Massage & body image.

If you have set your fitness goals for the New Year, I bet body awareness and self image is on your mind. Come on, how often do you think about your body? Are your thoughts positive or negative? Do you stand in front of the mirror and focus on the areas you don't like? Or, do you look in the mirror with conviction and say "Good for you. You have made a decision to take care of your body and invest in your health."
A word of caution, your thoughts affect your emotions and your emotions in turn affect your actions. If your thoughts are negative, they will impact your emotions which will affect your actions.
In other words, if you are thinking you are worthless and will never achieve your wellness goals, you will feel unworthy. If you feel unworthy you will not be motivated to take action to exercise and invest in your health. If you are struggling, consider seeking support from a friend, fitness coach or support group.
So how does massage help you with your body image? If you receive a massage on a regular basis you will experience positive effects on the body AND mind. If your body image is negative your muscles will be tense from the negative mind chatter. Massage helps the muscles to relax therefore releasing negative physical and mental patterns of tension.
Tomorrow I'll discuss body awareness and how massage can help alleviate workout aches and pains.