Grief Massage
I read in a recent Interactive Poll taken from the AMBP, Associated Massage and Bodywork Professionals, that 52% of people polled said they used bodywork to process grief.
That's a big percentage compared to what I thought I would find. But it doesn't puzzle me. Why? Because I also experienced relief during a stressful grief-filled time in my life.
I did not purposely seek massage out to help my own process. It came by accident.
A friend of mine suggested I get a massage from her massage therapist and I thought, "Why not. It couldn't hurt." And it didn't! In fact I began to book an appointment on a regular basis. It was something to look forward to, something that began to be very beneficial in many ways.
Not only was it an hour of peace but I realized I had knots in my shoulders and neck area that were gradually being worked out slowly and gently. I learned that I could get a massage that decreased my pain without inducing lingering pain after a session. Did that mean that a massage could be effective and have positive results, without being painful, while I laid there listening to relaxing, soothing music?
Yes!
Did it help me get through a troubled time as well with someone who was understanding and let me just 'be'?
Yes.
So when I became a Holistic Massage Therapist I knew I wanted to incorporate a "Grief Massage" into my services. I was not alone. I looked it up online and found that many therapists were incorporating Grief Massage into their practices already. When you go online to my website,
www.nancypezdek.massagetherapy.com , you will see it offered as well as other modalities.
Below is an article you may find helpful that was published in the AMBP website that discusses Grief and Massage:
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Free the Body of Sadness
Putting the Pieces Back Together After a Life-Changing
Event
By Lyn Prashant
Job loss, death, divorce, break-ups, financial strain,
and the many challenges life presents are painful and traumatic. Sadness is
stored within our bodies, sometime long after we think we've moved on.
Addressing the issues in the tissues can in fact help individuals move more
quickly through the grieving process to help reclaim stability and, ultimately,
happiness. And massage can play a key role.
I
define grief as a mental and emotional experience, usually triggered by a
traumatic loss, that has physiological correlates associated with deep pain.
For instance, we are all familiar with the term
"heartache." It is commonly accepted that if a person experiences a traumatic
emotional event (such as the loss of a lover or the death of a family member),
this mental and emotional state often results in a definite physical sensation.
We can feel the grief in a specific part of our body. Our insides actually hurt.
Because our culture does not deal with the grieving individual effectively, I
believe such grief can create long-lasting physical imbalances in the human
body.
Degriefing is the process of recognizing
mental and physical pain which accompanies grief and treating it with a
combination of somatic therapies. Unlocking and removing grief from an
individual's body can heal not only physical symptoms, but mental and emotional
wounds, as well.
While conventional therapies
may be effective, they usually do not begin to address the physical imbalances
induced by a traumatic loss or great sorrow. The individual's mental state might
be temporarily lifted, but the physical state often remains unchanged.
Therefore, complete healing can be illusive.
Grief can be stored in the body, although sometimes we grieve and it
passes through us in a relatively short period of time. For instance, when we
expect the death of an elderly individual, the sadness is more easily tolerated,
and our body and mind accept the loss relatively easily. That can be called
"simple, uncomplicated grief."
However, in
today's society, we experience many types of loss and sorrow that are not dealt
with effectively. From childhood through adulthood, we experience many traumatic
events which leave permanent, physical scars or imbalances. That's called
complicated, unresolved grief, which I believe can reside in the muscles, fascia
and tissues of the body. I have found through emotional release during massage
that clients have gotten in touch with memories long dismissed, repressed or
forgotten.
Recently, even modern Western science
has discovered that seemingly non-physical constructs such as memory, intuition
and emotion have physical correlates. They don't know how these things are
recorded, but they are starting to acknowledge that the body can retain mental
experiences. When grief is recorded in our bodies and retained, the individual
suffers. That's why Degriefing is an effective, exponential technique that is
based on combining compassionate touch and communication.
Integration With Bodywork
Many individuals I have treated respond well to professional
bodywork, which often opens energy channels and chakras. A variety of
therapeutic massage techniques, such as Swedish, Shiatsu, lymphatic massage,
polarity and reiki can effectively be combined. There are many modalities that
combine extremely well for this work and create a truly exponential effect.
Massage, primarily intended to induce relaxation, is
also powerful for stress reduction and is tremendously beneficial for the
maintenance of well-being. The goal of the Degriefing process is to actually
unlock blockages, which have developed in our bodies, and shift the systems to a
more harmonious state. It may be helpful to explain to your massage practitioner
your emotional state so that she/he can address the session with a clear
intention of healing and integrating.
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I hope that the article above has been helpful to you. Please feel free to check out my website and make an appointment with me for your Grief Massage. It is gentle, relaxing, peaceful and modified for each individual.
www.nancypezdek.massagetherapy.com
