What is Healing?
Healing isn’t an event, it is a change that takes place overtime in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual landscape. We are all gifted with an ability to heal ourselves; our bodie’s main objective is to maintain, or return to homeostasis. “Healers” do not heal you.
They can assist in getting you to a place where healing can begin, they can continue to hold space and help facilitate your healing; they work in partnership with you for your healing.
For much of your lifetime, YOU are your healer.
It is your choice whether or not you do work outside of the healers sacred space to get you to your next level on your journey.
The Paradox of Healing
There is a conscious part of the mind that desires change through the vehicle of therapy, and an unconscious part that finds this change to be threatening. Although we consciously desire change, we may also unconsciously dread it and thus resist the process. This is the Paradox of Healing (The Psychology of the Body, Barbara Goorich-Dunn & Eliot Greene)
Some ways I have exerienced the Paradox of Healing for myself and with my clients are:
- holding patterns, especially in the shoulders & arms, that won’t seem to relax (If you’ve been on my table and felt me shaking your arm to coax it to relax, that’s what this is about).
- emotional release during a session (this is perfectly natural, see more on this below).
- enjoying a session very much and not booking another one for months or years (I have done this as well).
- a part of the body that seemed thoroughly worked on in the last session has tightened up again.
- having a strong physical or emotional reaction to treatment the following day or week.
These are all normal responses to healing, especially where we have holding patterns of tension. These tension patterns can present as a result of repetitive use of the muscles and/or from underlying emotions attached to the pattern. I have experienced these first hand as well as with my clients.
The Paradox of Healing, as it upsets the status quo of our holding patterns, can unconsciously be perceived as threatening.
Ironically, the biggest threat is often times a strong feeling of vitality and living fully in the body. Involuntary chronic tension patterns arise when we arm ourselves in subconscious ways, and sensing a loss of that control can feel threatening.
Sometimes strong emotions arise during massage or energy work, such as anger, resentment, grief, sadness, joy, relief, and others. As a licensed massage therapist I am trained in holding space for my clients to experience strong emotions during treatment. If these strong emotions remain at a high level of intensity beyond the appointment, I highly recommend pursuing a session with a mental health professional as it is a great way to honor those feelings and yourself. Feeling a range of emotions is healthy; we are meant to move through them throughout our lives and days, we aren’t meant to live in one emotion long term.
Sometimes intense physical sensations can arise after receiving massage therapy. Sore or tender areas are normal for 24 to 48 hours after receiving deep tissue work. If the areas continue in soreness or tenderness beyond that, then possibly the work was too deep in that area. This is a signal to you and the therapist to communicate during treatment about the pressure involved, especially in those areas.
Pressure can be difficult to perceive when receiving bodywork. Personally, I have allowed very deep work in areas that I realized later were a little too sore for my liking. This can easily happen due to the work feeling great in the moment and not wanting to disrupt the process, our own curiosity, wanting to “really feel’ the work, but mainly we allow too much pressure when we misinterpret the limits of our body. We are always learning, in an ever-changing landscape; not easy!
Even as healing touch can create upset within our unhealthful holding patterns, it can also be the tool that helps release those patterns. We are encouraged by our culture to live mainly in our heads and minds, treating our bodies like a car that simply needs regular maintenance so we can get back to our lives. Bodywork can help realign kinesthetic awareness, offering us sensations of where our body lives in space; where our outer most layers interact with the world, where our physical boudaries exist. It can also give us a greater sense of our bodies from the outside layer in, how we hold ourselves, which affects how we think on ourselves and visa versa.
Basically, we are in these bodies for the entirety of our lives. They hold our unique story & history.
With change the only true constant, bodywork can help initiate getting un-stuck so that we can make more conscious changes for new paths on our life journey.
It’s a process, not a sprint ;)
Live full!
Emily Ball LMT RMT
*Disclaimer: the blog Big Magic, Fun Wisdom, Healing Touch by Emily Ball is meant to be uplifting, educational and fun, and is in no way intended to replace any medical advice from your primary care physician, acupuncturist, physical therapist, psychotherapist, psychologist, counselor or any other qualified medical specialist in whose care you are under. If you’ve read this blog and have questions, contact me.
© 2021 Emily Ball, All Rights Reserved