When Snot Happens and Some Other Stuff Too

Clients are always apologizing for things that sometimes happen during a massage. There are no worries. Seriously! 

You are not the first person to have these issues, and you will not be the last!

Snot – massage gets mucus moving and sometimes that result in becoming stuffed up and needing to blow your nose.  Add in the never-ending pine tree pollen that is Florida and the problems are just compounded.  Oh, and then I make you lay face down for a bit, you get congested.  I get it.  No need to be embarrassed.  (It does make me happy when you throw out your own tissues, no biggie if you forget.)

“Oh. My. Gosh.  I forgot to shave” – It’s just hair ladies. It’s ok. I doubt I even noticed it until you said something.  I promise.  (FYI, I had a reflexology treatment today and realized when I was rolling my pants down to leave, I only shaved one leg today. Yes. That’s how I roll.)

Tummy grumbles – At some point, people’s tummies start to rumble.  It’s a good thing.  Don’t apologize.  Your sympathetic nervous system has the “fight or flight” response going on in your body most of the time.  On guard, ready for anything, responding to all of the stimuli going on around you.  Your massage stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, the “rest and digest” side of your nervous system.  So those rumblies simply mean you are relaxing! Thank you, my job is done.

Crying or other emotional responses – Our muscles have memory.  They are capable of storing trauma. When your muscles are being manipulated, those memories may return.  (Emotional release is not my area of expertise; Annette has a better understanding of that.)  It doesn’t happen all of the time, but it can.  Don’t be scared of the response your body has.  No need to apologize.  Touch is powerful and healing and can bring up issues you didn’t know were there.

Spontaneous adjustments – Massage removes tension from your muscles.  Your muscles attach to bones.  When the tension acting on those bones is removed, adjustments may occur.  Massage therapists are not intentionally attempting to manipulate your skeletal structure, but these spontaneous adjustments may happen anyway.

Drooling – If you found your happy place and drifted off to the point of drooling… Yay for you!  I’m jealous, not upset.

The next time you are getting a massage and you need to blow your nose, while your tummy is growling, and you are thinking “crap, I forgot to shave my legs”, please just let it go. 

You are normal! Your massage therapist isn’t judging you.  Snot happens.

Post #7 of 20 in the February Challenge, check it out!