Living a Life Free From Anxiety & Pain Through Informed Touch & Breathwork

Wellness Chats & Anatomy Facts: where a nerd can be a nerd

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Life can sometimes feel like a non-stop whirlwind of inconviences, tasks, problems and people who appear to go out of their way to piss you off. By the time you do get home or finally reach the hour of downtime, you're so worked up that you dont even know what to do with yourself.

For those who are nuerodivergent, it becomes particularly more challenging. Overstimulation leads to burnout and fatigue. Overlooking small details and spending way too much time hyper-focusing on or overthinking tasks that are meant to be done quickly, out of fear of doing is wrong, is a regular state of being. Feeling constantly disregulated, that stress builds up in the body and eventually you're feeling that tension in your low back, shoulders, neck, etc.

In moments like that, our nervous system begins to go out of wack. If we don't practice the tools to regulate it, we can feel stuck in patterns of anxiety and stress. Being in a constant state of 'fight or flight', even when there is no immediate threat or harm.

Luckily, massage therapy can offer some tools and long-term benefits to combat that stress. Especially when done regularly.

Understanding the tools and benefits of informed touch unlocks a power that is right within your grasp. Stress and trauma gets stored in the body. Massaging and nurturing those pain points allows you to physically and mentally release it from your system.

When a stressor or psycho-emotional problem that has been stored in the body is released, thats called an SER. This stands for Somato-Emotional Response (Release).

In somatic therapies, which is any therapy that uses touch and feeling to calm the nervous system (massage, hypnosis, breathwork, etc.) SER's are common and welcomed.

For those who aren't familiar, or comfortable, with informed touch therapies-- this can seem scary. Especially if you don't feel prepared or ready to work through things or, you may not be conciously aware of them. Reframing your perception of informed touch can help you feel safe, comforted and equipped with the awareness of how to advocate and discern whats best for you in the moment and whats not.

One powerful form of nervous system regulation is breathwork. Deep concious breaths that use various forms of inhaltion and exhalation not only relaxes your mind, but it relaxes your body as well. Making it an important tool to utilize during massage and other forms of touch therapies, like stretching.

When you take deep concious breaths, your nervous system begins to leave 'fight or flight', relieving feelings of anxiety, fear, depression and doubt. Taking deep breaths give your cells a swift increase in oxygen, allowing them to filter out impurities and toxins being held inside of them. The result is the detoxification of your body, just from deep concious breaths. So breathwork, benefits you physically and mentally from a scientic perspective as well as spiritually. And you can do it anytime, anywhere.

This is why aromatherapy is so helpful, because now you are adding the addition of a specific natural herb or plant to enhance these benefits.

Everytime you take deep concious breaths, you are detoxifying your cells, sending oxygen to the brain for clarity, calming your nervous system, relaxing your muscles and connecting to your spirit.

Think of how powerful that is. The best part is, it is completely free to do and at your constant disposal! So when you perform these concious breaths throughout your day, you are doing yourself a great service.

During bodywork sessions, such as massage and stretching- concious breath tells your body to calm down, release and serves as a reminder to your nervous system that you're safe. Which is integral to keep muscles relaxed during sessions. This will allow you to recieve greater benefits from your massages. Especially in areas of high-tension, chronic pain or injury.

When you breathe throughout your bodywork sessions, you can tap into what you're feeling physically, so you can better differentiate what is "good" therapeutic pain, that ultimately feels relieving and relaxing- from pain that is uncomfortable, excruciating or feels worse than before. Working through built up tension; like trigger points, adhesions or former injuries, can result in discomfort. Your breath will allow you to make intuitive and informed choices on what you can tolerate and what you shouldn't.

From a spiritual perspective: breathwork allows you to ground and sharpen your intuition by clearing your system of debris and clutter within the mind. When this happens you are much more able to receive messages from the universe with clarity and can tap into your intuition better. Allowing you to trust that the information you are reciveing is the right one.

So if you haven't already taken a few deep breaths while reading this article- here is your invitation to tap into your body, breathe and let your breath release what you no longer need to hold onto in this moment.

Be sure to schedule a minimum of one massage every month to allow yourself a break from the world where you can get back in touch with your body. The benefits will transcend beyond just feeling better physically.