One of the most interesting moments of #lomilomitraining are talks and sharings that happen in between massaging. Yesterday we had this fascinating discussion with my students, about massage and pain.
Some people believe that a good massage has to be painful. Some people would think like this: “I went for a massage and it hurt, so it must have been good and deep”. Some people would say – no pain, no gain. Some people would think that it’s normal to have bruises after massage. When you have tensions, massage hurts, full stop.
I wish I could talk to these people and tell them this: Repeat after me – no pain, more gain. No pain, more gain. No pain, MORE GAIN.
And then I would massage them. I would go deep, really deep into the tissues. I would stretch every muscle, press, pull, rotate, soothe. Many tensions would get released. Their mobility would increase. They would feel relaxed, rejuvenated, reborn. And they would NOT feel pain during the massage – because it’s not needed! How do you want to take the pain away from the body by bringing more pain? This doesn’t make sense to me.
Maybe it’s my life mission to share this message with the world: massage doesn’t need to feel painful to be efficient. You don’t need to suffer. Whatever you want to achieve, whatever you want to feel, PAIN WILL NOT TAKE YOU THERE.
I know, I understand that there are people who enjoy really deep massage work – I am one of them. But AGAIN: deep doesn’t mean painful. Do you think you “like” pain in the massage? Maybe it’s because you never experienced a not-painful, efficient, tension-releasing bodywork? Or maybe you are afraid of what is under the pain, what shows up when you go deep WITHOUT pain? Because there is a whole world there. And pain will not take you into these places.
Magdalena