Aloha!
There are so many things about massage that I hadn’t known until I started massaging. One of them is that sometimes after massage you feel worse before you eventually feel better – I was talking about it in one of the videos.
Another is that massage doesn’t end when masseuse / masseur stops touching your body. Like every bodywork, like every healing, like every deep transformation on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level, massage – especially THIS massage, lomi lomi nui – needs integration. What does it mean in practice?
Like I said – massage doesn’t end when touch stops. Some people would say that it actually begins then.
First of all, right after I finish, I give you some time to just lay down on the table and let your body absorb everything that happened, all the touch. Only when I stop touching you, your system starts to realize what has just happened. When physical stimulation ends, you begin to feel all the changes in your body. Give yourself 5-10 minutes before you stand up.
And this is still just a beginning. Lomi lomi nui massage will be working for you, in you for hours or even days later. After every session you literally have new body as some tensions are gone, something gets released, changed, relaxed. On some levels you are a different person now – and your system needs time to integrate these changes. You may have all kinds of emotions or memories coming to you. You may have “aha” moments, when you finally find a solution to a problem that was bothering you or you may even realize that this is not a problem anymore – you released it. You may respond in a new way to old situations, feel and think differently about yourself, other people and the world. You may experience change in your habits and patterns of thinking and behaving.
All this is why I love lomi lomi bodywork so much – because it supports changes on all levels of your life if this is what you want and open up to.
How to support the process of integration?
1. Stay hydrated. Seriously, it helps a lot if you drink enough water after the massage.
2. Give yourself time to rest. Take a bath, eat nourishing meal, take some me-time if you can and just do what relaxes you. Go to bed early.
3. Observe yourself. Notice the subtle changes in your body, mind, emotions. Pay attention to how you feel hours and days after the massage – what is changing.
4. Be kind to yourself. Give yourself a lot of caring touch and gentle, supporting thoughts.
Aloha,
Magdalena