I believe that massage offers far more than just an easing of tight muscles and tension in the body. I believe that the human connection experienced is far more valuable than people even realise.
In my massage business, I am regularly thanked for the “double therapy” session. By this, the client means massage therapy of course, but they are also referring to the conversation and sharing of our stories. This does not necessarily mean that the client has shared deep dark secrets, it more often means just the sharing of chit chat, everyday conversations, family experiences, past adventures and even recipes!
In the busyness of day-to-day life, we very rarely get the chance to just chat, even with our family and friends! So having a whole hour to share a conversation with another person can be really therapeutic.
Meaningful connections with other humans have been a proven anti-dote to depression. Too much of our time is spent moving through this world disconnected. And this has been proven to be a real problem. The feelings that you are disconnected from meaningful work, other people, values, and respect are just some of the causes of depression.
“What if depression is, in fact, a form of grief – for our own lives not being as they should? What if it is a form of grief for the connections we have lost, yet still need?” Johann Hari, Lost Connections.
While I don’t pretend for a moment that a one-hour massage will fulfil all that is missing from people’s lives and it is definitely not a replacement for professional mental health therapy (something I wholeheartedly believe in) I’m really proud of the small difference I bring to people and their lives with my work. My regular clients become more like friends that I look forward to hearing updates about their lives. My clients make my life full, just like I hope I contribute to the richness of their lives.
Do you have 10 minutes?
For those super time poor people, see the summary at the end of the article.
I see people EVERYDAY who are in pain, have limited mobility, have athletic goals that they keep falling short on, and are frustrated at how their life is impacted by all of these things. I ask all of them if they spend time stretching and a minimum of 80% of people answer, with a laugh, “no, I never stretch.”
Even though they will all agree that stretching is valuable, and it will make a difference they still will not commit to spending 10 minutes per day helping themselves?? I do not understand it.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every day.
You don’t have to do it all today. Just lay a brick.
James Clear
People will happily start a strength program with the understanding that you do not start strong, you become strong with progressive loading over time to build strength. Flexibility is the same thing, consistently spending time stretching will result in an increase in flexibility, which in turn equals better mobility, less pain, and even more strength due to being able to get into better and more mechanically sound positions to lift heavy things.
Want to know more?
It will only take 10 minutes of your day. Of course you can spend more time, but I guarantee that if you do even this tiny amount it will still make a big difference.
Not only will it minimise your pain, but it will INCREASE YOUR PERFORMANCE. Whether you are an elite athlete or someone who just wants to move a little faster, lift a little heavier or jump a little higher, stretching will help.
You know the next day feeling after a great massage. You feel energised and unrestricted. The reason for this is because you have released all the tension that you were previously holding in your muscles. Tight muscles make moving the joints much more difficult, this results in a reduced range of motion. A reduced range of motion means you are not moving well, this means you then place more stress on other parts of the body that are now forced to “take up the slack” for the restricted areas. This chain reaction means you now start to feel pain and restriction in areas you previously had no problem with.
Spending a few minutes stretching will also improve your posture. Do you want to instantly look younger and more vibrant? Stand up straight and pull your shoulders back. Nothing ages a person more than a hunched over hobbling gait. Stretching will keep your muscles flexible, strong, and healthy which will enable you to walk proud and straight with your head held high.
By reducing the tension held in your body you are also reducing the stress and tension in your mind. Stretching releases endorphins. These neurotransmitters help improve your mental state and help you feel less anxious.
But what to stretch and how to do it?
Stretching should be a natural reflex to pain and discomfort in the body. Stop and think for a second, you are curled up on the couch watching Netflix. Suddenly you realise you are not comfortable in that position anymore. What do you do? You stretch out and change your position! You do this without even thinking about it. Did you do a course on how to get more comfortable, did your research safe positions for watching movies at home? No! it’s just a natural and instinctive reaction.
What I am trying to say is that stretching is natural. Basically, if it feels good, you are doing it right.
However, as this is a blog specifically about stretching, I will describe my most favourite and most basic stretches, how to do them and how long to hold them for. I deliberately chose my husband to model these photos to prove that not only can men stretch, but muscular men can be flexible too! (Men are notoriously bad at stretching!)
For neck and shoulder pain –
Sit tall facing straight ahead. Slowly take your left ear towards your left shoulder. Once you feel the stretch, stop. Hold the stretch there and once it eases off try tilting your chin slowly towards the ceiling and then slowly towards your chest. Repeat to the other side. Take 30 seconds per side.
Doing this stretch will help a lot of your shoulder pain also as the main muscle culprit is the trapezius muscle. This muscle has a kite shape stretching across your shoulders, up into your head and between your shoulder blades to your mid back.
For chest and mid back pain –
Clasp your hands behind your back and pull your shoulders back. This will stretch out your chest. Then do the opposite by clasping your hands in front at chest height. Round your shoulders as much as possible. This will stretch between your shoulder blades and through your mid spine.
If you do not have the flexibility to do this, find a door frame, hold the frame, and walk through while holding on until you stretch your chest. Turn your hands over the other way and pull backwards to stretch your back. Hold each stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds.
For low back pain* –
Touch your toes. Before bending forward, make sure you are standing straight and bend from your hips. Keep your legs straight with no bend at all in your knees. Stay here for a minimum of 30 seconds. Every time you feel the stretch ease off relax deeper into it. If you can not reach your toes just go as deep as you can. If your fingers are at your knee level or shin level, that’s ok. Just keep practising and stretching, you will improve – I promise.
You can also do this stretch on the floor. Sit with your legs straight out in front of you, sit tall and bend from your hips reaching towards your toes.
*this alleviates low back pain by stretching your hamstrings, the group of muscles that form the back of your upper leg. These tighten and shorten when we sit for extended periods of time, then then cause our pelvis to rotate putting stress on the muscles of the lower back resulting in pain.
These very basic stretches will make a profound difference to your body, and your ability to move through life more easily and with less pain – I promise!
In summary.
Stretching for 10 minutes per day will –
Keep muscles flexible, strong, and healthy.
Maintain range of motion in joints.
Decrease the risk of injury.
Improve posture.
Manage stress by reducing tension held in the body and releasing endorphins.
Increase mechanical efficiency and improve performance.
Improve circulation.
Decrease body pain.
If you would like to know more or have questions regarding specific stretches please reach out or make an appointment. I’d love to help.
- You’re already perfectly happy with your athletic performance
Regular massage not only keeps your soft tissue pliable and flexible it also minimises the risk of injury and can help identify areas of weakness that may be impeding your athletic gains.
If getting strong is your thing then keeping your muscles stretched and flexible not only allows the muscle to work at maximum capacity by being able to work through the entire range of motion, thereby ensuring the attachments points of the muscle also get stronger, you will be able to get into better more functional body positions which translate into more strength. Think deeper squats and better overhead holds.
If speed is more your bag, just think how many seconds you might shave off your P.B. when your legs are ready to spring into action rather than the tight and restrictive hamstrings and calves that many people try to race with.
Seeing a professional remedial therapist regularly will ensure that they get to know your body and how it feels. Your therapist may be the first person to identify an area that doesn’t feel “normal” which may prevent an issue or injury that will prevent you from reaching your sporting goals.
- You feel that dealing with elevated levels of stress gives you “an edge” at work.
While some stress is beneficial and can help us keep focussed and motivated, too much will have the opposite effect. Being over stressed contributes to a whole host of health problems such as heart conditions, elevated blood pressure, elevated cortisol levels, anxiety and depression.
Having a regular massage booked as part of your stress management plan is one of the best things you can do to enhance your work performance. The long slow strokes of a remedial massage not only lengthens the muscles being worked on, but they also help release the neurotransmitters of serotonin and dopamine. These endorphins are the positive hormones that circulate through our body that reduce anxiety, increase happiness, and generally make us a nicer, more productive, person to be around.
- You believe that managing your health is tomorrow problem.
You lead a busy life, and you feel like you are in fairly good shape so why would you bother finding the time for something like a massage? You will worry about that if and when you have to.
That is one way to manage your health. The other way is to start maintaining your current good health. By putting measures in place now, with regular exercise, eating well, stretching, and investing in one hour per month of remedial massage, you can feel reasonably assured that you can continue to enjoy your good health. AND, if a health crisis does occur already having your health regime in place will give you a head start on successfully working through it.
- It’s normal to have reduced range of motion when you get older…. right?
If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone use the excuse of “well I’m getting old so that’s to be expected” for things like poor health, weakness and frailty I wouldn’t be here writing this blog! I would be on my own private island swimming in turquoise waters right now!
There is no reason we cannot all, regardless of our age, be healthy, fit, and agile. Of course there are exceptions such as medical diagnoses to be taken into account, but using age as a reason to not be able to move as well as you can, eat as healthy as you can and be as strong as you can is just not acceptable.
In my massage clinic I am constantly inspired by my older clients who care about their health and well-being. They see me regularly; they lead active and healthy lives and are keen to do so for as long as they possible can.
- You’ve got more important things to spend your money on.
A good one hour massage, to some people, may seem like a waste of money. They would rather use it for almost anything else. This is because they haven’t personally felt the benefits of all of the points discussed above! If you can find a better thing to spend your money on than your health I’d like to hear the justification for it. We all know that without our health we have nothing. A monthly massage will set you back about $3 per day but its benefits might just be priceless.
Make sure you have your next appointment booked by clicking here and if there is someone you feel that needs to experience a great massage, remember, gift vouchers are always available.
What if I told you there is literally a recipe for happiness? What’s more, if you take this recipe and enjoy it on a sunny day after an enjoyable hike to somewhere that makes you feel alive it creates the perfect situation that increases your serotonin levels. What does that mean and why is that the important outcome of the happiness picnic?
There is a neurotransmitter known as serotonin. A lot of us have heard it called the happy drug. Officially it’s a mood stabiliser and helps reduce depression and regulate anxiety. We can increase the levels in our system simply by ensuring we have adequate levels of certain substances in the body.
And here come your picnic ingredients…
Turkey, nuts and seeds, and bananas – these foods are rich in tryptophan. This is an amino acid needed to produce serotonin.
Coldwater oily fish like salmon and sardines, walnuts, chia seeds, and grass-fed beef. These contain omega 3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which improve the sensitivity of serotonin receptors.
Butter and egg yolks are great sources of Vitamin D. This vitamin helps convert vitamin D to tryptophan. We also get our vitamin D from sunlight. All you need is 10 minutes a day on an A4 size piece of skin.
For these ingredients to work we need a healthy gut microbiome. And this is where probiotics come in. A delicious food source is found in products like kimchi, sauerkraut, and yogurt.
There are a few other vital nutrients needed and these are zinc (also found in nuts, seeds, dairy, and eggs), magnesium (spinach, tuna, brown rice, dark chocolate, and avocado), B6 (ricotta cheese, tuna, and beef), B9 (salmon, leafy greens and eggs) and methionine (turkey, beef and dairy).
Practising gratitude, exercise and massage have all been found to boost serotonin levels.
So, there you have it, pack a picnic filled with foods from all of those listed above, enjoy it in the sunshine after you have taken a heart pumping walk to somewhere beautiful. When you get there make sure you appreciate the beauty and feel the gratitude that you have the ability to even plan a happiness picnic.
At the end of your beautiful day out make sure you jump online and book a massage – now that’s happiness!!
When the weather gets cooler its really easy to drink less water. We tend to drink more warm drinks like coffee and hot chocolate and chai lattes. However, these drinks are more like *food than water and do not necessarily add to our daily water needs. When we do not drink enough, we start to feel lethargic, we get headaches, constipation, dry skin and even our muscles become dehydrated resulting in more aches and pain. So, what is the answer? If plain water just is not your “thing” right now, try tea. Specifically, herbal teas that have such a great flavour you do not need to add things like milk and sugar. My personal favourite is ginger and lemon, green tea, and green tea with jasmine. These warm me up, make me feel good and are truly **healthy for me.
*due to the added calories from milk, sugar etc.
** studies have shown that lemon also freshens your breath, boosts your immunity, improves your skin, and helps with digestion, among many other benefits. Ginger works as a detoxifier, helping remove unwanted chemicals from your body. It is also known to improve digestion, suppress your appetite, and keep your metabolism fired-up all day. Green tea has been shown to have cancer protective properties, heart health benefits and also may aid in lowering cholesterol.
Who doesn’t love a cosy scarf!? It adds class to any outfit AND it may help in preventing you becoming sick with the seasonal colds, flus and virus’. I learned this while I was studying nutrition and we did a module on Traditional Chinese Medicine. (TCM). TCM practitioners believe the back of the neck is particularly vulnerable to Wind, and when your pores are open Wind can get into your body where it doesn’t belong, and Wind generally brings its friends, usually Heat or Cold. A Wind-Heat and Wind-Cold invasion is the equivalent of catching a cold! Ever notice when you first start to “catch a cold,” you have a stiff neck followed by aches, chills/fever, and fatigue. The stiff neck is the first sign of a Wind invasion. And interestingly, at least to me, many of the point names around the neck refer to Wind … yup, that is the place where Wind is most likely to enter the body. What’s wrong with a little wind you say? Wind is said to be one of the Six Evils, or external pathogens in Chinese medicine (the other five being: Cold, Damp, Heat, Summer Heat, and Dryness). I don’t want to brag, but I rarely get winter colds and I like to attribute it to my love of scarves.
I’m sure you have all heard how important the correct levels of vitamin D in your system having are, in fact thousands of people take vitamin D as a supplement daily.
Another way of increasing your vitamin D levels is to spend some time in the sunshine. The suns rays convert cholesterol in our bodies to vitamin D. In fact, the sun provides us with 90% of our required vitamin D which protects against disease and slows the ageing process. And all we need is just 10-15 minutes per day. Getting outside in the fresh air will also improve your mood, help keep excess weight, improves sleep and lower blood pressure.
IN SUMMARY – go for a winter walk in the sun for 10-15 minutes, wear your favourite scarf and reward yourself with a delicious herbal tea. AND book yourself a nurturing massage. Book online.
