A REASON FOR MASSAGE: PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION
Hippocrates (the father of western medicine) stated that:
Massage, diet and exercise are the three most important ingredients for health. In fact, his teacher (Herodotus) actually believed massage prolonged life!
BODY ARMOURING
This is an idea that has been around since one of Freud’s pupils, Wilhelm Reich (1897-1857), first coined the term. Put simply, it means that when we have a trauma or issue that we are unable to cope with at the time, we store it away in the muscles of our body. It’s as if we embed our discomfort into our body’s soft tissues.
This means that we function at a reduced energy – because it takes energy to ‘lock up’ stuff in the body. The muscles become hard around this particular area. Reich himself had a somewhat traumatized upbringing, with both his mother and his father committing suicide. He was born in 1897 and became an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry.
His influence on the world of Massage and Bodywork has been immense. On a daily basis Massage therapists come across the reality of this ‘body armouring’ constantly.
The power of deep touch actually enables us to release and let go of old traumas effortlessly. Because Siyanda goes much further than most traditional massage, by using some simple techniques whereby the recipient is brought into a cocoon of ’healing space’ it is much easier for the release of ‘armouring” to take place. With the pressure and designed movement, sometimes these old traumas simply dissolve away in a whisper. Sometimes we remember something. At other times we feel a passing emotion of sadness and loss. Massage helps us let go of any old emotional or psychological ‘stuff’ that we no longer need. The important point is, Siyanda provides a yielding and safe environment for this to happen.
After this, the most common sensation is one of lightness, energy and freedom – because that old blocked up energy has been released and is now available for day to day living. Instead of going through our day with 10 kilowatts, we now have 20. No wonder it feels so good.
