Ode to Massage Therapy
So, today I’d like to relate my personal experience with massage therapy. And for those of you who are immature (Rob), I’m talking about the NON-Asian massage parlor type massages - i.e. swedish, therapeutic massage.
I always thought massage was weird. I had no intention of ever letting anyone smear me with oil.
However, as you who’ve read here for awhile know, I got pretty sick a couple years ago - and as luck would have it, my sicknesses were all being induced by stress and anxiety, and being aggravated by my crappy diet.
At my doctor’s begging, I changed my crappy diet. At first, I was on a strict diet that was just chicken and rice. That was all I could handle for several months. After that, I started adding things back in, but I gave up fast food, fried food, almost all forms of sugar including soda, and *sigh* most of my salt intake. I added some (by which I mean.. a VERY few) fruits and veggies, and I at least managed to get my symptoms under control.
However, I had not fixed the underlying problem of anxiety and I wasn’t really even sure if it was possible to reduce the stress-causing things in my life. Life is just stressful. I had been on an SSRI a few years back, and frankly I couldn’t tolerate the side effects, which were horrible. I wanted to control it in a more natural way.
The lovely Jenna worked with a gal who was in massage therapy school, and Jenna insisted I go get a massage. The poor girl about broke her fingers on my back… it sounded like I was making microwave popcorn as her hands skipped from knot to knot. After the first massage, I felt like… for lack of a better term… like ass. I was sore, nauseated, and sleepy.
But I listened to what the therapist had to say, and decided to give it a real shot before I chalked it up to urban legend.
After 6 or 8 times (once a week), the knots were almost gone, and after 6 months, my anxiety had vanished as well. If I go for more than a couple of weeks without a massage, I can feel myself tensing up again.
Obviously, the major downside to massage therapy is the cost, but frankly, I’d eat ramen noodles if I had to in order to afford massages.
After 18 months of going, I’m now on a regular routine, I basically don’t have any knots, I have NONE of the symptoms of stress that I had before, which included everything from high blood pressure to digestive problems.
If you’ve never had a massage, I would encourage you to give it a try. The hardest part, I’m sure, is finding someone you feel comfortable with, but once you do, say goodbye to your stress.
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
