Getting the massage message
We kind of came late, but Irish people have finally got the message that massage is something for everyday life, and not just kept for treating the injuries suffered by athletes.
“When I started first, people in Ireland were very sceptical about the benefits of massage in dealing with issues in their daily life,” she says. “And it is people of all different ages are interested now ... in my early days, the older generations particularly wouldn’t have been open to it, but they are now.”
The fact that there are now many different techniques of massage now available in Ireland has helped open up the interest, she feels.
Holistic massage can be best categorised as being a ‘healing’ kind, which is very relaxing and works by taking the person to what Maeve describes as a ‘deep place’ where the body can heal itself.
“It generally involves a whole body massage, and it’s good for a lot of things,” she says. “Muscle tension of any kind, stress or anxiety or anything like that, and it is also good for people who are suffering from things like high blood pressure.”
The underlying principle is that holistic massage relaxes the nervous system and the body ‘takes time out’. “Quite often these days we’re all too busy in our heads, thinking too much about daily difficulties. We can build up a lot of stress and tensions, and we’re not really listening to what our bodies are trying to tell us.”
Going to that ‘deep place’ effectively gets us listening again, Maeve feels, and we can see where tensions have built up, and deal with them. “The massage itself helps, because it stretches the muscles that are wound up from the stresses, eases them.”
Maeve is also trained in Indian Head Massage, which is good for any kind of migraines, or sinus problems.
Her other speciality is Deep Tissue Massage, which is designed to deal with physical muscular tensions, as opposted to those brought on by mental stress.
It takes a fair bit of preparation, including warming up the area to be treated. “You’re working really deeply into the muscles, where you might be dealing with internal scar tissues on damaged ligaments, for instance, breaking them down.
It’s useful also for people with chronic muscular pain, such as sciatica, through stretching and relaxing the relevant muscles. It doesn’t necessarily work immediately, though, and several sessions can be needed to alleviate some problems. “The deep tissue work can be a little uncomfortable at the time, but the benefits are felt later.”
DTM will help with things like Repatitive Strain Injury, which can occur with any repetitive action. People who work at computers often get this due to bad posture and the repetitive action of typing.
“The deep massage work helps to increase mobility in the joints, by working on circulation and helping to drain away any waste and lactic acid in the muscles. This leaves the person feeling more loose and allows an ease of movement.”
Though a trained massage therapist for almost a decade, Maeve took time out for the last few years since her daughter was born, and concentrated on infant massage. But now she’s in a position to go back to the more general work.
She can be contacted at 087 9713979.
