Why you should add a massage to your holiday itinerary

If you can’t relax on holiday, when can you? For most of us, a holiday is a rare treat, something that we should treasure and do our best not to squander. And yet, all too often, many of us are guilty of succumbing to the pressures and temptations of modern life. We end up checking our e-mails and responding to work-related requests. And all of this is in spite of the fact that we were very clear with ourselves before we left about not doing this.
If we can’t fully unwind and relax on our holiday, then what are we really paying for? No, a good holiday is all about escaping from your everyday life and leaving your worries behind for a while. It is when we are on holiday that many of us feel the most inclined to try new things. Whenever we find ourselves in a new culture, it can be an eye-opening experience to immerse oneself in it completely.

Why Massage?

Massage is an ancient art form which has earned its reputation as one of the most relaxing things that a person can experience. There are endless variations on the concept of the massage. In essence, a massage involves the rubbing, pressing, and other manipulations, of your skin, muscles, and tendons and ligaments. Massages can either be gentle, or they can be forceful.

The wide variety of different massage techniques employed by practitioners around the world means that the term massage is equally applied to wildly different experiences. It was once the case that in order to have a massage, you needed to be a member of an expensive spa or an upmarket health club. This is no longer the case, and a good thing as well!

Massage is a uniquely relaxing and pleasurable activity. Each type of massage is a different experience, some of these experiences you will instantly fall in love with. Other experiences will at first seem uncomfortable, perhaps even unpleasant. However, these feelings should soon dissipate after you have experienced a new type of massage a few times.

Many people compare the discomfort experienced during a massage to that felt when eating spicy food. The pain and discomfort are real, but it is also an intrinsic part of the experience. In both cases, those who seek out these experiences experience the pain and discomfort as a vehicle with which to reach a more pleasurable state.

The Different Types

As mentioned above, tracking down a good masseuse and booking an appointment used to be a lot more difficult. Now, there are qualified masseuses everywhere, so if you want a massage, you should have no trouble finding one. Massage is something that is practiced in every culture on Earth in some form or another, you should, therefore, be able to find a masseuse wherever you happen to be.

There really is an almost endless variety of different types of massage, going into even a small selection in any detail would take a whole article in itself. So, here we offer a quick rundown of the most common types of massage. You will encounter many more varieties as you travel; you will also find that naming conventions sometimes change between different regions. A Swedish massage in one place might not be the same in a neighboring country.

Swedish Massage

This is one of the most gentle and relaxing forms of massage out there. This is the massage equivalent of a cloud; it is all about being soft and gentle. Swedish massage makes use of long and slow movements and often incorporates massage rods, which are used for vibrations and to tap on certain areas.

Deep Massage

A deep massage is even slower than the Swedish massage. Whereas a Swedish massage incorporates long and slow movements to accentuate the other elements of the massage, a deep massage never picks up the pace and remains slow and steady throughout. The idea behind this is that by using slow and forceful strokes, it is possible to target muscle groups deep beneath the skin, which other techniques are unable to do. This type of massage is regularly used to help encourage healing following muscle damage caused by injury.

Sports Massage

No points for guessing where this type of massage gets its name from. This type of massage is similar in style to a Swedish massage. This makes sense when you think about it, as you would want your star athletes to be treated relatively gently.

Trigger Point Massage

This type of massage is focused on very specific muscles, namely the tight muscle fibers which can form following injury or overuse.

Thee are just a few of the different types out there. Within each of these types are a number of other sub-types. You can learn more about sensual massage types here.

What are the Benefits?

With access to massage now so widespread, there really is no reason not to get one, even if you are only slightly curious. But as well as being a very relaxing way to spend a couple of hours, massage also has a number of other benefits in both the short and long term.

Regular massage has been found to be helpful in alleviating the symptoms of many conditions, in particular, psychiatric problems such as anxiety and depression. This is similar in effect to other similar practices such as yoga and mindfulness. The exact mechanism by which these activities are able to alleviate depression is not fully understood.

Specific types of massage, especially those that focus on one particular area of the body, can be used as a short-term and long-term treatment for a number of different conditions. Massage is commonly used following sports injuries, to improve the patient outcome and ensure that they recover as quickly as possible.

A massage is an excellent way to spend an afternoon. Next time you go traveling, think about whether a massage could be just the thing for you, and maybe even your spouse as well!