What about Stress ... ?

Did you know that STRESS is not ALL bad?  We often refer to stress as a very negative emotion that we have to deal with.  Sometimes stress is positive stress.  

Imagine you're a caveman (or woman), and a saber-tooth tiger is running toward your camp.  What would you do?  Get up, grab your small children, run to the nearest tree and climb as fast as you can? Good choice.  That reaction, fear, jumping up, snatching up a small child, running, climbing a tree, is STRESS.  Stress is a a good thing in this situation since it got you away from becoming dinner for that tiger. You survived!

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When you're playing a sport, exercising or moving . . . that is creating stress on your body, your mind and even your psyche.  If our muscles experienced no stress, they wouldn't be toned and strong.  When working out or moving regularly, our muscles NEED to experience stress in order for them to get stronger.  The whole "Opposition in all things" concept.  Notice the tight rope walker to the left.  If the ROPE didn't have STRESS, where would she BE?

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College courses can be stressful, but learning is good.  Driving is stressful, but we like to get where we want to go quickly.  Making dinner can be stressful, but we need to eat. Many things contribute stress to our bodies/minds.  
So then why do we have this negative connotation associated with the word "STRESS"? 

When stress becomes the rule, rather than the exception, or when we allow stress to affect our daily lives more than we bring in experiences to create calm and relaxation, it becomes a problem.   
Stress is different for everyone.  Perhaps you're one of those people who do not have a stressful reaction to the things mentioned above.  Maybe something else causes stress in your life.  Regardless, too much stress, good or bad, can and will affect our bodies/minds in a negative way.

We are all familiar with the body's "fight-or-flight" response, which is simply a chemical reaction in our body to a stressful situation.  Your heart will beat faster, breathing increases, you can perspire, tense up and have much more energy.  All of these reactions prepare us for that “fight-or-flight".  Negative feelings/thoughts create some of these symptoms for us.  Being angry, scared, worried, or frustrated are not good for us (and really don't accomplish anything).   Obviously, things that happen in life that we cannot control.  Death of a loved one, illness, disease, loss of a job, financial difficulties, working too much/hard, bullying, accidents, etc.

If you have a hard time resolving these issues, or living with any kind of negative situation in your life, it can cause a long term issue with stress.  And stress will affect you, not just physically, but emotionally, mentally and spiritually as well.

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Some possible physical manifestations of stress:

• Headaches/migraines
• Joint pain
• Sleep issues, too little or too much
• Eating problems, too little or too much
• Heart / blood pressure problems

Some possible mental/emotional manifestations:

• Confusion
• Depression
• Feeling like you just can't cope anymore
• Anger
• Irritability
• Mood changes

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But what to do about all this stress?  If I can’t get rid of the stress in my life (and none of us can eliminate stress completely, nor would we want to), then what CAN I do?

This article is about how massage can/will help with these feelings of stress.  Of course, as with anything, there will be people who would be more stressed out by getting a massage.  Obviously, those people would want to choose something else to relieve their stress.  So, let’s get to it. ​

There are as many answers to this question as there are people in the world.  Not every thing works for every person.  For some, travel is relaxing.  For others, traveling is one of the most stressful things they could do.  Anything I could list here, meditation, reading, listening to music, exercise, sleep, taking to someone, crafting, could be either stressful or stress relieving to anyone.

Relieving stress is considered one of the most popular reasons to get a massage.  How does this happen?

Research has shown that a massage can lower heart rate and blood pressure, relieve anxiety, relax your muscles, increase circulation, increase the production of endorphins (feel good hormone), and release serotonin and dopamine.  All of this leads to a feeling of relaxation and calm that really helps overcome and deal with the stress that you have experienced.  Even a single session has been cited as a significant benefit to all of the above.

Many people still think of massage therapy as a luxury.  These ideas and misconceptions have changed dramatically in recent years.  Regular massage therapy is an important part of  personal health care.  

We take good care of our cars.  We make sure they are filled with gas and oil.  We get new tires and oil changes regularly.  We wash and vacuum them.  All this to keep them running smoothly and performing well for us when we want to go somewhere.
Most of us are also conscious of our health, we watch what we eat, how much water we drink, how much sleep we get, and we exercise. 
How many of us make sure that we have down time?  Deep relaxation time?  Time just to let go and have someone remind our muscles, that have been working so hard for us, to relax when we are trying to relax.

Your body will thank you.