Stop the Hurting with Mindful Massage and Movement

by SharonHartnett | Feb 7, 2014 | Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K

Mindful Lifestyle Choices can help you to relieve pain and to feel better in your body.

I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist for about 15 years.  After seeing and listening to so many clients, I have realized that what most people are searching for is to feel alive inside their own skin. When people feel healthy, they can participate in life with all the activities that make them happy.  They feel interconnected with their environment, their relationships, and are full with an ongoing unfolding experience of self-confidence and self-empowerment. A truly embodied physicality feeds the brains and enables us to experience life in a creative and joyful way. 

How do we Begin to Reconnect with Our Vitality?

It’s a Choice!

We start by reconnecting with our internal resources in a mindful manner.

Every single adult person who comes onto my table has offered to share their places of pain and discomfort. I have never had a client walk in and say,” I feel totally great without any stress or tension anywhere”.  Even when clients who initially feel relatively good begin their Craniosacral Therapy or myofascial session, they begin to notice how the body holds tenderness, pain, numbness or some type of dysfunctional pattern as the work progresses. Being touched with mindful contact opens the door to a finer tuned sensory input. Whether we have encountered traumas, accidents, illnesses, or whatever… bringing awareness to our bodies and how they move will regenerate the fluid movement and tissues to bring us back to a healthier center.

How do our bodies get stuck or in pain?

One way to look at the origin of dysfunctional patterns of pain is to begin to realize that we are animals that like repetition.

As children growing up, we begin with experiential movements which if they are constantly reoccurring often turn into a gesture.  If that gesture becomes a part of a person’s expression, it often turns into a habit.  For example,  if you were told  to cross one leg over the other one because it is ladylike, you might start to do it regularly until it feels normal. This is how structural patterns begin.  The problem is that whenever we delve into limited dimensional movement continuously in our daily lives, we start to loose our mobility in the other planes of movement.  If we lose our awareness to even the smallest spaces, energy and fluidity can dry up.

What is it inside that is feeling in pain?

Most of us think that our muscles are what are sore when in discomfort.  In actually, what I have found as a Structural Integration Therapist is that much of the pain that is experienced comes from the superficial connective tissue fascia.  Perhaps you have not heard of fascia, so let me give you a brief overview because it plays and important role in finding a solution to resolving many health issues.

Fascia is the systemic biological fabric that holds us together.  This soft tissue wraps under our skin like a wetsuit and is continuous throughout the deeper parts of our bodies, shaping us from the organ level down to the very cells that make us up. In healthy fascia, we have unrestricted sliding mobility between the layers. It functions to protect us from outside invaders, to build stuff to keep our internal parts contained, is very responsive, and it acts as a powerful sensory mechanism.

The New Frontier in Pain Relief!

Why is fascia important in movement and health?

Fascia mostly consists of a protein called collagen, along with water, cells and ground substance.  Healthy fascia is hydrated and has a viscous, semi-fluid and elastic quality to it. As people age, tension across the body will rigidify the fascia until it becomes glue like and it looses its elasticity.  If the body is not consistently contracting and releasing water, everything tends to get thicker, especially if the body is acidic. That’s when it collect impurities, fats, proteins and can get caught up as toxins, while inhibiting the gliding healthier movements where fluids nourish the other systems of the body.

How do we stop the Hurting?

As adults, our bodies are made up of approximately 63% water.  We need to stay hydrated. Fascia is responsible for organizing the fluids by its ability to compartmentalize into pockets.  For good health, it is essential that we allow the fluids inside of us  to reach their prospective destinations so that the body can be nourished.  If the flow is restricted, the water can’t transport what is needed for metabolism to the inside of the cells. In cases where there is scarring, immobility, or inflammation or any type of trauma, this is the case.

Fascia as a system has the capability to limit and direct motion in the body. In fact, we are training our fascial system  through intention on some level every moment of everyday to do this through how we decide to interact with ourselves and our world.  The key to finding better health and wellness is to bring mindful attention back to the places in our body where we notice pain and/or amnesia. When this mindfulness is allowed to enlivened conscious awareness, we will awaken through the body’s own sensory abilities to reconnect back to the immeasurable intelligence and zest that rests within.

One way to do this is to begin to pay attention to exercise.  Don’t just get on a machine and zone out, but instead bring your attention to the feet, the legs, the muscle groups that are engaged in the activity.  Notice if the body is contracting and relaxing or do you overdo it? Through mindfulness, be curious about how the foot rolls or doesn’t roll on each side. Examine your relationship to your whole body slowly allowing it to do what it does, while gaining a more thorough understanding of where you feel aligned in the present moment or not.  This is all about enlivening inter-connection within. Another course that complements regular exercise…most people have some knowledge of yoga.  This is a great way to stretch the muscles and relieve stress on the joints.  The poses help you to gently go to a limit for regeneration and keep you limber. With this, it is important though to find a good teacher who will guide you well.  It is easy to do more than what is needed and you don’t want to injure the tissues, but instead find balance and strength.  Pilates and Gyrotonics are great for core exercises.  You can almost feel like you have been massaged after an hour session which develop core relationship as well as multi-dimensional exploration.. There are some other items that I’d like to recommend though which aren’t quite as ubiquitous, yet are very powerful in helping one to integrate the mind, body & spirit connection profoundly.  Feldenkrais teaches us how to move in very deliberate yet easy motion to enrich the sensory system.  Yamuna Ball rolling softly rehydrates the fascia and increases flexibility.  Continuum by Emilie Conrad also has a similar foundation in its teachings, but also includes sound and more awareness to breathwork.  These types of mindful exercises will change your life if you commit to at least 8 weeks of steady practice.  The last two are especially easy to do at home or anywhere you go as long as you have the basic tools.

Structural Integration (SI) and Craniosacral Therapy (CST) are two modalities where you can visit a massage therapist to help you awaken the inter-dialogue of the body through fascial work.While all movement engages the whole body’s fascial layering, these two disciplines focus much of their bodywork techniques on this grand system of connective tissue. I believe that many people know this, but I want to remind you that fascia is a tissue that is alive.  It is very responsive to touch and even one point of contact and enriched motion will transmit its effects globally.  Because most injuries are fascial,  a practitioner of SI and CST can touch into area of dysfunction and help the tissue to reorganize.  For example, at points of scarring where the fibers have been laid randomly and in a disorganized fashion, while cutting off hydration,  the tissues can re-learn how to soften almost by intention alone. But with a little extra support, amazing result often happen.  I have used the most gentlest of touch to deep penetrating movement in order to help release old habitual patterns. The body will always tell us what it needs, and will help us to allow it to self-correct.  People often feel more vital, happy and whole after receiving fascial treatments. 

One last thing that I’d like to end with.  While mindful exercise is a primary force in keeping us healthy, I also want to emphasize that not “overdoing it” is critical too.  It is through rest and balance that the body maintains.  So make sure to listen well to what your body tells you for your own health and wellbeing.

I hope this information helps you to understand that release from pain can be found by directly releasing restrictions in the fascia.  Whatever you do, mindful awareness will always bring about better progress and results in helping you to feel optimal.

Massage in Columbus

If you want more information, about these treatments, check out:  www.massageincolumbusohio.com or call Sharon Hartnett at (614) 372-6598.