Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Manicures or Massages?

How many people do you know that would rather spend their money on getting regular appointments for manicures, pedicures, or hair coloring instead of paying for regular health benefiting massage sessions? Isn't it interesting that in our society we've come to place more importance on our physical presentation than in our health? I suppose one of my concerns as a massage therapist is to communicate the importance of this therapy called massage. In case you haven't noticed, massage isn't JUST for relaxation or an indulgence anymore. Massage has been shown to improve people's health (and animal's health too) in many physical, emotional, and mental health issues. When did you hear the last time a manicure helped someone going through chemotherapy's side effects? Or a pedicure helped someone with joint issues increase their range-of-motion? I haven't heard anything about coloring one's hair being linked to improving a person's immune system, have you? Maybe I'm being too harsh but this is my blog and I feel that I need to address this out to the public ... maybe some of you have never thought about swapping one of these (manicure, pedicure, hair coloring) every other month for a massage.

Ooooohh-- A CHALLENGE!! I challenge you to take one beauty indulgence that you pay for every month AND every other month, swap it for a 60 or 90 minute massage appointment (by a therapist you like -- see my next blog entry about massage therapists)! What? You don't have time? Let me ask you this -- if you became ill and had to be restricted from doing most of your daily activities for a week or two, would the world continue to revolve? Would everything fall apart or would it get done (maybe not up to your standards, but sometimes we do have to drop that bar a little in order to live)? Your body needs you to listen to it and if you're too busy to hear what it's trying to tell you, it will eventually take matters into its own hands (ha ha ha) -- meaning that it will shut you down whether you wanted to stop or not. Have you ever started a new job and within a week, you've gotten really sick, even though you hadn't been sick in years? That's your body and what stress does to it -- make time for your body. Call your massage therapist and schedule an appointment -- can't afford it still? Try finding your local massage therapy school and find out about their internship massage clinic which charges almost half of the going rates. Of course the down side is you probably won't get a customized massage to fit your needs but it's still better than not getting a massage at all and you'll be helping a student get more experience :-D


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