to deride in any way."

"Well, I never had the opportunity to have a full body massage, but I am dreaming of it! I think that one of the reasons why I never had one before is that it feel "wrong" to spend so much time and money on my body! Although I think that I am a bit scared of what the therapist might think of my body too. So I am always have this idea that I will go to a place where they will never see me again. Sort of in cognito."

There's no doubt that having our body touched is something that changes when we aren't feeling comfortable in our bodies.

Watsu:
a Water Massage

Click here to read about my investigation into the most amazing water massage.

Aquamassage:
a Water Massage without touch

Click here to read about my investigation into a water massage where no human touch is involved.

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