Issues Are In Your Tissues
Stress is a common topic when discussing massage. It’s no secret that massage can do wonders to relieve stress. Massage can help to relieve some kinds of deep-seated stress, including PTSD, which is much less obvious on the surface. These are different stressors than daily events like sitting in traffic, meeting a deadline, or getting into an argument with a loved one.
Much research has been done in recent years on the issue of cellular memory. Researchers have concluded that all of our experiences and memories—pleasant and not so pleasant (such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD)—are physically stored within various cells in our body. This is not to be confused with simply recalling a memory from a storage area in your brain. It is more like memory residue that hides inside your body.
When it is a negative or painful memory, or something that has been a cause for stress over a long period of time, this kind of residue can remain stuck inside, quietly festering, and can eventually manifest in disease. It could be a painful memory involving the loss of a loved one, an erroneous sense of obligation or responsibility, physical or emotional abuse, betrayal, past family conflicts, sexual identification, or any number of things that could cause a person to build up a stubborn, unhealthy dose of stress in their body.
With massage and the profound state of relaxation that can be reached, we can enter a unique nonjudgmental “healing space” where these memories are free to surface, and clients can choose to let them go. Sometimes a client will feel the experience of letting something go, without being certain of what it specifically was or where it came from.
Other times clients will experience a flood of memories, which may or may not be directly related to the cause of the stress being released. In either case, whether it was intended or not, it is not at all uncommon for clients to shed tears and weep as they finally let go of the heavy load of stress they have been carrying on their shoulders.
Sometimes in these cases we find what we call trigger points, which are tight or sore spots that radiate pain to other areas of the body. Many times people aren’t even aware that they have a trigger point until a therapist uncover it. Usually these spots are a physical manifestation of some form of stress, whether it is something formed over many years, or something stressful that is more recent but constantly weighing on the mind.
Other times the stress will release more gradually over the course of a session (or several sessions), as a person relaxes, lets down his or her defenses, and allows him/herself to release those things that no longer serve a purpose in their life. One time during my introductory massage training, an instructor treated a woman, “Leah”, to help her let go of pain associated with a stubborn hip problem (which Leah later admitted was probably rooted in past relationship issues).
When Leah got up from the table, walked around a bit, and noticed the problem had vanished completely she exclaimed, “Wow – I feel like I’m missing something!” While Leah didn’t realize it when she said it, this was a very telling statement! Leah was unconsciously holding on to the pain so stubbornly, that when it was gone she actually felt a sense of loss, and literally “missed” it. When the instructor pointed out how telling her own words were, Leah could not hold back her tears, feeling both a sense of loss, while at the same time incredible joy because of that loss.
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