Massage as a Revolutionary Act
It’s much better for you to be worn to the bone, tired, and unable to revolt. It’s easier for you to be so exhausted, that you mindlessly and numbly carry out your activities of daily life, without taking care of yourself, your body, or your mind.
Obviously, the above statement is not our intention, but it seems that the world we live in would prefer to have us complacent and incapable of taking care of ourselves. If you are rested, you can think clearly. When you have peace, you can advocate with a stronger voice.
Healthcare doesn’t win if you are healthy. Destructive agencies don’t win if you have strength to fight back against the oppressive systems put in place to keep you tired, broke, and defeated. If you are stressed and tired, it’s much easier to manipulate you into purchasing anti-aging products and energy boosting drinks, supplements; it’s much easier to distract you with things that don’t matter and keep you chasing some “dream” versus finding the tranquility and strength within. To love oneself. To fight for oneself. To honor oneself. To advocate for yourself and for your loved ones.
It’s time for the era of the martyr to end. We don’t need to give tirelessly to be deemed worthy. It’s time to fill your cup so you can fill others’.
Audrey Lorde said it best, “"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare".
We have many points of reference for how the body stores trauma. References like, The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk and The Molecule of Emotion by Candace Pert, PhD, provide proof, backed by science, that the impact of trauma and stress can be destructive to our physical bodies in ways that we might not be able to come back from.
Massage won’t help you get rid of your cellulite, but it will help you regulate your nervous system so you can regulate your emotions more effectively. (AMTA, 2025). Your physical and emotional well-being are connected. And no, not all physical pain is emotional, but when your body is feeling better, it sets up the rest of you to function better as well.
What I have have been noticing most recently, especially here in Minneapolis, is that people are operating with a baseline of extraordinary stress. Our stress cup is maxed out before our fit hit the ground in the morning. And when we add the weight of the world to the weight of our personal obstacles, it’s beyond overwhelming- it’s unmanageable. It’s hard to function. Work and personal relationships struggle. How you engage with the world changes- you might be more distracted or disconnected, making those important interpersonal connections are little farther our of reach. We might choose to stay home more and increase social media, which only increases isolation and reduces healing connection.
The most frequent comment my clients are expressing post massage is, “I finally feel like I can breathe again”, and “Wow, I finally feel in my body again”. This is saying a lot. The words beyond the message are sending that we are collectively disassociating to survive and we desperately are trying to connect to each other and to ourselves. If only you weren’t so burnt our and tired….
Long ago, we were led to believe that massage therapy was only a therapy for the muscles, but with increasing research, we are now better understanding the rewarding impacts of massage on helping emotional health by reducing stress hormones like cortisol and increasing feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin, which helps to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety (Price, Fogarty, 2025)
Getting back into your body is more important that you think. And massage is such an easy and accesible tool that affords you human connection and a safe space to spend an hour solely on yourself, for introspection, relaxation, and much needed rest. When we are rested, we can show up better for ourselves and for our loved ones.
I hope this encourages you to take some time for yourself, guilt-free. You deserve rest and stillness in your life. Be open to the greater benefit of connecting with your body and listening to what it tells you.
AMTA (2025) Beyond the Physical: Massage and Emotional Health https://www.amtamassage.org/publications/massage-therapy-journal/massage-and-emotional-health/#:~:text=Massage%20therapy%20can%20help%20with%20emotional%20well%2Dbeing,can%20calm%20and%20reset%20the%20nervous%20system
Price C, Fogarty S. Touching the Mind-Exploring the Intersection of Massage and Mental Health. Int J Ther Massage Bodywork. 2025 Sep 11;18(3):3-4. doi: 10.3822/ijtmb.v18i3.1359. PMID: 40881724; PMCID: PMC12370310.