Can Massage Can Save Your Relationship?
Top 4 Reasons Massage Can Save Your Relationship
It is a known fact that massage can help reduce stress, tension anxiety, and help relieve pain within one’s body but what about elsewhere. I don’t know about you but I am always, (and I do mean always), looking for an excuse to get a massage. So I thought to myself, “what other reasons do I have to get a massage”, and it hit me! Why not get a massage with my significant other? What benefits would that bring me (or rather us), at the very least it’s a great gesture, right? Me being who I am, I had to make sense of it all so I came up with a list of my top 4 reasons why massage is a great couples activity and could quite possibly save your relationship!
Reason 1: Spending Quality Time Together And Creating a Stronger Bond. If you have a normal relationship I’m sure you will agree that it can be stressful at times. The stress may not necessarily be coming from one another, however when you love someone, one person’s stress becomes the other person’s stress automatically so why not relieve it together? It is a fact that massage increases oxytocin levels, and according to various sources, studies have begun to investigate oxytocin's role in various behaviors, including social recognition, pair bonding, anxiety, and maternal behaviors. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as the "bonding hormone". Getting massaged together in theory should bring you two closer together.
Reason 2: Creating and Building Trust. One thing I found to be very profound when going through massage school, was when my instructor explained to us how building our clients trust was uber important.She went on to talk about energy, and how we as total therapists are being allowed to enter a person's personal and most intimate space. To put it simply, no one willingly allows a total stranger to rub on their naked body, even if it is one of their health care professionals. You certainly won't return to see your massage therapist again if we are not capable of developing a sense of trust. Trusting someone is a learned skill in this day and age and doesn't come easily, and if you can trust us, you can certainly allow yourself to trust your significant other with the amazing power of touch and always assume the best of them not the worst.
Reason 3: Promoting Non Sexual Positive Touch. Positive touch is interestingly enough, however
very sadly, just becoming a hot topic in today’s society. I mentioned above this has a lot to do with trust. You would think positive touch would be common and second nature, as touch is the first sense that we mastered as babies. It’s how we first expressed love to our parents, siblings and other children. Apparently, we have somehow forgotten the joy and simple pleasure of touch. Studies have shown that positive touch increases brain activity and promotes good social behaviors, people who have had less positive touch in their lives are often antisocial and passive aggressive in nature and thus bad communicators. Which brings me to my final reason.
Reason 4: Communication. Last but certainly not least,communication. When getting a massage one MUST learn great communication skills, and great communication is the savior and key of any relationship. Business, friendship, personal etc, it does not matter what kind of relationship you have, YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE without good and effective communication. Not only do you need great communication skills to be able to effectively communicate to your therapist what your body needs and has gone through since your last visit but also what is most effective for you. In addition to communicating what you need, massage also helps you figure out what you like, what you do not like and how to not feel bad about expressing that to a stranger or better yet, your loved ones.
