Posted by Alicia McCarthy
How often should I come for a massage?
This question is the most common by far. Sometimes I joke and say, “Everyday!” What I really mean is that every body should experience positive touch everyday in some way, but the real answer varies from body to body. I, personally try to get some form of bodywork at least once a week. I used to feel spoiled saying that, but if it’s within your means, I’d say the results for caring for yourself on that level, are dramatic.
What are your goals?
That’s usually how I try to respond to the question of how frequently massage is needed. If you aim to alleviate a specific area of pain due to injury or years of repetitive stress, one massage is not going to give you an immediate ”fix”. The effects of massage are cumulative, and healing is something that happens gradually. When targeting specific areas you want to correct, I would say try coming in for a massage every week until the pain transforms, then you should try to make massage more of a regular routine to maintain a healthy balance in your body, mind, spirit.
Imagine if you had a dream to have six pack abs, and you thought doing 100 sit ups in one day would make that dream a reality. That sounds silly, right? Receiving one massage in order to “fix” an issue in your body that’s screaming for attention seems equally silly.
One of the great things about massage is that it teaches you about yourself. After that first session that you’ve had in order to stop your back from spasm, you might feel great, better than you did before you had a massage. The next day you might feel sore in a different part of your body or worse in that one spot in your back. Sometimes you experience pain before the real healing takes place.
Your body is different everyday. My goal as a receiver of massage is finding a harmonious state within myself. My goal as a giver of massage is to assist you in getting to your own personal state of harmony.
1 Response