Tantra Massage Therapy - 3 Main Blockages in Women - Part 1
There seems to be a pattern of specific blockages in women that come for our energy based massage therapies. Of course, each individual is unique and requires a personalised approach, however, I have noticed a theme of certain bigger blockages, and decided to address the 3 major ones.
When it comes to the topic of blockages, it is important to know that they come in different forms and can be perceived on different levels. There are physical blockages, emotional blockages, mental blockages, energy blockages and even spiritual blockages. Of course, as I explain in the video, they are all tied into each other. A physical blockage may have its root in a suppressed emotion which then impedes the flow of energy through specific energy channels and this results in a response at the more gross level of the physical body in the form of knots, “spaghetti”, pain, numbness, congestion etc.
For the purpose of making this blog series simple, I have labeled blockages according to the body areas where they are located. The 3 major blockages that I witness on a regular basis are (according to the area):
the area of upper back (neck, shoulders and shoulder blades)
the area around and below the belly button - abdominal area
the area of the throat
I will dedicate one blog to each of this areas and describe what the blockage(s) in that respective area are caused by, how they manifest, as well as what the healing process is like.
Upper Back, Shoulders and Neck - The upper back area
This is the most common blockage I see in my therapy sessions. It can be found either at the level of the shoulders, the neck, around or between shoulder blades and even along the spine at the level of lower to middle thoracic vertebras. When analysing the root causes of the blockages at this area, three stood out for me the most. The first cause is very simple. Stress. Most people live a very stress-filled lifestyle and they are constantly tapping into the frequency of stress to tackle the challenges that arise. The interesting thing is, that stress (as any other thing in this universe) resonates with a specific frequency. The frequency of stress is closely connected to the organs of liver and even more so - gallbladder. Gallbladder has been historically related with an archetype of someone who is very intense, competitive and constantly in stress, as people with these temperament were labeled as Cholerics - chole literally meaning bile - therefore designating a bilious person - someone who produces a lot of bile by constantly tapping into that frequency. In modern medicine this type of people are described as type A personality. The thing is, a person does not need to be of this type to have excess stress in their life and to tap into that frequency of stress and “biliousness”. Nowadays all types of personalities will have excess stress just because of the tempo and nature of our lifestyles. And every time, when a person is stressed, they will tap into frequency of gallbladder. The reason I am mentioning the gallbladder is that in Chinese medicine, and Ayurveda, each organ (or the frequency of each organ), is connected with a respective energy channel in the body and with a respective element of nature. Since most people when they are stressed feel “the burden on their shoulders”, “tightness in their necks”, “impediment of flow of joy through the back of their heart”, it is quite logical that the energy channel connected with stress will flow through this area. This is indeed so, as the channel is flowing from the front of the body, up to the shoulders (see picture below for a famous Marma point connected to it) and then to the back of the head. Where do most people have knots and “spaghetti”? Exactly - shoulder area and along the neck, all the way to the shoulder blades.
In the picture above, the area where thumb and index finger come together on the shoulder, is where the famous Acupressure or Marma point connected to Gallbladder channel is located, and where most people have stored excess energy, manifesting physically as knots, congestion, pain etc.
There are almost no exceptions when it comes to having some sort of blockage at this area. The good news is, that due to the Etheric nature of the energy of stress, this kind of blockages go as quickly as they came, and can be massively improved even after one therapy. The bad news is, that most people return back to having stress in their life and (!) responding to outside environment (stressors) in a wrong way. A great example is a lady, who called me after therapy and told me she was in heaven for days, until she sat down against her computer at her work and felt a gripping sensation of stress slowly creep over her shoulders, tightening them instantly. My reply was, that it is the best thing that happened to her, as now she can see what is causing her discomfort in her life. From this moment of realisation, she can now start changing her life. I presented her with two solutions - external i.e. changing the job or internal i.e. changing her response to the outside world. Both are valid, but second one is more powerful, however, it takes time and effort, and cannot be done without proper spiritual practice like meditation and energy based yoga. In essence, one cannot run away from their mind into massages and by quitting work, but has to accept their reality as a challenge to change themselves - this is real yoga and this is where Tantra Yoga embraces that reality and helps someone thrive in any kind of circumstances. Though, to end this paragraph on a cheeky note - sometimes all you need is a massage.
Just joy. Being.
Let me now address the second cause for the blockage in the area of the upper back. Emotions. Emotions are more closely related to the element of Water, unlike stress, which is connected with the element of Ether. They are therefore of heavier energy in nature, they go deeper and they also cause blockages on a deeper level. The real benefit of energy based therapy is dealing and purifying of the old and repressed emotions from the energy systems of the body. This takes a bit longer but is much more profound and life changing. Most women (and men) do carry unprocessed emotions in the body and many times it is on the upper back area. This area is energetically not the emotional centre of humans per se, but because it is at the back of the heart (heart being the pump for not just blood but also for emotions) most emotions flow through that area. So when a person is experiencing emotions that are too much or too painful, they shut down this area of the heart first, again resulting on the physical level as congestion, knots, hunched back, tension etc.
Most of the times emotions released here are connected to a sort of deep sadness, almost like a woman is regretting that she didn’t listen to herself or that she wasn’t faithful to her self, disregarding the inner guide. As the sadness gets released, the inner void can then be accepted again and filled with joy, love and compassion, as the beauty of this is again in letting go of old, coming back to oneself and realising new dimensions of life. This blockage has no time frame of when it can be released - only when a person is ready and a sort of surrender comes within the therapy can this happen. The good news is, that it happens often, even on our courses, where the (therapeutic) energy potential is enhanced 10-fold.
The last reason for this blockage is not as complex and mystical as the previous two. It’s called sedentary lifestyle. It is a byproduct of the way we live nowadays, working behind computers, sitting for hours in one go. Our bodies weren’t designed for this and the result is, that we become sort of cramped-in in one position, training muscle memory how our posture should be. Ergonomically we then slowly change our posture from more upright to less and less. There are many ways to shift this, the most powerful being Yoga. With Yoga, there are certain postures that extend and twist the spine in a wonderful way, producing squeezing at the level of the vertebras and inter-vertebral muscles, expelling any kind of accumulated waste products and re-energising and realigning the spine back in the proper structure. There are also specific postures that work at the level of core muscles, establishing a proper and strong core of the body so one doesn’t slouch too much. If you are not familiar with therapeutic or energy based yoga, you can also just stand up every 30 minutes and stretch your arms all the way up, as much as you can, do a few bends and you will already see wonderful effects. In our dedicated Facebook group we have specific yoga for spinal health, where we lead you through specific set of postures for spinal health. If you want to practice with us, we welcome you warmly. If you want to learn Tantra Yoga as a solid spiritual practice and enhance your life on all levels, then join us for our Tantra Yoga Level 1 course that we offer every 3 months. However, to end the whole blog on a cheeky note- remember - sometimes all you need is a massage.
Stay tuned for part 2, where I will explain more about the blockage at the level of the belly and what are its energy reasons for it.
Meanwhile, you can check our upcoming courses and join us for either our Tantra Yoga Level 1 or one of our Massage Courses.
For anyone having any questions in regards to this series of blogs, I welcome you to contact me through the form on Contact us page.