People schedule themselves for bodywork because they want to improve the way they feel in their body. They (me included) want to feel better. We want to be less tense, restricted and uncomfortable in our own skin. We want to be able to move about more easily.
More times than not, people put themselves in therapy because they had a recent misadventure. A trauma of some sort or something super stressful. Surgery even. Oftentimes, they are suffering intense and persistent pain that may have led to some area in their body not functioning properly (dysfunction) and likely challenging level thinking.
If manual therapies like massage or craniosacral therapy are one of the chosen methods for recovery, I think people generally enjoy the wonderful sensations accompanied by professional healing touch. They also don’t mind that the contact induces deep relaxation, promotes sound sleep or erases some of the tension etched in our connective tissues – building up in our body for days, months, sometimes years and years.
Even so, I often meet new massage clients when they are in a healing crisis that required some outside intervention. The quality of their life has been compromised and they can’t seem to fix it themselves. In other words, by the time people finally book themselves for bodywork, they are really looking forward to it!
Beneficial therapeutic change is the outcome people who receive bodywork are wanting. In exchange for investing time and resources in bodywork, the primary intention for the work is to feel noticeably better – to heal. How that unfolds is different for everyone – but the aim is the same.
Who doesn’t want the practitioner they hire to be skilled at reading their body, who can help investigate what’s wrong and then help them mend it?
Fingers crossed – we get a good therapist, skilled enough to help effectively improve our current status. The whole reason we hire bodyworkers is to achieve results. Results are why people get massage. And you should feel different afterward. And yet, wanting and having that experience isn’t always as easily achieved as knowing what your intention is.
That is what I hope to help folks navigate and discern. What is Bodywork? How does one go about benefitting its application?
If you’re curious and want to follow along, stay tuned for further blogs on the topic. In the next blog Shalene will be exploring How often people should receive massage.
