Massage for Mental Clarity

When we think about massage, the first association we make is in the ways massage can help with physical pain, but have we ever really checked in with how much impact a massage can have on our mental health?

Think about how you felt the last time you got a massage, you probably had the feeling that life had slowed down a bit, you may have felt like there was an extra second or two to process before reacting, maybe you had a little extra patience for the things that you typically find to be annoying. Even during the non-stressful times, you may have felt just a deeper, more grounded sense of calm.

These are all concepts that overlap with my meditation classes, and in Buddhism are called mental Clarity, Equanimity, and Resilience - are qualities that can feel like superpowers in our high stress world.

The American “Sigma Grind” mindset can often put us into a mental space where we feel like we need to fight against our stress and mental states in order to be a successful contributing member of society. We talk about the value of “taking a mental health day”, but subconsciously believe that we haven’t done enough to earn that luxury.

This is compounded by the fact that once we have pushed ourselves hard enough to feel this stress, we can find it even harder to justify taking time for ourselves. In those times, reaching out for support can get warped into an admission of defeat. How could taking time away from what “needs to get done’ be something that will actually help it all get taken care of?

Proper self care isn’t just eating chocolate and having a bubble bath, it’s giving yourself proper support in the same way that a good night's sleep, a ‘balanced breakfast’ or a trip to the gym does. We are preparing the ground for us to be able to act out of the wisest, more expansive version of ourselves.

So consider those acts of self care to be seen as time well spent, and consider the ways where by giving yourself that extra boost, you could make everyday just that much easier to tackle.