Therapeutic Massage- Sometimes We Need Others to Help With Our Self-care

Therapeutic Massage:

Sometimes we need others to help with our self-care.

By Wynnie Plocher

 

As I was reading Connie’s blogs for July, taking in all the wonderful information included in each and every one, I was thinking about my own self-care.  I meditate, do yoga, take swim classes, dance, and eat well most of the time, but the ONE THING I have always insisted upon for my own well being is getting massages regularly.

 

This started many years ago, when I lived in Oregon, spun my car on a piece of ice (unusual for Oregon), and ended up with a “neck problem.”  I couldn’t turn my head.

 

I was working full time as a draftsperson at the time and it was important for me to get back to work, so I tried everything the medical community had to offer at that time.  Then one day, as I still struggled with pain in my neck, a nurse came over to me and said, “You need to try massage.”  Up to that time, other than backrubs by family, I had never had a massage (I was in my mid-thirties.)

 

On the nurse’s suggestion, I found a Massage Clinic in Portland, OR and anxiously went for my first massage.  Due to my neck injury, I started with frequent massages focusing on my neck and back.

 

Soon my neck was healthy and needless to say I was “hooked” on massage. While in Portland, I received a massage at least once a month. My massages at that time were “therapeutic and healing.”

 

When we moved back to Minnesota, finding a massage therapist who integrated healing energies was more challenging than finding a new doctor.  Fortunately I did find therapists who provided me with the “healing massages” I had been accustomed to in Oregon.  By this time, I was teaching middle school and the stress of teaching dictated the need for more self-care.

 

I was getting two massages a month, which included the essentials of relaxation and healing for my well being.

 

When I retired from teaching and had a meeting with the retirement counselor, I told him that I would be fine with enough money to continue exercise classes and therapeutic massages monthly. Massage is that important to me for self-care.

 

Physically massage helps to relax my muscles, decrease aches and pains when I over do activities, and also enables me to manage arthritis without medication.

 

I also take into consideration, not only the “self-care” component of massage but also the emotional, mental, and spiritual effects, which is total relaxation and bliss of all my senses and soul.

 

Massage is so beneficial I recommend it highly to all.

 

I continue to receive massages regularly, about twice a month now and find the benefits for me incomparable to any other modality.  There are many different types of massages as well as therapists and you need to find what fits for you.

 

Blissful Blessings,

Wynnie

 

Wynnie is a retired teacher who has written a spiritual poetry book:

Find Your Bliss, Soul Poems Channeled and Written by Wynnie.

In the book you will find two poems on the joys of massage.

 

 

You can contact Wynnie by phone 651-428-3568

or email gwplocher@mac.com or on her new website: www.wynniesbooks.webs.com

Also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/findyourblissbywynnie