✨ The Reason Why Massage Doesn't Truly 'Loosen' You: Understanding How the Body Works Through the North Wind and the Sun
We tend to think of 'stiffness' as 'hardened muscles' in our daily lives, but
what 'loosening' truly means is,
⸻
🌱 the body
feeling safe enough to say 'I don't need to protect myself anymore' and
spontaneously relaxing.
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Actually, this is where the 'limitations' and 'pitfalls' of massage lie.
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■ The North Wind and the Sun
Massage is the 'North Wind' approach.
The North Wind tries to 'make someone take off their coat'
with a strong wind (= strong stimulation).
Even if the wind could blow the coat away,
the person would just wear an eventhicker coat the next day.
Because they think, 'It was cold, so I have to protect myself more.'
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■ Deep-seated stiffness is exactly the same
The reason deep muscles become hard is a defensive command from the brain saying,
'It's dangerous, you have to protect yourself!'
.
This isn't a 'bad thing,' but
proof that your body is protecting you.
And the muscles located deep inside are
• 'Slow-twitch' muscles that support the body (a lifeline)
• Key muscles deep within (controlling circulation and posture)
That is precisely why
they cannot be forced to loosen, and
in fact, it's dangerous because they will try to protect themselves even harder and become even stiffer.
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■ It's natural that the deeper you go, the less you can 'force it to loosen'
Slow-twitch muscles are a lifeline,
so they aren't muscles you should touch lightly.
Unlike fast-twitch muscles (auxiliary muscles for movement),
they don't react to being pushed with force,
they are 'muscles that only relax when the body feels safe.'
Therefore,
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Push hard → Body feels anxious → Protects more → Becomes stiffer
This permanent loop is
the true nature of 'massage dependency.'
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■ So how can we get the deep muscles to relax?
The answer is very simple.
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🌞 Use the Sun's approach to
teach the body that
'It's okay, you don't have to protect yourself.'
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The Sun just shone warmly, and
the traveler took off their coat on their own, right?
Deep muscles are the same;
• Aligning the body's support (structure)
• Restoring circulatory function
• Living a life without excessive strain
When this 'safe environment' is established,
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the deep muscles will say on their own:
'Oh, I don't need to stay stiff and protect myself anymore~'
And they will spontaneously, smoothly relax.
This is what it truly means to 'loosen.'
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■ That's why I felt that 'you can't treat people with massage'
The reason Rina-chan's 20 years of chronic stiffness started to improve
is because I stopped pushing hard.
Not the North Wind's method,
but the Sun's method—
in other words, once I started creating an environment where the body can feel safe, that stubborn deep-seated stiffness
truly, naturally, and spontaneously began to loosen.
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■ 'Graduating from dependency' starts
by stopping the North Wind and choosing the Sun
What I want to convey in this post
is not to deny massage, but
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Deep-seated stiffness is
'not something to be pushed and loosened'
'something to be made to feel safe and relaxed'
—this is the true mechanism of the body.
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And I truly believe that there are many people who will be saved
just by knowing this mechanism.
That is the reason why I wanted to conclude this series on massage dependency
with this 'story of the Sun.'