Posted by Noa on January 16, 2003, at 16:40:28
In reply to Re: Deep Muscle Massage for Depression?? » IsoM, posted by Dinah on January 16, 2003, at 12:44:45
for me, it takes some getting used the stranger thing, but if you try a few therapists (maybe just for a mini-massage and interview) until you find one that feels right, and then stick with them, you can get used to it. It is important to have a massage therapist who listens to you and respects what your needs are. Having the feeling of safety is so important. And I think you can ask the massage therapist to work with you to build the feeling of safety, gradually. But hey, if your hubby is there to massage you--you are a lucky gal!
I do have a couple of "quirks". One is that my back is very ticklish, which all the massage therapists I've been to say is due to the tightness in the muscles, and I think they are right because the spots that are tight and achy are also the most ticklish. I had one therapist who slowly helped me work through the tension in those spots. At a certain point, after I had been going a while, we had a session in which instead of leaving a ticklish spot alone and coming back to it later (what she usually did), she gently continued working on it (with my consent, of course), while I laughed through it. It was really neat. It was this big release--the laughing actually felt like I was crying, and afterward it felt like the release of having "cryed it out" but it was laughing from the tickling.
My other major quirk is that when I am on my back, I cannot tolerate if a massage therapist uses both hands to massage around my neck area, because it feels to me like I'm being strangled, so I get all tense and scared. I can't explain why this is--I don't think I have any trauma experiences with that. But it is just my body's thing, I guess. Anyway, a good massage therapist will remember that from session to session and respect it.
I dropped one massage therapist because she kept forgetting about the neck thing.
poster:Noa
thread:35299
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030111/msgs/35335.html