Part I
Discovering Massage
In this part . . .
As you explore this first part of the book, you may begin to get a sense that youāve been overlooking something big, almost as if youād failed to see an elephant living in your backyard.
Donāt feel bad. Youāre in the majority. Most people have no clue about the rich tradition that massage has to offer, and some who think they do know only the misconceptions that swarm around the whole issue of massage.
Luckily, this first part of the book eliminates such concerns. The dazzling display of information in the first three chapters will leave you with a jaw-agape appreciation for the tremendous benefits massage can have for you, your family, and your friends.
Whether youāre already somewhat familiar with massage and are raring to go, or youāre a trembling neophyte slightly intimidated by the very concept of touching another person or being touched, Part I quickly ushers you into a new world filled with the millions who already know and enjoy the many benefits of massage. Welcome to the club.
Chapter 1
Not Just a Rub: How Massage Can Improve Your Life
In This Chapter
Introducing the benefits of massage
Running through the various types of massage and how they help you
What does massage really do for you anyway? Sure, receiving one feels incredible, and watching beautiful people massaging each other on how-to videos looks nice, but whatās going on beneath the surface? Is it worth it to actually fork over your hard-earned cash to have someone rub your skin for an hour? Should you spend your precious time and energy learning how to give a good massage yourself? Is massage really effective, or is it just an unnecessary, flashy indulgence, like fish eggs on toast?
Well, being a massage junkie myself, I canāt imagine why anybody wouldnāt want to get a massage anytime, anyplace, for any reason or no reason at all. For me, massage has just always seemed like such an obviously good thing to do, starting way back in 11th grade when Grace came over to visit at my parentās house one afternoon, and nobody else was home. Being a typical 17-year-old, I was hoping that we were soon going to engage in some good old-fashioned hanky-panky, and when Grace told me to loosen my belt and lie down on the carpet, I began singing Handelās Messiah silently to myself. Grace touched me then on the small of my back, and Iāll never forget the sensation. āThis is a massage technique that somebody taught me,ā she said. āHow does it feel?ā
āAh, it feels, um, kind of, uh, unbelievable!ā I said, and unbelievable was exactly the right word. Grace was doing something clearly nonsexual, and I couldnāt believe that anything nonsexual could feel so good, that there was a way to be so intimate with somebody and yet not get in trouble with her father if he were to find out about it. In short, I couldnāt believe that something that wasnāt illegal, immoral, or fattening could be so sumptuously pleasurable.
I asked Grace to keep doing what she was doing, and as she did so, I began devising, right there with my face buried in my parentās green shag carpeting, a future lifestyle that included the absolutely highest number of massages possible.
This early experience pointed out a fundamental truth about massage therapy that those people who judge it without trying it often miss: There is a difference between sex and massage therapy. There, I said it, right here in Chapter 1, and Iām glad. Some people out there will forever mix the two up, which does a disservice to everybody else, especially those people who have shied away from massage over the years because of a perceived less-than-pristine image.
I discovered, in that youthful, eye-opening experience, that massage does indeed feel unbelievable, and that discovery was a great place to begin. Now, years later, after studying and teaching massage and experiencing the myriad facets of massage in both the United States and other countries, Iāve been introduced to other, deeper reasons for including it in my life, reasons with profound implications for improved health, well-being, and even longevity.
In this chapter (and throughout this book), I share these reasons with you. I also introduce you to various types of massage and finally provide you with a fun, quick activity to get you started on your massage journey.
Appreciating the Basic Benefits of Massage
If I were to go into some of the stories about how massage has helped people change their lives, heal themselves, become rich and famous, and so on, you probably wouldnāt believe me right away, because, after all, Iām still in Chapter 1. So Iām going to start out slowly and offer you some of the simplest, everyday ways that massage can help you, some of which still may come as a surprise to you.
Here, then, not ranked in any particular order, are some basic benefits of massage that perhaps didnāt pop straight into your head the first time you thought about it. Massage
Helps relieve muscular spasm and tension
Raises immune efficiency
Improves circulation
Promotes the healing of tissues
Increases healthy functioning of the skin
Engenders profound relaxation
Offers emotional reassurance
Improves appearance
The following sections take these points one at a time and let you get comfortable with them.
Helps relieve muscular spasm and tension
As you can see in Figure 1-1, muscles that are relaxed and happy are definitely physically different than muscles that are tensed up due to stress, overuse, injury, and more. The limp rope in the figure is your muscle. The knotted rope is your muscle on stress.
Figure 1-1: Ropes representing stressed and unstressed muscles.
But thereās more to it than that, believe it or not. Regardless of how wickedly clever my rope analogy is, the human body is much more complex. In fact, itās so complex that nobody has completely figured it out yet, even though countless researchers have spent a lifetime trying to do so. A whole bunch of really interesting things about the body have been discovered, however, along with how it responds to various types of stimuli, including massage.
For example, one of the most direct effects of massage is to help loosen the tension you experience as knots, kinks, and spasms in your muscles. Massage achieves this goal in a number of ways:
The application of pressure creates awareness of tension in a particular area, and the person receiving the massage can then begin to consciously release that tension.
Through the application of friction to the area, a thermodynamic effect takes place, warming and softening tight, hard connective tissue.
Stimulating trigger points soothes the local nerves, allowing a release of contractions.
Raises immune efficiency
Did you know that you have a vast system of vessels running through your body, roughly parallel to your circulatory system, and that this system is filled with a fluid that is responsible for carrying away and eliminating many of the organisms, bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic bad guys that may otherwise attack you? Yes, itās true. This setup is the lymph system, otherwise known as the Canadian Mounties of your body.
Your lymph system has nodes at various strategically located areas throughout your body, and these nodes have the job of capturing the invaders and processing them before eventual expulsion through your excretory system. Now, you may be wondering, how the heck does this lymph fluid get pumped through my body any... 
