Massage Therapy / Anthony Phillips LMT

What is stress? We accumulate stress until we experience dysfunction and pain. Pain leads to immobility, and immobility leads to pain. We enter a cycle of pain and tension that can be difficult to break. Life’s chal...lenges can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that produce well-orchestrated physiological changes that are part of what is often called our flight or fight response. This is a very useful survival mechanism. It can get you out of a jam, get things done, and possibly save your life in a dangerous situation. But when the body needs to recuperate, these hormones are detrimental. When stress hormones like adrenaline(epinephrin) and cortisol remain at elevated levels in our bloodstream our health suffers. Elevated stress hormones interfere with learning and memory, lower immune function and bone density, increase weight gain, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease... The list goes on and on. What can Massage Therapy do for you? Massage Therapy can help break the cycle of pain and tension in the body. A focused hour on the massage table can create a deep state of relaxation, facilitating a rest and digest response. The heart rate and breathing rate slow down, the blood vessels dilate; and activity increases in the digestive tract. This part of our nervous system assists in recovery, cellular nutrition and tissue repair. Massage elevates levels of dopamine, a neurohormone that influences fine motor activity and affects intuition, inspiration, joy, and enthusiasm. Serotonin, Oxytocin and Endorphins are also elevated through Massage, feel good chemicals that help with depression, anxiety, insomnia, and pain. These neurochemical responses underlie the subjective feeling of well-being following Massage and initiate objective positive changes to your overall health. The therapeutic goal of bodywork is to tilt the balance away from systemic stress toward relaxation and healing. Massage is valuable; it is self care in the truest sense, an ancient intuitive healing practice backed by modern science. Sometimes the nervous system simply needs to "reset", to remember its own potential for self healing. Intentional therapeutic touch is a powerful tool to do just that.

photo by Jason Akira Somma