Untangling Golden Chains: Bodywork, Massage Therapy, and a Childhood Pastime
I have fond childhood memories of helping my grandmother untangle her necklaces. Mysteriously, these golden chains would become a tangled ball in her jewelry box. I never understood how these chains could go from separate necklaces to one tangled ball of chains in a stationary box. I would imagine little gnomes stealthily sneaking into the jewelry box at night and twisting them all together. I didn’t really want to solve the mystery of the tangled chains, though, because caused I liked the puzzle they created for me to solve.
It was a fun challenge to carefully, chain by chain, work to free each one. It was quite a delicate dance. Pulling with too much force could make the tangled ball even more tangled. There were times when I had to get slack from one chain in order to be able to move another. Other times, it was just better to put the ball of chains down and come back later to work away on it.
When I remember back to this childhood game of unraveling my grandmother’s chains, I now can see how much this adventure and curiosity actually serves me now as massage therapist and bodyworker.
Much like chains, different types of tissue can link our knots together. Ligaments, tendons, muscles, bones, blood vessels, fascia, and nerves can get bound together, similar to tangled necklaces. Injuries create these tangles. Bodily injuries come in two forms: traumatic injuries (like whiplash or anything caused by an accidents) and a type that we are not used to referring to as “injuries,” but act in the body as such – repetitive injuries (like working at a computer all day).
Similar to untangling delicate necklaces, the body often needs massage therapy or bodywork that is done with same type of curiosity, patience, and willingness to see the body in a dynamic way. There is a delicate balance to creating healthy movement in the body. When massaging a part of the body, pulling or pressing too forcefully can cause tension, rather than release. Many knots are linked together and so I will sometimes need to first work the back or chest to find enough slack in order to free the linking knot in the neck. Or sometimes when there’s constriction in the shoulder, I need to create movement in the shoulder blade while I pull up on the arm in order to soften the shoulder. Just like needing to take a break from untangling the golden chains, there are also times when the body just needs a rest and time to integrate before working to unravel the next knot in the chain. Integration time between sessions can be an essential part of the therapy.
Life can create holding patterns and tangles in our body over time that may seem impossible to unravel. But, I hold that most patterns can be improved, if not completely liberated. All that’s needed is your patience and willingness to explore what’s possible and a massage therapist who has the necessary enthusiasm, care, and curiosity.
