Building a Better Breath Part 1

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‘BREATHE’.

It’s so obvious. Well, at least not on the first visit*

If you’ve ever had a session with me in Room 2 at The Glasgow Treatment Rooms you’ll be familiar with the lettering. As you turn around to lie face up you’ll spot the words on the ceiling:

‘Breathe’.

It brings a smile to the client on the table: “It’s so obvious! Why didn’t I notice that when I came in?”

I guess it’s similar to breath itself.

It’s always there. The act of breathing is the very essence of our existence; as it flows in and out of our bodies it’s is the elixir keeping us alive.

The quality of your breath is rather important. And over time, like the rest of our bodies, it evolves and adapts based on the stimulus it receives on a daily basis. And it’s an often overlooked topic when dealing with pain, particularly in cases of chronic back pain and discomfort.

The Mechanics of Breath

In order to address breathing mechanics it makes sense to start with the muscular framework of the trunk.

Do you ever note the quality of your breath? Is there a deep, steady rhythm? Is it short? Shallow? Fast? Slow? Does it come from the abdomen, or does the chest lead the way in your breathing patterns?

Think back to a time that you’ve experienced a stressful situation. Or tweaked a muscle in your back. How did your breath respond?

For now, just notice how you breathe as you’re reading these words.

Let me introduce a concept that allows you to physically connect with the breath: the inner unit.

Part of the musculature of the inner unit

Most of you will have likely heard of the term ‘core’. Core means different things to different people and is often regarded as something we have conscious control over; I much prefer the term ‘inner unit’ to avoid any confusion with the multitude of definitions and interpretations.

A well-functioning inner unit is not something that we can ‘switch on’. It acts reactively and intuitively to stimulus from the environment and from the movements we place ourselves in.

The Framework of the Inner Unit

The inner unit is essentially the musculature that surrounds the trunk of the body, most notably:

  • The diaphragm
  • Internal obliques
  • External obliques
  • Transvers Abdominis
  • Multifidis
  • And the musculature of the pelvic floor

Through movement we can use the muscles of the inner unit to connect to the breath. In an ideal and more primal environment, movement variation through carrying, running and lifting would take care of the breath and the supporting inner unit. But we now spend a large proportion of our time doing repetitive actions. Most of which involve sitting. A lot!

Can sitting, driving and repetition affect the inner unit?

If you can imagine the inner unit like a balloon, those modern-day habitual patterns of bending at the hips and flexing the spine in a seated position compresses the balloon.

Do that often enough for months and years and your body will adapt the functions of the inner unit to deal with the compression stimulus. The outcome is often an alteration to the breath and a less optimal chest breathing pattern.

Remember, bodies respond to the stimulus they repeatedly receive

This is worth repeating.

Now stop reading again and be aware of your natural breathe at this moment in time. Observe. I’m going to give you some interesting ideas to improve the quality of your breathe over the course of the next few blog posts.

*FYI, I’m in Room 2 on a Monday and a Saturday. Come and check it out; it is ridiculous the amount of people that don’t notice the glaringly obvious font on the ceiling!

Health Shield Members Glasgow

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It’s an undisputed fact that employee wellness schemes are a great initiative if you take advantage of them. There are a number of cash plans available, with companies like Health Shield and Medicash offering employees a variety of products and therapies; all designed to improve your physical and mental wellbeing in the work place.

And good news; massage is one of those therapies.

With regards to sports massage in particular, you are entitled to cashback for a number of your annual treatments. You’re essentially treating yourself to free massages every year…how amazing is that?! The number of massage treatments you are allocated depends on the level of your Health Shield plan, do contact your employer if you need more information on that.

So how does a system like Health Shield work?

Providing that your therapist is accredited with the necessary qualifications, all you will require is a receipt for your treatment which allows you to claim back the price of your session. The receipt gives a breakdown of the treatment you booked in for as well as my credentials for your refund. Simple!

As a Sports Massage Therapist, I am covered with credentials from the CNHC and the SMTO for Sports Massage. The receipt you will receive at the end of your session has all the necessary information required by both Health Shield and Medicash.

To book your appointment, head over to my online booking page available 24-7 and book yourself in at a time that’s suitable for you. You can treat yourself to a massage on your lunchbreak, after work or on a Saturday if you’d prefer a weekend appointment.

New to massage? Everyone is entitled to treatment and you can drop me an email, or chat on the day about any issues to ensure you receive a truly enjoyable and beneficial massage experience.

Is Sports Massage Painful?

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This is a really common question that comes up time and time again with new clients. So let’s address the confusion and hopefully help answer your query!

The purpose of Sports Massage is to prepare you, the client, for mental and physical performance in sporting endeavours, physical hobbies and in life. To reduce chronic tension, ease muscle pains, reduce anxiety and quieten the sympathetic nervous system.

How do we achieve those results?

This is where things get a little fuzzy. The type of treatment that you receive is entirely dependent on the training, skill and professional judgement of the therapist you’re visiting.

Is there only one way to perform a sports massage?

The good news is that there are many ways to achieve successful results with sports massage.

But is there a ‘one size fits all’ pressure required to achieve the results mentioned above?

Certainly not!


From my personal experience there are two things required for successful massage results

1.You, the client, have to be able to feel that your expectation of an effective pressure is being met. If you’re heavily resisting the pressure, it’s too much. And if you’re trying to push up into my hands, it’s probably too little.

Ideally, you want a COMFORTABLE level of FIRM pressure that feels beneficial to you.

2. From the therapist’s point of view, the effort of force being exerted during the treatment has to be sustainable. Creating too much force can lead to injury on the therapist’s part but may also be damaging to the client too, if the therapist is working outside his or her level of expertise against their wishes.


If we combine those two ideas, you will ideally experience a firm yet pleasurable pressure that is sustainable for the therapist to perform.

The more a therapist can work within their realm of comfort, the greater the input they can put into your treatment and thus, the better your massage results. And the more you enjoy the experience, well…it’s common sense. Why would you endure something that you fear or detest?

When the pieces click together it’s a win-win situation!

With that idea in mind, in my professional working environment I don’t want to, or like to, perform excruciatingly painful massages. They almost never produce a favourable outcome for the client.

It hurts you, it hurts me. And I don’t enjoy that kind of work.

Of course, there will be areas of the body that are more tender than others when being worked on. And as the client you have every right to inform me of your levels of comfort during that work.

You are never forced into pain.

Together we’re a team who work together to make you feel and perform at your best.

But let’s say you want to feel pain during your massage and enjoy bruising post-treatment.

You are perfectly entitled to any treatment that you feel is most beneficial to your health and wellbeing goals. However, just be mindful that if that’s what you’re looking for then I’m definitely not the therapist for you.


Find what works for you and embrace it.

If you’ve wanted to experience a massage but have been hesitant or concerned about pain or discomfort, then drop me a message and I’d love to chat with you further.

Alternatively, if this answers your queries then I’d love for you to book in for a session with me and experience a massage tailored to you!

Stepping Things Up

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Well hello there!

I’ve been thinking a lot about this little blog section on my website as it’s been in dire need of care and attention for a while.

Now I feel like it’s the time to make amends and jazz things up around here!

Not that I’ve been struggling for ideas or things to talk about, quite the opposite. There’s been so much going on but I just wasn’t sure how to get those ideas out. Throughout 2018 I’ve been involved in a number of online projects and educational courses that have really bolstered my appreciation for the human body. And the tools we have at our disposal to optimise our mental and physical health.

Why is this important I hear you ask? Ultimately the goal of any manual and physical therapy is to feel truly healthy and happy in our little human shell.

As good things come in threes it seems, at any given time I tend to be involved in three different courses or groups (I have a thing for studying, this is a common theme!)

Here’s an idea of some of the topics I’ve been learning about this year:

  • Using breathwork to tap into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. (Buteyko method, Wim Hof Method and training the‘inner unit’ of the body to improve the quality of our breathing patterns)
  • Modifying new or existing yoga practices to incorporate greater strength building and movement variability
  • Using juggling to improve co-ordination and improving the brain’s ability to store new skill patterns
  • Strengthening joint capacity and building resiliency with Functional Range Conditioning
  • Completely revamping and building a solid foundational base of nutrition know-how with Mac Nutrition Uni
  • Combining strength and mobility to build a handstand
Exploring task-oriented training in skill development

I’ve always been a fan of thinking outside of the box.

In order better myself as a massage therapist, I like to look at other disciplines outside of the massage bubble and incorporate different ideas and themes into my existing practices.

And the work that I’ve been a part of this year has given me a greater insight into the role massage plays within existing healthcaremodels, and also its potential impact within new and improved strategies in thefuture.

Massage is a subtle art form that is incredibly useful for tapping into the nervous system and aiding in the supplementary aspects of life that can have a huge impact on health and happiness. I used to always resort to sleep and stress as the main points of consideration, but I have a newfound respect for massage in the realm of movement and in improving the breath.

Soft tissue manipulation and touch can impact our nervous systems in a very meaningful way. Massage work can bring awareness to short, sharp breathing patterns.

It can provide satisfying levels of touch that allows the nervous system to ease off on areas in the body that stiffen up and lack in their natural micro-movements. And this can act as a gateway to greater movement in the body as a whole. By giving the body some reassurance that it’s ok to move. And that movement feels good.

There are also the positive mental benefits of spending an hour or two away from phones and computer screens and tuning in to the sensations of your body and the steadiness of your breath.

And this all ties in with the way we live our lives everyday.

How we move, how we communicate, how we regard ourselves within the bigger realm of society.

These are all ideas I’d like to explore within these blog posts and on my social media (definitely more in favour of Instagram than Facebook these days).

In fact, it’s been mentioned a few times now so it’s a greatplace to get started: next week’s blog begins with the breath.

In the meantime, you can find me over on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/achievingoptimal

And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janeblackmassage/

A Personal Viewpoint on Massage

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We all have our individual styles and flow.

A group of massage therapists who train together and learn the same anatomy and physiology and practice identical routines in training will, with experience, develop their own individual ways of working.

Which is why every massage therapist will do something different. And each massage clinic you visit will provide you with a new experience.

There is a preferred therapist and style out there for everyone and I encourage you to find that experience that really clicks for you. It’s worth the search!

Bringing my own massage work into the spotlight, it’s not uncommon for clients to feel pleasantly surprised by the end of a session. This is most noticeable during sessions of Sports Massage when a client will arrive with pre-conceived expectations of pain and torture, but in a surprise twist will enjoy the full experience of the treatment.

Did she just say Sports Massage was enjoyable?

Absolutely!

Sports Massage in particular needn’t be traumatic. With an individual style comes an individual application of standard techniques that can be easily manipulated to suit the aims of the session and tailored to the client on the day.

As the client your experience is everything. Feeling good is a priority.

I often liken my massage style to the Sun in Aesop’s fable ‘The North Wind and the Sun’. I remember being told the fable as a child but if you’ve never heard it I’ll give you the jist:

The North Wind and the Sun challenged each other to determine which was the stronger of the two. The opponent? A traveller and his cloak.

The North Wind blew, but no matter how forceful the gale, the traveler kept wrapping his cloak tighter and tighter.

The Sun on the other hand shone brighter and brighter. The traveler had no choice but to remove his cloak to cool down. Despite the wind’ s power and force, it was the persuasive Sun that triumphed in the end.

In massage, there are two main factors at play: brute force and a series of persuasive tactics. Some therapists favour full force; my entire philosophy and practice on the other hand is based around persuasion. A kinder, persuasive force if you will. Slowly problem solving through the issue and easing the body into a solution.

Which one works better? It all depends on finding the style that suits you best. There is no right or wrong answer.

Persuasion is subtle but very, very effective, both in achieving the desired result for you the client and for the experience itself.

In paying for a massage treatment, the aim is to feel better physiologically and often psychologically too. A style that allows you to feel present and aware of the subtle signals from your body during a treatment and have you feeling great in the days following are aspects that I regard highly in any massage treatment I carry out.

If this sounds completely foreign to you then I urge you to book in and experience a session for yourself.

Explore your options. Find your groove and a treatment that works for you.

Finding Balance: Yin-Yang and Shang-A-Lang

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Today’s blog post on stress was inspired by the Bay City Roller’s hit ‘Shang-A-Lang’. Top tune bearing no relation to stress I hear you say. Hear me out on this one…

The Bay City Rollers with all-out fabulous flares…

Stress is a fundamental part of our human lives and throughout our evolution we’ve used stress to guide us towards growth and to keep us safe in times of danger. Regular exercise puts stress on our joints and muscles, bringing about a regeneration and repair of pre-existing soft tissue fibres that keeps us strong.

And Just this morning your body will have produced an increase in the hormone cortisol prior to awakening to spur you upright, out of bed and ready to begin a new day.

We need stress to survive. That’s nothing new. But how to we view stress and what can we do when we become consumed by overbearing stress on a daily basis?

Yin Yang Theory

In traditional Chinese medicine there’s a concept known as the Yin-Yang theory (Shang-A-Lang? Yang? See what I did there? I told you there was a link!). The Yin-Yang theory explores the idea that contrary or opposite forces may actually be interconnected and complement one another in both the natural world and in our bodies. One cannot expect to exist without the presence of the other.

And whilst relative levels of Yin and Yang are continuously fluctuating, an excess of one will eventually consume the other.

In our modern-day setting, Yang activity is the active, fiery energy; Yin on the other hand is our passive, calming energy. Yang is alert, whilst Yin is soothing. Yang is our weightlifting sessions at the gym, a morning coffee, our time spent at work and our social time with friends. Checking Facebook 80 times a day produces brain activity that sets our Yang activity alight. Yang isn’t an evil but it’s predominant within our environment and easily overdone.

Partying hard and late weekend nights, a constant state of lethargy, using caffeine to fuel your days, hitting it hard everyday at the gym and feeling unable to sleep despite a long, hard day at work are all tell-tale signs of excessive Yang. I’m sure everyone reading this blog can relate to at least one of the above.

So what can we do when our bodies crave a break from the fast lane?

It’s time to be more Yin.

Yin activities are the calming, soothing and restorative actions we can take part in. Think a gentle walk, a relaxing bath, a quiet meditation session or a slow Yin Yoga or Yoga Nidra class. Slowing things down a notch is equally as important as providing our body with activity and growth.

But what happens when Yin activity is unattainable? This is a relatively common complaint amongst people, especially if you experience excessive physical and/or psychological stress for months and years on end. What if you just can’t allow yourself that valuable downtime?

You need the superhero of Yin practices…

The most deliciously wonderful Yin practice of all has to be a soothing, deep tissue massage. Lights dimmed, tunes on and no phone for incessant checking of social media, it’s an hour (or two) of time solely dedicated to your wellbeing. It doesn’t take long for your muscles to melt into the comfort of the table as your mind catches a breather and switches off for a much-needed rest. And if you doze off, welcome that feeling. Falling asleep during a massage is more common than you think!

Creating a Balance

As you go forth this week, be both Yin and Yang. Think of the activities you take part in routinely and ask yourself, are you in need of more Yin? Challenge yourself but respect the importance of downtime. Stress is not something to be feared, but it is something we have to be aware of. Listen to your body, it’s a great little detective.

When was the last time you truly switched off and gave yourself the time to do nothing, guilt-free to supercharge your health? If your answer is ‘ages ago’ or ‘never,’ then I urge you to invest an hour of your time in experiencing a wonderfully relaxing massage. You deserve it!

Straightforward, hassle-free, Yin-inspired online booking for your convenience: https://www.supersaas.co.uk/schedule/JaneBlack/Massage?lang=en

Doing Something and the Art of Facing your Fears

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And so it begins. My internal voice, as always, had an opinion on the matter:

‘But you don’t have the experience…’

‘…or the time to commit to another project…’

‘…and you don’t work in that field.’

‘There’s bound to be someone out there more capable’.

Amidst the doubts I remembered a quote from one Wayne Gretzky, a former Canadian ice hockey player and coach:

‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’.

I put my situation into perspective and realised that doing nothing would create nothing. Nothing would happen. Nothing earned. Nothing gained. NOTHING.

At least by doing something there’s a chance of gaining an experience, for good or bad.

So I agreed to the terms of the contract and flung myself in at the deep end. With no experience of project management, book editing or creating a best-selling book on Amazon, I joined up with Ben Coomber and worked on making his book project a reality.

This was in October of 2016

Today, Ben’s ‘How to be an Awesome Personal Trainer’ is available as a hardback on Amazon UK. It’s all a bit surreal. To think I could have turned that experience down if I’d pandered to my own negativity would have frustrated me for years to come.

An ACTUAL book!

In life, there are many cases of genuine fear. Fear is a reality and there’s no doubting that. But when it comes to taking on a new challenge, applying for a new job, yearning for new experiences, is the fear solely powered by our internal dialogue?

Do you talk yourself out of an experience when the moment has passed?

I do it. We all do it. Downplaying our abilities is a common occurance.

I automatically put myself down and decided my lack of experience in book editing meant I was unable to rise to the challenge. Looking back, it’s quite amusing to think that if my internal opinions had won, then this would never have happened:

Exhibit A: You CAN do it!

What’s the point of today’s blog?

Be brave and say yes to the offers that challenge the status quo. I guarantee you’ll be a better person for doing so. And if it doesn’t go to plan? Well that’s alright too. Failure is a great teacher. Whatever the outcome you’ll be a better person for saying yes. Need I remind you what happens when you do nothing?

And as for the fear of what other’s think of you?

They’re far too busy dealing with their own internal dialogues. Regardless of how important you think you are, people don’t lie awake at night downplaying your abilities; they have their own lives to take care of.

And if you don’t know how to do what you want to do? In the words of Richard Branson:

‘If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you are not sure you can do it, say yes – and learn to do it later!’

He’s doing alright by the looks of it.

A massive thanks to Ben Coomber for allowing me to be part of his first book. ‘How to be an AWESOME Personal Trainer’ by Ben Coomber is now available on Amazon UK and was proudly edited by massage therapist, project manager, editor, Power metal wannabe and ultimate fear fighter Jane Black.

Embrace your Individuality

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‘How can you write in that position?’

I first remember someone questioning my writing position when I was seven. To me it was the most natural thing in the world yet to everyone else it was downright odd.

Pencil in hand, paper skewed almost upside-down and taking up a large portion of my classmate’s desk space, apparently I was ‘doing it wrong’. I have an unnatural writing position.

‘So what’s the right way to write then?’ I asked.

My classmate flipped my page down where it lay directly in front of me. The angle (or lack of angle) was odd, it didn’t fit my hand positioning and it was downright uncomfortable. But it was the norm. I tried it. I didn’t like it. I despised it.

Over time I forgot about it and slowly went back to my normal hand position. It was more ‘me’. And it worked.

Fast forward to adulthood and pencil problems reoccurred when I experienced a similar predicament in the gym. Bicep curls, Holding an Olympic bar, tricep dips and preparing my hands for a handstand all brought on elbow pain, wrist pain and a horrible pinching nerve sensation that had my inner voice screaming at me: ‘THIS IS WRONG!’

One evening after forcing myself into a round of painful tricep dips I had reached my limit: I’d had enough. I left the gym, made my way home and started brainstorming.

What was causing this pain?

An evening of anatomy books strewn across the desk, scribblings of movements (written at awkwardly positioned angle of course) and intensely scrutinising countless fitness videos on Youtube and I’d found my stumbling block:

It was me.

I was the proud owner of a large carrying angle (or cubitus valgus to give it its proper anatomical name). While women tend to display a larger carrying angle than men, mines is of a next-level angle, well and truly OUT THERE.

 

Varying degrees of carrying angles

So what does this mean for my training?

The angle that I was forcing myself into for most exercises to achieve proper form didn’t allow my body to perform effectively. It caused a strain, it didn’t feel right and on many occasions, it forced me into a vulnerable injury-prone position.

In order to move forward I had to accept my quirks and personalise my activities to work for MY body.

A simple turn of the hands to 45 degrees has changed my life. And I truly mean that! By adapting my training to allow my body to function naturally, I can do things that so often I’d blamed on ‘weakness’. With my hands turned out, my shoulders move to their optimal position of function. Nothing is forced. And not only has this improved my training, but having dropped the fear of injury with every session I’m now inspired and looking forward to my exercise sessions. And that’s a huge deal!

Be Unashamedly YOU

My experiences have taught me to appreciate individuality.

With the advances in social media and the growing popularity of the fitness industry, many activities are aiming to help individuals as part of a larger group-based environment, veering away from one-on-one tuition.

Group-based activity is good for business.

But as part of a group we lose our individuality.

Whether it be through exercise, a physical rehabilitation programme or through massage, you’re not a textbook diagram. Your body has its own personal blueprint and your life tells a story with side notes pencilled in on every page: details of your footballing days as a child, the time you tripped and fell on the ice, the whiplash injury you sustained at the traffic lights seven years ago and that Christmas in which you conquered all as the tennis champion on the Wii (I know who you are!).

You might be a kick-ass guitarist, a weekend cyclist or a super successful entrepreneur. It might not seem important but it’s all relevant.

Your story is important as it’s what makes you the person you are today.

And that’s one of the things I truly love about massage therapy: your massage session is tailor-made and designed especially for YOU.

It what makes a good massage a great massage!

As I write this post I’m gearing up for a day of massages followed by an evening of handstand practice at the gym. Every hour brings about a celebration of individuality and I’m genuinely intrigued to hear what my clients bring to the table (quite literally).

Is there a specific movement or type of exercise that’s holding you back? I’d love to hear your ideas on this one.

Embrace your individuality people: you’re kind of a big deal.

‘Tis the Season to De-frazzle

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When it comes to December in Glasgow city centre on a Saturday afternoon, Buchanan Street is heaving with shoppers. Bags hitting off the knees of passers-by amidst fleeting sounds of forced exhaling sighs amongst the hive of shoppers hunching defeatedly into their winter coats and hurrying to their next shopping destination. Operation Present Hunt. Time is of the essence.

Tension in the air is at times unbearable. The looming apocalyptic demise of our world is nigh…

…oh no, sorry, my mistake. It’s the festive season.

Having hot-footed it to Paperchase with my colleague Liz for our highly anticipated festive beverages, we couldn’t help but notice the general gloom in the air.  Ok, perhaps we’re slightly biased in our mood having spent the morning in the soft glow of the Glasgow Treatment Rooms, but to look at the faces of our fellow shoppers, it really wasn’t a happy sight.

Everyone seemed a bit…frazzled.

It’s as if the pressure of pandering to our commercial Christmas was all too much.

And it’s this pressure that led me to a thought for today’s blog. For the duration of this post I’d like to affectionately term this form of stress ‘the frazzle’.

As a massage therapist, I’m no stranger to the frazzle. It rears its ugly head during long working hours, when we’re exposed to illness, during times of financial pressure and when we let our physical and mental health slip down the metaphorical drainpipe. It’s the feeling you get when things just become ‘too much’.

And exposure to the frazzle is high on the build-up to Christmas. With darker nights, lethargy setting in and the pressure of spending in full effect it can be hard to escape it’s clutch.

As a society, it’s not entirely our fault that we succumb to feeling a bit ‘meh’.

The media has us pre-conditioned to festive negativity and that’s incredibly tragic. Every year we’re subconsciously fed the negativity of being cold and associating cold with feeling miserable, tired and resorting to the couch. You’re subjected to the pull of eating too much. And despite today being the early part of December, I guarantee you’ll be made to feel overfed and lethargic by Boxing Day, guilt-tripped into a diet by January the first and utterly spent of any thread of positivity by Blue Monday.

SONY DSC

Don’t hide away just yet!

If you ask me, that just will not do.

So here we are, floundering in frazzle and anxiously awaiting Christmas. Where do we go from here?

I’d like to make a suggestion…

Let’s be done with the modern-day concept of a commercial Christmas. Let’s tear down the shackles of the frazzle and turn stress on its head.

Let’s use stress to our advantage.

Stress can be our greatest ally or our fiercest enemy. Looking on our modern practices and values, we often favour the latter. Do we have to stick with the status quo? Hell no! Stress is a physiological signal that we can choose to ignore, or use it to guide our future actions. Are you constantly feeling tired and burned out during the colder months of the year?

If the answer to this question is ‘yes’, then fear not; an awareness of your current situation is the foundation for change in your lifestyle habits.

Now of course, we must take into consideration our location on the Northern hemisphere and appreciate that we’re in Winter. The winter season tends to bring a natural dip in our energy levels in comparison to the summer months.

But don’t let that stop you. Less sunlight and colder temperatures isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Rather than a time of frazzle and despair, use this season wisely. Wield your winter weaponry for actions of good: for restoration, relaxation and for social gatherings.

Turn stress on its head.

Rather than hide under the bed covers, go for a walk in your local park, crunch the frosty leaves with your feet and enjoy the fresh winter air on your face. Book yourself in for a massage (and a snooze if need be. I won’t be offended, honest). Sample the festive menu from a local restaurant or take part in a restorative Yin yoga class. Meet friends for a catch-up at the Christmas market (hilarious stories resulting in loud snorty laughs are not compulsory, but are welcome nonetheless!) and enjoy the rich taste of a warm festive drink.

Challenge lethargy with action.

Embrace the beauty of the festive season and it really can be a wonderful time of year. Inspire change within your own approaches to the festive season and see what becomes of your efforts. Sometimes the hardest part of any new behaviour is getting started. Don’t let stress get you down. Let it be the power to inspire positive action.

I’ll leave you with the wise words of Rabbi Dr Abraham Twerski.

 

Speaking of action I’ve been sitting for a wee while now. Better go for a walk in the cold air!

The Newbie’s Guide to Massage

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Quite often I work with clients who have no previous experience of massage therapy.

Picture the scene: you booked your appointment online and having searched every building for the number 34 (EHHH, is it not at the other side of town? How long has this place been here? Oh they have a lift THANK GOODNESS!). Now you’re sitting in the waiting room filling out a consultation form and waiting on yours truly to show her face…

…and then the thoughts pop into your head:

Is massage for me? Am I going to enjoy it? What’s actually going to happen when I get in there? WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!

You might be that person. Or perhaps you’re reading this as a newbie, venturing into the world of massage for the first time; wanting to try it out but not sure if it’s really for you.

Glasgow Treatment Rooms Waiting Area

Press the buzzer and grab a seat!

Fear not chaps and chapesses! Jane is here to talk you through the most common queries I hear from first time clients and concerned emailers.

Let’s talk…

Is massage for me?

Generally speaking – YES ABSOLUTELY! Here at the Glasgow Treatment Rooms we welcome people from all walks of life. We always conduct a consultation prior to starting your massage to ensure we cover any health issues or queries you may have about the session.

Your session is your opportunity to ask questions and talk over any issues you may have. If something doesn’t make sense, it’s never a stupid question! Always seek clarification on anything that sounds remotely alien to you.

Am I going to enjoy it?

Hopefully yes! Depending on the nature of your visit depends on the pressure applied and the type of massage we do on the day.

Are you stressed? Run down? Feeling a bit frazzled? Doing the work of ten people on your lonesome? Then a slow, deep tissue massage will leave you feeling calmer, lighter, looser and ultimately feeling fabulous. This form of targeted therapeutic work aims to reduce your levels of stress and anxiety and have you floating out the room at the end of the session.

Or perhaps you’re a keen runner, desk jockey or gym goer with a niggling muscle ache that just will not budge. While you can still feel great at the end of your session, we may decide to focus on more targeted areas of the body with greater pressure as opposed to the slow, flowing style of massage above. Certain areas may feel ‘tighter’ than expected; if at any point you’re feeling severe discomfort do let me know and we can ease off a little.

Super important point here: massage doesn’t have to be painful to be beneficial!

What’s actually going to happen when I get in there?

If you’ve never visited the Glasgow Treatment Rooms, the first thing you’ll experience is a spacious calm you never knew existed in the buildings of the city centre! Our therapy rooms feel like home: cosy and relaxing with a smattering of character.

As previously mentioned, the session begins with a consultation and I’ll tell you my aims of the massage based on the information you’ve given me. All information given is strictly confidential and we respect your privacy at all times. Depending on the nature of the massage will determine the level of undress required. Most sessions require undressing to boxer shorts or pants; we only ever expose the area being worked on at any given time. All other areas are covered.

This can often feel daunting to newcomers so if at any point you are not happy about undressing a particular area, please do tell me!

It is important that you feel comfortable and relaxed during your session. And don’t feel embarrassed if you nod off at any point. The massage magic is at work!

What am I doing here?

That all depends on your personal reasons. Maybe you have an injury that you feel massage can help with. Perhaps you need an hour to chill out and escape from the confines of your office. Maybe your work has healthcare cover and you’d like to give this massage stuff a go. Or maybe there is no reason. Maybe you’ve had that massage is beneficial and you’d like to make it part of your life.

Whatever your reasons, you will always be welcome.

I hope that answers some of your questions – now come in and say hi!