Much research is disproving or not yet supporting our assumptions about how we affect the body through massage.
- Circulation – we may not affect venous return much, even though it’s been a hallmark assumption of Swedish massage
- Fascia – it’s been shown that fascia doesn’t change nearly as much or as lastingly as we’ve thought
- Muscles – their overall length doesn’t change much in any permanent way unless fascia changes a lot
- Tendons and Ligaments – again fascia is naturally resistant to change
Our biggest effects are perhaps not due to soft tissue manipulation – even though that has been the most common definition of massage! Maybe our biggest effects are not on the body.
However, massage has been profoundly effective for many people. It is possible that our effects are more through the mind, than through the body, or, if you prefer that language, more through energy than structure.
What if our main effects are on the mind? And what exactly is mind?