Healthful MassageThere's little argument that getting a professional massage feels good, but what about the potential health benefits? Many therapists believe that massage and body work can be an important part of a total body approach to good health and well-being, and tout its benefits for a wide variety of illnesses and ailments.
Christian Smith is a massage therapist and founder of the Massage School of Los Angeles. He began his training at the Massage School of Santa Monica and continued his studies at the Bodymind Institute and the Upledger Institute, and in the early 1990s, he founded the Radical Therapy Center. Here he offers his beliefs on the healing power of body massage:
- Whole body treatment. Smith sees massage as one of the most efficient ways to stay healthy for life, and claims that it can have positive effects on every system of the body. From the moment that you place your hands on somebody's skin, he claims, there's a reflex action through the nerves that goes up to the brain and turns on the relaxation part of the nervous system. It's immediate.
- Stress. When we're living our daily life, typically, we're under stress. When we're getting a massage, according to Smith, our relaxation response is being reflexively turned on from the skin, through the nervous system, and into the center of the brain. This moves us in the direction of relaxation, and relaxation eliminates stress and moves us towards health.
- The immune system. Smith also believes that the healing touch of massage stimulates the immune system to start fighting off disease. Everywhere you touch a person, he says, the immune system is turned on, and this can lead to greater overall health and resistance to illness.
- Numerous benefits. In addition to these general benefits, Smith believes that massage can greatly help increase the circulation of blood and lymph, increase self-awareness, reduce depression and other mental ailments, heal body tissue, and provide defense against cancer. He supports the notion that massage should be a part of everyone's everyday life, and encourages all those interested to seek out a professional massage therapist today.
For more information on massage, visit a massage therapist in your area or check out the following information:
Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals
www.abmp.com
American Massage Therapy Association
www.amtamassage.org
Also, visit other areas of FineLiving.com for more information:
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