If you have ever received a therapeutic massage, you already know the benefits of massage therapy for your body and for your mind. When most people come to me to receive a massage they mention wanting relaxation of tight, sore muscles. In addition, clients always mention wanting stress relief.
We massage therapists know that massaging away tightness and pain always helps with stress relief, because there is a link between pain relief and stress relief.
The most common 'tight muscle' request for massage in my massage practice is massage for back pain and massage for neck and shoulder pain. I get requests for other areas too. However neck, shoulder and back massage are my most common requests from clients. Massage therapists are skilled at helping muscles relax and release using many different types of massage therapy.
Yet what most people are not aware of is there is one huge muscle in the body that cannot be directly physically reached by a massage therapist. This muscle is profoundly affected (like other muscles) by stress, pain, repetitive use, emotional trauma.
This is the heart muscle. Say hi to your heart.
Your heart is a huge muscle in your body. It gets sore and tight too from being stressed out and always on the go. In fact the heart muscle is very much connected to the link between our mind and body. Just think about how your heart feels when you are stressed out. There can be a pinching feeling there, or a binding feeling, or a clenched feeling. When the heart muscle is tight it limits blood flow to the rest of body which can result in lower energy levels, fatigue, pain, and soreness.
Unlike other muscles in the body, the heart cannot be physical touched or massaged in the same way the shoulders muscle can. This is because the ribcage protects the heart and lungs. However the heart is deeply affected and benefits greatly from massage therapy, but on a more subtle level. The heart just like other muscles in our body relaxes in synergy with our other muscles as they relax too. The whole body/mind is connected in one fabric of awareness, so when we affect one area of the body we affect the rest of the body as well.
Yet sometimes the heart muscle is so bound up and tight from inner stress that no amount of 'outer' massage or deep tissue massage will help it relax. This is where self meditation, self breathing and mind/body awareness really come into play for everyone.
It is possible to see inside of yourself and feel into the tightness, pain in your heart. Once you are in that pain or tight area of your heart, the best way to give yourself an inner massage is to use your breath to massage yourself into relaxation. Your breathing and breath carries a conscious energy. This conscious energy can be directed to the heart muscle and that energy can be used to softly massage your heart into relaxation. The heart responds to the breath energy massaging it. All from the inside out. In fact many times as you us breath meditation to help the heart release and soften,the tight sore muscles of your back, neck and shoulders will release and soften as well. That's stress relief from the inside out. That is the total mind/body connection as well. As the heart is released and relaxed, blood flows more freely to rest of the body resulting in more energy, less pain, and the lovely feel good hormone flooding our body with bliss.
You know your heart is relaxed and releasing, when you can breath deeper, when your chest and heart area feels light and free. When you have that feeling of peace and serenity in the chest and heart space region.
Like I said as massage therapists, we can affect the hearts of our clients with our intention and presence for helping the whole body relax through our massage techniques. Yet the deepest massage comes from within. The deep tissue massage of the heart comes from our own internal relaxation to our own energy space of our own heart.
I am a yoga instructor and Massage Therapist in Redding, CA and I teach these self awareness and self meditation techniques to my clients all the time. In fact, this "Hearticle" is also a yoga for beginners article because the first step in learning beginning yoga is becoming deeply aware of your how your body is connected to your thoughts. This deeper synergistic link is what most people are searching for in wanting stress relief in yoga poses. So the first step in my massage practice is to give each client a mini yoga class on how to meditate into their heart. Can you meditate in yours and use your breath for the internal massage of your heart? I bet you can...
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