Modern life comes with an abundance of both physical and mental difficulties. It can be incredibly challenging to prioritize physical and mental wellness while juggling day-to-day responsibilities. However, a holistic approach to wellness can improve your sense of well-being and connection with yourself and save you time. So, how does that work? Taking advantage of psychotherapy and massage therapy services allows individuals to effectively attend to mental and physical stressors like anxiety, stress, and related muscle tension holistically and harmoniously. Using these two modalities routinely can support those looking for healing and self-improvement in more ways than one. Keep reading for some mental well-being tips!
Some benefits of combining these two modalities include the following:
1. Stress Reduction and Relaxation:
Psychotherapy invites individuals into a safe space for processing the root causes of their mental and emotional stress. At the same time, massage therapy attempts to (manually) create a deeply relaxed state in the body, thus reducing stress. This deeply relaxed state promotes the release of endorphins—the happy brain chemicals! Individuals can feel deeper, more profound healing by taking a holistic approach to understanding and relieving stress.
2. Physical and Psychological Tension and Pain Release:
While massage therapy allows for a physical release of tension and relief from pain, psychotherapy creates space to release emotional tension and pain. The body often remembers what the mind cannot, and thus integrating massage and psychotherapy to release tension and address pain from multiple angles can improve emotional processing and overall well-being.
3. Improved Mind-Body Connection:
Both psychotherapy and massage therapy seek to help individuals increase their body awareness, with psychotherapy focusing mainly on how thoughts, emotions, and the body interact. Massage therapy draws awareness mainly to the body, encouraging individuals to familiarize themselves with all its movements and sensations, deepening their connection to themselves. Thus, combining these two modalities results in a stronger mind-body connection, allowing individuals to better understand what their minds and bodies are telling them so they can respond appropriately.
4. Coping Tools:
Psychotherapy is known for providing individuals with coping tools and strategies to manage difficult experiences while remaining as calm and relaxed as possible. Massage therapy can act as an additional coping tool, given that it is associated with decreased stress and increased endorphins and relaxation.
5. Increased Resilience and Emotional Regulation
Emotional regulation refers to an individual’s ability to respond effectively to situations challenging their emotional state. Improved emotional regulation supports resilience and an individual’s ability to face adversity confidently. By taking a more intensive and holistic approach to physical and emotional well-being through psychotherapy and massage therapy, individuals may see a more efficient and significant impact on their ability to handle difficult situations. For example, individuals may seek out healthy coping strategies that contribute to improved emotional regulation more often than unhealthy coping strategies.
In conclusion, psychotherapy and massage therapy are a dynamic duo that combines physical and emotional well-being elements. By working together to reduce physical and emotional stress, pain, and tension while increasing relaxation, body awareness, coping abilities, and emotional regulation, psychotherapy, and massage therapy can help you access the healthiest version of you!
References
Rollston, A. & Lloyd-Richardson, E. (n.d.). What is emotion regulation, and how do we do it? Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery. https://selfinjury.bctr.cornell.edu/perch/resources/what-is-emotion-regulationsinfo-brief.pdf
Sharpe, P. A., Williams, H. G., Granner, M. L., & Hussey, J. R. (2007). A randomized study of the effects of massage therapy compared to guided relaxation on well-being and stress perception among older adults. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 15(3), 157–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2007.01.004
University of Guelph. (2022). The Science Behind Massages and Relaxation. University of Guelph. https://wellness.uoguelph.ca/news/science-behind-massages-relaxation
van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1(5), 253–265. https://doi.org/10.3109/10673229409017088