Unplug for an hour!
Do you often feel like a slave to your mobile devices? While these technological advances assist us in accomplishing many things we enjoy in life, our time is not always our own unless we take the opportunity to unplug from these devices from regularly.
We don’t always have the luxury to go away to a remote island or a mountain town where cell service is non-existent but we should be able to find an hour in our day to relax on a massage table without our cell phones beckoning us.
There are many benefits that regular massage and turning off the cell phone can offer to our state of being – body, mind and spirit. Let’s consider the body, specifically the nervous system and how it assists us to complete our daily activities. You are consciously aware of your nervous system that controls your muscles. But, you are not consciously aware of the nervous system which controls your glands, blood vessels and organs of your body. This autonomic system has two settings which signal our body to respond in different situations. We have heard of “fight or flight” or the sympathetic state but are less familiar with the parasympathetic state which has been described in many ways including: “rest and digest”, ”feed and breed” and, “heal and feel”. Just from those descriptions, one might begin to understand how the parasympathetic mode is present during times that are very gratifying and healing and our sympathetic mode is important in times of danger or increased energy output.
We already are aware of how taxing it is to drive in rush hour traffic around any major city. We may think that we are relaxing when we are eating our meal at our desks and reading the next new story on FaceBook or checking the new text message that arrives at 1 am waking us up from sleeping, but our body knows the difference as we put our attention and energy to these tasks. We pay a dear price when we operate out of balance and remain in a sympathetic state throughout our days (and, nights).
When you come in for a massage, just as when you take time to meditate – empty your mind of your to-do lists and be present, it is possible to achieve a significant amount of time in parasympathetic bliss which is very rejuvenating for your entire body – inside and out! In order for this to be possible, feel free to relax without speaking unless to give necessary feedback to your massage therapist and, make sure to put your mobile devices on airplane mode – so you may transport yourself in your mind to that remote island beach or that clear mountain vista for an hour. Float away and enjoy the session without having to do anything or think of anything at all. And, unplug more often!