After the long flight, my back felt uncomfortable. My shoulders and neck had been hurting lately but I kept ignoring it. My neck and shoulders are the primary place where I hold my stress and it was getting tighter and tighter. Usually my regular yoga practice is enough to keep it in check, but there had been an unusual amount of stress and activity lately with the holidays and some projects that I’m working on.

Finally I couldn’t ignore the pain anymore and decided it was time for a massage. I’m usually reluctant to get a massage because I really only like very deep massages and it’s hard to find a person who does it as deeply as I would prefer it. But Thai Massage is very popular in Israel and it sounded intriguing, so I decided to give it a try.

It was the best massage of my life.

Thai Massage which is also known as Thai Yoga Massage, is kind of a cross between massage and a passive form of yoga. The therapist actually stretches you passively and helps you into yoga poses. I think this is the first time ever that I felt a complete relief of shoulder and neck pain from just the massage itself. I also felt an incredible surge of energy and clearheadedness afterwards.

So what’s my takeaway from all this?

One – Thai massage is amazing and you should try it.

And two – just how important self-care is. I was tempted to continue ignoring my shoulder pain and just go on with my busy schedule – I had a writing deadline coming up!
But I know from past experience that ignoring it will only lead eventually to hurting myself much further and putting myself out of commission.

So I listened to my body and I trusted my intuition. And the reward was feeling incredibly clearheaded, happy and full of energy to tackle my busy schedule once more.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the busy-ness of life that we forget to take care of the incredible machine that is accomplishing all of these busy things – our bodies!
I consider myself someone who takes pretty good care of my body. I move my body regularly in the form of yoga and dance, I eat a healthy diet, I take an array of carefully chosen vitamins and supplements and I meditate. So why was I so resistant to getting a massage? Good question. I think it’s because I considered it a luxury rather than self-care.

There’s an abundance coach that I enjoy following, Denise Duffield Thomas. She has a mantra that I really like – “ I serve, I deserve“. Meaning – so many of us take care of others, especially my fellow mothers! And we can feel tempted to put our needs last, especially if it feels like a “luxury”. But my shoulders were basically screaming at me to do something and so I repeated Denise’s mantra “I serve, I deserve”. And thankfully, I gave my body what it needed.

Our bodies actually speak to us to let us know when it’s time to pay attention. So the next time you are feeling pain in your body, listen to it! Use your intuition to see what’s needed.

We must always remember that in order to give to others, we must give to and take care of ourselves as well.

Want to do yoga with me? If you live in Miami, please feel free to get in touch for private yoga sessions. Live elsewhere? I also offer sessions online, as well as Holistic Health Coaching.