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66 m a s s a g e & b o d y wo r k m ay/ j u n e 2 0 24 Our massage sessions became more interactive. We encouraged clients to breathe in ways that enhanced their experience. We explained what a relaxed muscle feels like: how it moves, its texture, its balance in space. We used creative, nontechnical language that required minimal mental focus so we could keep them in their blissful, half- dream state. Our clients were intrigued by this approach to massage and felt more engaged in their healing. Let's look at how you can incorporate this tool for your clients. HELPING YOUR CLIENTS RELAX Humans are excellent at focusing on survival. Unfortunately, a chronically stressed client in the sympathetic state is wired to focus on surviving rather than healing. Until they feel safe enough, a client will remain in the sympathetic state, thus predisposing themselves to think about the stressors plaguing them. Their mind is unavailable to assist in healing until it calms. Guided visualization is a great tool to help your clients release their anxious thoughts and surrender to the safety of the moment, where you can do your most effective work. Visualization recruits the mind by reinforcing neural pathways toward relaxation. Through practice, your client's muscles relax more readily with mental imagery. Their mind becomes a partner in healing. We all have those clients who have a hard time relaxing. They stare at the ceiling or talk to you while you work. They "help" you by lifting their arms and legs. It's as though they don't know how to let go and relax. For these clients, we want to give them a carrot to follow, a path where they don't feel the need to lead but can calmly tend to themselves inwardly. We want them to feel safe enough to drift into deep relaxation. Other clients completely surrender their power to us. They can relax but don't know how to participate in their healing during the session. They "check out" on the massage table and leave the work to us. They are relaxed, but if they were empowered to participate in their relaxation, they would have a more satisfying experience. Ideally, our clients would focus on the sensations in their bodies while deeply relaxing. They would breathe with our cues and experience their muscles unwinding. Active relaxation is a skill. It takes training to keep the mind present while the body rests. When clients are actively relaxed, they are engaged with the massage and can get the most out of the work. They participate by breathing, letting their limbs be heavy, and communicating with us about the sensations they experience. When they bring themselves into this state of active relaxation, our clients receive many benefits. They develop the ability to maintain their calm awareness. They go inward, deeply feeling the sensations of the massage. They are more receptive to instruction on how they can actively participate in relaxing their muscles. And they feel empowered to assist in their healing, focusing their effort with imagination and breath. Clients who practice this peaceful meditation during massage can mentally put themselves back into that healing state after the massage. They can return to the feelings that brought them peace during the massage. They begin to understand that they have a hand in their healing. BRAIN POWER Let's examine how three areas of the brain have adapted to make visualization a powerful tool for transformation. Occipital Lobe and Imagery Your occipital lobe is responsible for vision and for visualizing events that have not happened. 5 It uses about 20 percent of your brain's capacity. With so much energy dedicated to the occipital lobe, image processing happens quickly and efficiently. If you want to absorb information quickly, make it visual—the more creative the imagery, the better. Motor Cortex and Movement Whether you perform an action or just imagine doing it, the same areas of your motor cortex fire—your brain responds the same with actual and imagined movement. A study in Strength and Conditioning Journal found that visualizing muscle contractions between weightlifting reps substantially increased the number of repetitions the participants could do. 6 The researchers suggested that athletes who use effective imagery during their workouts may be able to perform at a higher level. Studies like this make us wonder how visualization might enhance the effects of massage. If muscles gain strength through visualization, how might they relax through visualization?