The other day, I had a client in Virginia Beach who requested an in-home massage. It was the day before her vacation and she needed to unwind from the stressors of life and go into that period of downtime in a relaxed and pain free state. It had been quite some time since she had a massage and while she was looking forward to it, the weight of circumstances were blocking her ability to receive. I began working on her and noticed that she was slow to relax. Many people are like this. It simply takes the ability to go in with long sustained strokes and slight persistant pressure to get the body to relax. It also takes the ability to simply just be in the moment. Sometimes our mind doesn’t want to shut down. It wants to continue in it’s chatter, to think and speak about the concerns and stress we are trying to get away from. I find that by focusing on the breath and simply not allowing a verbalization of that chatter, you help to guide the mind to a place of relaxation. You have to be willing to break that pattern to get to a place of simply submitting to calm. Easier said than done sometimes. The mind is a powerful thing. Channeling that power and redirecting it’s pattern can have a profound effect on the body. I gave her a little extra time because I saw that she really needed it. We don’t always give ourselves what we need. It took very little from me to give her something that shifted and expanded her experience. To simply see the peace in her face afterwards was thanks enough. It is why I do this work.
So how does one maintain this calm after the massage has come and gone? Beginning a practice of yoga and meditation does wonders for the mind and the soul. After all we are essentially our soul and our mind. Our body is just a manifestation of that. When we take care of those elements, everything else starts to fall into place. It is a slow and disciplined practice to engage the mind is such a way, and the rewards are tremendous. And it is never too late to begin to engage in a daily practice. It is what keeps us sane.