The Ancient Origins of Massage

I feel part of my life's work is to reconnect with the wisdom of our ancestors and bring it forward into our modern culture.

I find it SO COOL Massage Therapy is one of the oldest forms of healing we have practiced as humans!

The basic understanding that touch helps us feel better comes at an almost instinctual level. Think about the last time you banged your knee on something or your child came to you with an owie... You probably instinctively touched it to make it feel better! This is because touch actually triggers your brain to releases hormones that are soothing and calming. They also have pain fighting abilities!

Massage as a holistic healing method formally emerged around 3,000 (possibly more) years ago in China, Egypt and India.

Ayurveda is the traditional holistic medicinal system in India and put simply, is the understanding that people incur illnesses by being out of harmony with their environment. To treat this, they must restore mental and physical harmony with the world around them, through the 5 senses. Touch or massage therapy being an important part of their natural integration back into harmony.

We have images on the tombs of Egypt depicting massage was practiced and Chinese texts dating back to 2700 BCE describe the medical benefits of massage, their techniques combined methods of doctors in traditional Chinese medicine, practitioners of martial arts, Buddhists and Taoists who viewed touch as essential to their spiritual yoga training, and many offered massages for relaxation. Their belief is that through massage, energy will flow more harmoniously through the body, allowing it to heal itself naturally.

Later monks brought these practices to Japan around 1000 BCE, giving rise to new techniques with a primary goal of raising the energy level in the patient, which in turn leaves them with more robust functioning organs, stimulates their natural resistance to illness, and leaves them with more physical and emotional well-being.

Around 800 BCE the ancient Greeks began using massage to keep their athletes in peak condition. Later in the 5th century, the well known physician of his time, Hippocrates, who influenced much of our modern grounds for practicing medicine, often prescribed a form of massage called "friction" to treat physical injuries and taught about the benefits of rubbing to help the body heal itself. He promoted a combination of massage, proper diet, exercise, rest, fresh air, and music to restore the body to a healthy state.

Massage later became popular in Rome and Europe and later Sweden where even more techniques were refined and developed and we see the use of massage for increased circulation, joint pain, and the manual treatment of physical ailments.

These techniques were passed down and perfected through generations and have now been backed and understood by science.

We now have a very comprehensive understanding of the many ways massage helps to heal the body, physically, mentally and energetically. It has rightly earned it's place as a legitimate and respectable form of alternative and complementary medicine.

It is an honor and privilege to carry this ancient form of healing into the 21st century. I am incredibly thankful for each and every person who has come to me with aches and pains, both physically and emotionally and that I have been able to apply this both ancient and modern form of natural health and healing to assist in their well-being.

Message me to schedule your next massage.

Warm Wishes, Ashley