When’s the last time you got physically intimate that also didn’t involve or result in a sexual experience?

Nonsexual physical contact is the most underused and underutilized tool for expressing intimacy, mindfulness, love, self-care, and self-love.

Massage has multiple benefits, some of which include:

• eases muscle pain
• increases joint flexibility
• lessens anxiety and depression
• improves circulation
• enhances immunity by increasing lymph flow
• releases endorphins
• relieves migraines
• increases body awareness
• decreases medication dependence
• relaxes overused muscles
• relieves cramps and spasms

How many more benefits can you think of?

This week, get a massage, from a friend, a professional, a student at a licensed massage therapy school, or, learn to give yourself a massage (video).

Whether it’s a five-minute head massage or a sixty-minute full body massage, the goal is to experience a new way of thinking about and being in your body.  Notice the changes to your breathing, your mood, and your physical self.

How does massages make you feel?

Share your thoughts and experiences here.