Massage as the Art of Unwinding (Heather Eggleston)

Healing is a gentle process of unwinding from a state of old, uncomfortable defense mechanisms, postural deviations, and discomfort into a more authentic state of simple being. As we learn to recognize our Selves in the cacophony of jumbled voices we’ve absorbed during our lives, suddenly we find ourselves more naturally aligned with the primary heartbeat and those external fears we’ve swallowed are cleansed from our inner waterways. Suddenly we are unwound enough to know who we are and how to simply Be.

Therapeutic massage has a long list of benefits. It increases circulation, lowers heart rate, re-sets the hormonal soup of the body, liquifies fascial tissue, and on and on. Each of these characteristics is vitally important for their interrelated physiological reasons. However they all point to a more artful underlying benefit of therapeutic massage and that is the gentle unwinding process. As the compassionate and skilled therapist holds space the guest is allowed a space to recover their natural rhythms. Movement is very much a part of massage. It is, ideally, an interactive dance in which the massage therapist works and the guest is given permission to shift ever so subtly as tense, traumatized fascial tissue loosens and the binds on the body release. As the physical binds release the mental-emotional and spiritual binds are given permission to follow.

Healing is a labyrinth and when we step into it we (therapist and guest) have no idea where it will ultimately lead. It is the process of following the natural rhythms of the body that draws us deeper into a space of primary reality and Deep Healing.