Sandra Ingerman's Blog

We know that massage can be a form of art. And, of course, it unkinks the muscles, causes relaxation, and just generally feels good. As it turns out, according to a recent study recently featured in the International Journal of Neuroscience, there’s a lot more going on. Steve Ibach, who writes about health and fitness for Examiner.com, is also a senior medical massage therapist. At The Massage Advancer website, he tells us more about the science of massage. There’s something inside us called the sympathetic nervous system, which is where the “flight or fight” response comes from when we feel threatened. Whether we fight or flee, adrenaline starts to flow, except usually we can’t do either, but must react in some civilized way. The trouble is, all that leftover, untapped adrenaline has to go somewhere, and it does. It circulates around the body, wreaking havoc on various organs. Also, Ibach says,

In cases of chronic ‘mental’ stress, the sympathetic nervous system remains active, suppressing the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and relax part of the autonomic nervous system). This creates an unhealthy state in the body and can lead to many disorders and symptoms associated with chronic stress.

Which is where lymph drainage comes into the picture, and the best way to achieve that is manually — i.e., with massage, a particular variety in which the lymph and its burden of toxins are encouraged to hurry along to the lymph nodes, where bad substances are rendered harmless. You’re probably wondering if this is good for the immune system, and the answer is yes. Manual lymphatic drainage is also being discussed as a treatment for panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other ailments that are commonly thought of as belonging to the mind rather than the body.

Touch is a simple tool. Although we frequently turn to the professionals and specialized therapies, touch is a field that’s wide open to amateurs. In our everyday lives, we can all give someone a hug or clasp someone’s hand.

In her book, How to Thrive in Changing Times, Sandra talks about tools, and not just any tools, but simple ones. With these tools we create health, wealth, peace and joy, for others and ourselves. Day-to-day life presents plenty of the basic components for us to work with: matter, time, other people, the laws of physics, and so on. We are given many opportunities to practice transformation, although good tools are sometimes not so easily found.

Now, here’s an example of accidentally discovering something quite wonderful. At Wellsphere, a blogger called Robin G. quotes her friend Jinjee:

How arrogant to think that we can heal the planet, when it is the planet which can heal us, if we would only let it!

It’s such an interesting thought, it makes a person want to find out more about Jinjee. And there is more about her, at The Garden Diet, one of the coolest websites I’ve seen in a while. The concept of raw-food-only might make one ask, “Can I get a witness?” and Jinjee steps up to the plate, metaphorically speaking. The page starts out with some convincing photos, then we find “My Journey on The Raw Vegan Diet,” which tells how at age 25 Jinjee transformed her life.

So, The Garden Diet is not only a nice illustration of serendipity. It’s also an example of a very simple tool. After all, what could be simpler than not cooking?

Source: “Recent studies prove the beneficial effects of manual lymphatic drainage massage,” The Massage Advancer, 01/28/10
Source: “Beauty, Healing, Bliss, Fantasy, Energy, Shamans,” Wellsphere, 06/11/09
Source: “Welcome To The Garden Diet,” The Garden Diet
Image by karimian, used under its Creative Commons license.