Do you prefer a quiet session, or do you enjoy chatting with your therapist?
Many clients talk to their therapist because they feel rude or awkward if they don't, but let me fill you in on a little secret: I don't think you're rude and the silence isn't awkward!
Every therapist works differently but personally, I love quiet sessions. They give you the opportunity to deeply relax mentally and physically and we don't get that opportunity in our day to day lives enough.
Don't get me wrong, connecting with clients is one of my favorite parts of the job and more often than not I know more about you than even your significant other but we can always catch up before the session starts, and you can relax while I work.
Most of us are familiar with the phrase “fight, flight, freeze, or fawn” which is our body's reaction to a stressful event. Most of us are also familiar that this isn’t always triggered by a big event like an accident, but can also be triggered by something as (seemingly) small as your coworker using your creamer. What most people don’t know is that this response is controlled by your Sympathetic Nervous System. It’s designed to help you survive but many of us notice that ours are overactive. We know that the thieving coworker isn’t a threat, but we can’t help but be triggered into the fight response when someone is stealing our resources! Everyone has a sympathetic nervous system and most of us spend a little more time than necessary with them activated.Massage is an excellent way to engage your Parasympathetic Nervous System. Your parasympathetic nervous system is lesser known, but not less important. Your parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for Rest and Digest. If you’ve been feeling anxious, restless, sluggish, or just “off” it’s quite possible that your parasympathetic nervous system isn’t working the way that it should. I know not everyone is a fan of relaxing Swedish massage and might be put off by the idea of a massage being restful but the truth is, even with an aggressive sports massage, it’s important to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system so that your body can reap the benefits of the work!
At the end of the day, there’s no right or wrong way to receive a massage but if you find yourself talking because you feel obligated to or struggling to restart the conversation if it comes to a natural lull, I’m here to tell you it’s OK to let yourself melt into the table and just relax. I won’t be offended, upset or put off by your silence, in fact, I find I do my best work when I’m not talking!
So, what are your thoughts? To talk, or not to talk? That is the question…
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