Ever have massages? As well as ironing out the kinks from sitting at a desk, poor posture and a deep love for high-heels, they can also be fantastic for releasing blocked energy. That’s the mind part of today’s title covered.
Before you think that hippy-dippy reference means I’m typing from a wellness retreat in the mountains somewhere exotic, let me explain. It’s nothing more glam than a last-days-of-winter head cold that had me booking in for a massage yesterday. And not a whale-music, aromatherapy kind either.
Those cheap Chinese massage bars that have sprung up all over Sydney and Melbourne’s inner-suburbs can be a fab way to give your body a wake-up call when it’s out of sorts. If you can handle the no-frills environment, that is.
My emergency massage destination is in a shopping centre so the noise from passers-by means you never quite switch off. And the Asian preference for massaging over the clothes does away with the lovely European and Hawaiian tradition of using natural oils and long, sweeping movements that can send me to sleep.
But the focus on specific trigger points can be incredibly effective at increasing blood flow to tight muscles. And if you’re familiar with the Chinese notion of chi, or energy, that can in turn offer emotional release or increase energy in a heartbeat.
Really. That’s the only way I can explain a startling rush of ideas while the therapist worked on a particularly sore area around my left shoulder blade. No, hardly relaxing but useful when your mind is foggy or you’re in need of a creative boost, making it a wonderful side effect of a massage. And yet another very good reason to listen to your body.
What is your body telling you today?
