Happy Halloween!

I hope your fall is going well – it’s my favorite time of year, especially once the leaves start to turn. It makes me want to fix a huge pot of spicy chili to go with the cooler, rainy weather.

Many times, on the table, our lives intrude on the relaxation process. This month I’m writing a short article about visualizations to try during massage when the mind won’t let go. I’ve also included minute massage for jaw tension and TMJ

- heather wibbels (615.294-6672)

You’ve anticipated a lovely, relaxing, slow massage for the past week. Now you’re finally on the table, and to your frustration, your mind won’t stop running so you can relax. There are errands to remember, a deadline later in the week, and that one last item you forgot in the grocery. Instead of relaxing, you end up fighting the body to remain alert – even as you know you want and need the relaxation of massage.

Almost all of my clients experience this to some degree. Their breathing remains shallow and their muscles are slow to react to relaxing massage strokes. With some of my clients, I’ve started using short visualizations with them. In this article, I want to cover some ideas for visualizations clients can use during massage. Giving clients something to think about rather than just “relaxing” puts the mind to work and gets everyday concerns into the back corner so relaxation is easier. In a way, it “tricks” the mind into relaxing by keeping it occupied.

Breathing Countdown
During this process, you will take ten slow, deep, even breaths, counting backwards from ten to one. Each inhale should expand the chest and the belly, lasting five seconds. Then, with a slow exhale, relax every muscle in your body and feel yourself sink a little deeper into the table. Exhale all the air from your lungs, and make sure your neck, shoulders and face are relaxed. Make sure your legs, pelvis and lower back are relaxed as well. This technique is very easy and very effective. If I’m having trouble relaxing during a massage I repeat this exercise each time the massage therapist starts work on a part of the body.

Comfort Place
We’ve all heard of comfort food and the power of familiar smells, tastes and tights to relax the body and ease the mind. In this exercise, you think of a place where you feel utterly relaxed. When you’re under stress and you have the time and energy to go to a place to relax, what is that place? Is it laying back in an old recliner with a favorite quilt reading a book? Is it the middle of a hot tub? It could be a beach, or a hiking trail in a forest. It could be cuddled up to your spouse or partner.

Find your comfort place. Take several deep breaths and visualize yourself in that place. Visualize it completely, taking into account every sense. Imagine what you see, what you hear when you are there. Are there scents or tastes you experience? How does the air feel, or the surface on which you’re sitting or lying? Imagine how your whole body feels when you’re in this comfort place: your arms, your legs, your back, your neck, and your head. Each time the mind intrudes, walk yourself back to your comfort place, breathe deeply and focus on the comfort and ease that place brings you.

Favorite Memory Most of us have a favorite memory – an event or place where we found ourselves happy, relaxed, and unburdened. Picture yourself in that memory. Remember what it felt like, how your body felt and how you moved. Remember what it sounded like, what it smelled like, what you tasted. Go through each sense as you move through the memory and make the visualization as complete as possible. Think about what you were wearing, the details of the location. Expand the memory to include other sensations or experiences that would have continued the experience of relaxation. During this visualization, relax and take deep breaths. If you have more than one favorite relaxing memory, play through several of them, focusing on remembering each physical detail of the experience to make the visualization as powerful as possible.

Color Wash
A more abstract visualization, this technique combines breathing with visualizing the entire body filled with light. Imagine red light covering your feet, running up your legs into your torso. With each deep relaxed breath, see the light fill your body further. Feel the light penetrate your skin and coat your muscles and body, entering all your organs. This is a slow process – visualize the color seeping into every inch of your body as you breathe. Follow the light down your hands, into your fingers, and up your neck to cover your head. Feel the red light penetrate your mind. Feel the light exuding from your body. Now, repeat the process with orange light. Visualize the color filling you as you take deep breaths, bringing the color deep into your body until you glow with it.

Run through the spectrum of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Finally inhale white light into the body, filling you from your feet upwards to your head. Imagine that it fills you so completely that you glow with it.

These easy visualizations succeed in two things: they keep the mind focused on something and they use deep breathing to slow and relax the body. When it’s hard to relax in the massage, and your mind won’t stop running, give it something to do – before you know it, you’ll be happily zoned out in the massage and your mind and body will be far more relaxed than when you came in. Ask your massage therapist to move you through these meditations/visualization during a massage if you find it hard to relax while on the table.