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Your Health
One's viewpoint about massage:
As bodywork gains respect in professional circles, news of it's intrinsic value is slowly being conveyed to a population that is perhaps doubtful about massage's practical application for a more healthy lifestyle. With new health information popping in and out of the various media, it's important to realize that massage has a long standing positive acclaim. Massage was central to Chinese medicine as far back as 1600 B.C. The ancient Egyptians used it to treat disease. The Russians starting using it as a staple for good health after World War II when medications ran short. And Hippocrates (the father of medicine) wrote that physicians must be experienced in the art of massage.
So when did we lose this information? The question lies in our obsession with our mental development. The focus of a large portion of our society's population is on intellectual pursuits. As a result, we are experiencing an increased interest in our physical well being which is evidenced by the many promotions of exercise we see at any given moment. Are we dealing with stress caused by being too much in our heads and not enough in our bodies? Seems relevant.
Massage relieves stress and its attendant headaches, backaches, anxiety, fatigue and sleeplessness. But bodywork is not only a relief to our physical efforts, or to injury and pain caused by accident or stress, it's also a balancing influence on our lives. As a nation, we need to be attentive to our need to feel whole and alive. Massage is not just for people who can't handle their pain or for people who feel the need to be pampered. The Mayo Clinic lists the psychological benefits as: "Massage relieves stress and can improve your state of mind. Also, massage fulfills a universal human need for touch." Massage is not only the answer to the aching back it can change our lives for the better.
Roots & Wings, Nirman Tim
Wilkerson, Awakening the Whole
Person.
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