Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Wellbeing Experiments.
The experiment for Week 2 is now over and the results are in.
That dog image kind of sums up how I feel!
This week’s approach
Our approach this past week has been self-applied massage to release the body’s own medicine for healing and wellbeing.
The specific approach I decided to use is explained and illustrated in the book The Healer Within: Using Traditional Chinese Techniques to Release Your Body’s Own Medicine, by Roger Jahnke, a Doctor of Chinese Medicine.
Fortunately, Dr. Jahnke has his own YouTube channel with videos demonstrating various approaches to self-massage.
I included videos for five of these approaches — hand massage, foot massage, neck massage, abdominal massage, and face massage — in my first post setting up this experiment.
In that post I also listed the numerous physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits that may potentially result from using self-applied massage.
Physical, mental, and emotional results
All I can say is, this is powerful stuff. I was expecting some results, but not this dramatic and immediate.
Here are the effects I noticed:
Alertness - The first time I tried it, I made the mistake of doing the hand massage in the evening. Afterwards I was remarkably alert and energetic to the point that I couldn’t get to sleep until the middle of the night. I was like a Duracell rabbit. So that made me realize that I needed to move it to earlier in the day, but even doing it in the afternoon affected my sleep. Self-massage is like caffeine — avoid after a certain time of day to prevent insomnia.
Energy - Beyond alertness, I could also feel energy pulsing in my body, especially in the tender and constricted areas where I was focusing special attention. But perhaps the coolest thing was feeling the energy pulsing in the center of my forehead, the so-called Third Eye Chakra, after doing a couple of facelifts during the face massage. It felt as if the energy was pulsing outwards from that area. Quite extraordinary.
Focus - When I worked on a jigsaw puzzle after doing the hand massage, the pieces were flying out of my hands into the right spaces. I finished that puzzle in record time. I also started noticing things in my environment that I’d never noticed before, to the point I was picking up and utilizing tools that had been right there all along but had escaped my notice.
Relaxed calm - Along with being more focused and alert came a feeling of being relaxed and chilled out. Part of that was the music and the slow-speaking voice of Dr. Jahnke in the videos, which almost immediately slowed down my breathing and my brainwaves and put me into a calmer state. But another aspect of this was the physical feeling that came from doing the massage and feeling my body relax even more deeply as tension was released and the energy moved more freely.
More joy - What struck me when I was interacting with other people was how much I was smiling at everyone, including strangers I encountered out and about, and how much and how loud I was laughing in conversations. It was as if my cosmic clown had been unleashed and was having a good ol’ time. The energy was not just flowing inside me but also between me and other people. I’m guessing that the massage releases endorphins, but this was not a momentary thing. The effect lasted for many hours.
Less judgement - I noticed that I also felt less judgemental in general towards other people, and more willing to take a more charitable view of their motivations and actions. I wasn’t ranting at people on the screen as I sometimes do when they piss me off. My cat wasn’t giving me those withering looks or having to escape into another room, so it was definitely better for his health and wellbeing as well.
Thirstiness - Doing these massages made me thirstier for water and less interested in alcohol and coffee. Massage moves the lymph and dumps toxins into the bloodstream for elimination. My body was very definitely communicating the need to help with this process by drinking more water.
Rating the approaches
On a scale of 1 to 5, I rate the five different types of self-massage as follows:
Hand massage - 5 stars
portable - you can do it anytime, anywhere
easy to do and not taxing
feels good
results are immediate and noticeable
Foot massage - 3 stars
requires being limber enough to bring your foot to rest on your knee or somewhere close enough for your hands to wrap around your foot
not something I would recommend doing in a business meeting or public place, or even in front of family and friends if you’re prone to stinky feet
I found my hand getting tired and cramped, to the point my hand was shaking afterwards, maybe because it required more pressure to feel it was working, or maybe because the skin is harder to manipulate on the soles of the feet
the massage felt good in the foot area, but I didn’t get the all-over good feeling I got with the hand massage
Neck massage - 4 stars
easy to do
something you could do while watching or listening to something
unlike other neck exercises I’ve done, it didn’t hurt or cause any discomfort, in fact was comfortable and relaxing to do
if anything, I wanted more and felt that this was not enough
Abdominal massage - 3 stars
for some reason I didn’t notice any effects or results
it felt comforting to do
you need to wear something that doesn’t rise up and expose your belly as you massage, or I suppose you could do it on your bare torso
it requires focus, so best not to do it at the same time as something else
I suspect that any excess belly fat tends to get in the way and make this exercise less effective
Face massage - 5 stars
pleasure bomb - I just loved doing this
very easy to do
it might look a bit silly or unusual, but no reason otherwise that you couldn’t do it around others
it has immediate effect, as I could feel my skin tightening as I did the tapping, but then relaxing when I did the facelift, and best of all pulsing in the third eye chakra in the center of my forehead
Overall conclusion
Based on these results, I have concluded the following:
This is a phenomenally powerful approach and I want to keep using it.
For me the hand and face massages are the clear winners.
If I want it to become a habit, I need to find a specific place to fit it within my regular routine.
Morning or early afternoon is the best time, given how it acts like caffeine and keeps me awake at night.
Because it releases toxins, and that can have a flu-like effect, doing it every two or three days — say three times a week — might be the ideal timing.
Water is essential when using it, to keep the lymph and blood flowing and clear the toxins from the system.
Although the videos aren’t necessary now that I know the approach, they seem to induce a wonderful state of relaxation, so I may continue to use them whenever I’m doing the exercises at home.
The self-massage has made me feel that self-healing and self-care is within my own grasp. I think Incubus sums it up best — “I'm beginning to find that I should be the one behind the wheel.”
Stay tuned for Experiment 3!
Interesting series you have going here. I’m trying the neck massage first. Your poor regarding fluid intake is very important. It makes a lot of difference in the overall success of the massage.