Massage & Bodywork

July | August 2014

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I t p a y s t o b e A B M P C e r t i f i e d : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 111 Since those initial forays into the body-mind phenomenon, the link between emotional trauma and physical maladies has become a well-trodden road. As many as 90 percent of all physician visits are for stress-related issues, which often include psychological and emotional components. In fact, about 43 percent of all adults report that they currently suffer adverse effects from stress. 2 Even the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that addressing emotional and behavioral issues plays a significant role in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the 15 leading causes of death in the United States, including heart disease, cancer, accidents, hypertension, and more. 3 Hundreds of studies on stress and immunity show that psychological distress negatively affects the immune response, further substantiating the integral relationship between emotional stress and physical maladies. 4 Early childhood stress is especially toxic, say researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard Medical School, explaining that when the body's stress response is activated so early, there can be long-term harmful effects on the brain and organs. One of the reasons why early emotional crises are so long lasting is that once the neurological pathways for responding to stress are laid down, physiological responses to stress are more easily triggered later in life—even when the current situation is dissimilar to a childhood one. 5 Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for childhood trauma to harm the body. Research outlined by the Child Welfare division of the US Department of Health & Human Services shows that during the three years after a maltreatment investigation, nearly one-third of the children developed a chronic health condition. In addition, the emotional adversity led to psychological conditions including depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders. 6 When you're working on someone's body, repressed emotions are bound to surface. After all, emotions are physical. Our neurotransmitters instruct everything from our heart to our hunger, yet it is estimated that 86 percent of Americans have imbalanced neurotransmitter levels. 7 Such imbalances are linked to dozens of disorders, including addiction, ADHD, adrenal fatigue, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, depression, fibromyalgia, hormone dysfunction, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, panic attacks, and weight issues. 8 Neuropeptides, a special type of neurotransmitter, deserve special attention from bodyworkers because they regulate emotions and stress. They also bind to the surface of cells located throughout the body, thus turning our entire body into a "mood machine." Within these cells we hold and process both current information and memories. 9 Emotional triggering is strongest when clients' defenses are low or they are being touched, something that's being explored through an emerging discipline called somatic psychology. Somatic psychology addresses the loop between emotional stress, trauma, and pain. Chronic pain—the type often seen in massage clients—often hides feelings of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. These emotions might very well be caused by posttraumatic stress disorder or other unresolved emotional issues. 10 THE POWER OF EMOTION Being a body therapist really can call for us to be a "therapist" at times. So how do we provide emotional support, energetically, and without stepping outside our scope? We start by recognizing that an emotion is composed of bonded energies—energy being information that moves. There are two types of emotions: those made of affixed feelings and those made of at least one feeling and one belief bound together. Emotions form to empower our reactions to an event, especially stress. Like all things, each feeling carries a certain vibrational impact and reinforces a certain message. The same goes for beliefs. It's important to remember that feelings and beliefs hold energy and when they are joined—feeling plus feeling or feeling plus belief—create exponential energy. Emotions activate all the other energies of our body, mind, and soul, stirring explosive effects.

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