So yesterday was an interesting day. It was the first time I reluctantly went for a Thai massage. It was something that my partner recommended to me as she has had a few before yet I had not really bothered with. I am writing this today completely mind blown on the effect the massage has had on me and it has had such an affect, I have researched the procedure itself and the benefits.
I am sharing my experience with you guys because this massage cured a lot of negative tension and feelings I have been having for a couple of months in one quick swoop. I am hoping it can help someone else here.
A bit about me
So that you understand what I am going through and what it has helped, let me briefly explain my situation. Over the past few months I have been overworking myself. Initially I didn't notice but when again my partner sat me down and told it to me straight it started making a lot of sense.
I run a digital marketing business with a team of 9 that’s getting pretty hectic, I have also built an eCommerce website selling geek gadgets, I now own part of another business that lists every single bicycle on the market that needs marketing. I go to London once a week to help a fin-tech company launch their new brand and I try to do this on top of chilling out at the weekend, investing in crypto currency and writing here on Steemit.
So I've made life hectic, there are many parts I do not regret about this but I accept that I think this has pushed me down a path of stress, anxiety and mild depression. When you juggle so many things it becomes difficult to progress them all and eventually that kind of thing hits you and you stop caring so much. This happened to me recently and as strange as it sounds, the Thai massage helped.
The massage
I live with my partner and she knows me very well. Shes knows the pressure I put myself under to succeed at whatever task I set out to do. She has also seen me spiral down as I have taken so much on and end up an exhausted mess at the bottom. Last week she finally sat me down and told me I need to take time out to relax and help kill my stress. She explained if I didn't do this now it wasn't going to get any better in the future. It was at this point she recommended me to have a Thai massage. My first response was standard stereotypical guy. "I don't need that" "It will be a waste of time" "What's the point?" Despite my objections, she persisted with me and I ended up with a booked massage for the following weekend. On the day we drove down to the small town we live near where their parlour is. As usual my mind filled with thoughts. What needs doing that day, what needs doing next week, what I should be doing right now, blah blah blah. We arrived and was warmly greeted by two Thai women who led us into the massage room.
A gentle start... but building up
A first it was quite a pleasant start, they begin on the feet and look for certain pressure points as this has links to improving circulation, relieving stress and lifting you mood.
From this point onward the masseuse moved onto my legs. With such a nice, gentle start I thought she would just continue on finding some magical pressure point in my leg that would help relax, how wrong was I... In this part the masseuse had me laying down on my belly and began to climb on top of my legs and dig her knees in every part of my leg muscle.
That's right, things ramp up quickly in a Thai massage and the next thing you know you have the entire body weight of someone being used to massage you muscles. Still, it wasn't too bad and soon got used to it.
The back and shoulders... The pain
Next up was my back, the masseuse had started for around 30 seconds when she said "You are very tight on you lower back and shoulders. Do you mind me being a bit firmer?" I said she can do whatever she thinks is required and I regretted it shortly after.
The pain from the muscles and knots in my back was crazy. It was like having a huge bruise on your back and somebody was constantly pushing it all day. I could feel every click when she went over a knot in my back and shoulders. Every point I could tell where my muscles were tight and eventually I could anticipate where the pain would be. She wasn’t just using her hands to massage the knots out. Some of the time I could feel an elbow digging in my back to really put the pressure on.
Despite the pain, I put up with it and eventually it started easing off.
The head and neck
From this point she moved onto my head, apparently finding knots in my head that needed removing. How there are knots on my skull I will never understand but I wasn't complaining. Compared to working on my back this was a dream.
The neck area was very much like my shoulders, all tightened up with stress and required kneading out with Thai hands. It ended up being just as painful as my back. After many pain stricken moments, this pretty much concluded the massage.
The aftermath... sleep and happiness
After the massage I was talking with my partner on the drive home. I said how insane it was and how we had basically just paid for someone to inflict pain on us for an hour. At first I really didn’t see the point of it at all. However, a short while after relaxing at home I noticed the affects.
I fell asleep for 2 hours in the middle of the day.
This may sound standard for some people but this is not for me, I never ever sleep in the day. Under normal circumstances I literally cannot sleep in the day. I have been completely knackered before and tried to nap in the day with zero success. Yet post Thai massage I was completely knocked out for two hours and there was nothing I could do about it.
It was then when I woke up I made myself a coffee and I started noticing. I wasn't thinking about the next week, I wasn't worrying about business, clients, cash flow. For once, I was living for there and then, I was in the moment and completely content with with no stress or sadness. This continued throughout the day and I have woken up this morning and started writing this article with a very similar mindset.
My muscles are very sore, but they feel completely refreshed and I am comfortably sat here writing this article with a feeling of happiness in the back of my mind. Normally happiness requires me to put thought in somehow. It normally needs me to forcefully think positive to get to that mindset. Yet today I can comfortable relax and think of nothing and still be happy.
It may be temporary, hopefully it is permanent but one thing I can say is if anyone is feeling down about life or has built up a tremendous amount of stress with so much going on. If you have tried many things to solve it and failed. As crazy as it may sound, try a Thai massage. It has worked wonders for me and I am definitely booking regular sessions. For me it has done wonders and was worth every penny.
Benefits of a Thai Massage
For those that are interested, from my research after the massage I found a few points on what a Thai massage helps with and what it has been known to remedy.
Improved Menthal Wellbeing
I can certainly confirm this for the short term. A study was done that proved that massage actually helps the well being of patients, particularly patients with musculoskeletal pain over other treatments.
Decreased Cortisol Levels and increased seratonin
Again a study showing the post massage feeling has been linked to increasing serotonin levels which is the happy hormone and decreasing cortisol levels which are the stress hormones.
Increase delta wave brain activity
There has been links that all massages increase delta wave brain activity which is associated with deep rest and sleep. Considering the two hour trance sleep I was put in shortly after my massage and can personally confirm this.
Improved blood circulation
Because of the rigorous massage techniques in a Thai massage it is well know to increase blood circulation although I could not find any direct benefits from this.
Pain Relief
Thai massage works in a very similar way to acupuncture in that it is focused on relieving all muscular tension which helps alleviate pain.
Increased energy
There is a lot of references to increases of energy from a massage. Whilst I definitely was not energetic after the massage yesterday. I am up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday to write this post so take from that what you want.
I feel like there is a lot more I do not know about Thai massage that I am going to discover. There was a whole meditative feel to the massage yesterday and a lot of techniques used that are supposed to release bad energy. I have not looked into this properly so I may well have a follow up post once I know this and have had a another massage.
So enjoy, I hope I help somebody discover their first Thai massage today. If I do, please get in touch with me here and let me know what it was like for you. Likewise if you've already had a Thai massage let me know how you found it.
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Thank you!!!
