Section 9.3. Yoga, Meditation, and Massage

9.3. Yoga, Meditation, and Massage

From an early age I had bizarre misconceptions about yoga, meditation, and massage. I thought they were strange things that should be ignored. How wrong I was! They are all excellent techniques for relaxing the body and mind. They are important parts of a good relaxation and stress management program to maintain top mental health.

But before I go on, let me embarrass myself by telling you what I thought they were:

• Yoga. I thought yoga was some kind of weird exercise that people did to become more flexible. Bad experiences with gymnastics at an early age convinced me that I could never be flexible, so I ignored yoga. Why would I need to be physically flexible?

• Meditation. I thought meditation was some kind of religious thing. In particular, something that wasn't part of my religion, so I turned a blind eye to the topic (or should I say a blind third eye?).

• Massage. I had two conflicting misconceptions about massage. The first was that I thought it was some kind of self-indulgent pampering that rich people did. I ain't rich, so I ignored it out of hand. Second, as a young child, I saw Peter Sellers play the role of a masseur on The Muppet Show. He twisted Kermit's body in all sorts of crazy ways. I couldn't understand why anyone would subject himself to that.

It's funny how early impressions stay with us for so long.

When I was in my mid-20s, I signed up for a class on relaxation that met one night a week for eight weeks. I wouldn't have taken it if I knew it was going to teach things like yoga, meditation, and massage. As I said, those were "weird" things that I ignored. They tricked me!

The idea of the class was to give people a taste of various techniques. It wasn't expected that everyone would enjoy all of them. However, if there was a single one that worked well for you, you could explore that further. Sort of like the fried appetizer special at Denny's.

Here's what I learned:

• Yoga. Yoga is the practice of an ancient discovery concerning relaxation. By putting your body in certain positions and holding those positions, the body relaxes. The muscles relax. When that happensthe mind relaxes. Who knew?

• Meditation. Meditation is an intentional quieting of the mind. If you can shut out all other noise and thoughts, your mind can relax and your body will follow. The better you get at it, the more amazing it gets. Oh, how wrong I had been.

• Massage. Massage is the physical manipulation of the muscles to relax them. I have back pains, and it was quite amazing to learn that it's not my back that hurts, it's the muscles in my back getting so tight that they hurt. They don't relax (loosen) all the way because of the pain, which means they stay tight, which hurts. That pain makes them tighten more, and the cycle builds on itself. Massage relaxes the muscles and brings them to a calm, relaxed state. I find that a monthly massage keeps my muscles from ever getting too tight (sort of similar to how rebooting Windows servers once a month helps them stay fresh).

I bring all this up because maybe you have been avoiding these things because of misconceptions. I encourage you to explore these techniques. Trying them for yourself is the only way to find out if you like them. You probably won't find all of them appealing. However, only one needs to work for you.

There are centers all over the country that offer such training. They usually advertise in holistic healing or naturally living catalogs that you might find in your local health food store. Places such as Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York (near Woodstock; http://www.eomega.com) have introductory weekends that are an excellent starting point. Your local YMCA, community college, or high school adult program may also have resources. Ask around.