Formosa Neijia

The reasons that a martial artist should eventually focus on massage are many. Here are just a few:

1. Athletic recovery

Every professional athlete in the world knows the positive role that massage can play in recovery. And yet, this point seems to be lost on most of us Westerners that train MA. If you hope to get anywhere in the arts, then training intensively every day is a most. But training so intensively takes a toll on the body, especially as you get older. You recover much faster and more thoroughly with massage, allowing you to train consistently at higher levels. It’s just a win-win situation.

2. Toxin purge

Before I get slagged for pseudo-science here, we need to be clear what I mean by toxins. Acids like uric and lactic acid are by products of athletic training that can prevent recovery and even become health hazards if they get out of control. They have toxic effects, hence the name toxins. One of the better ways to get them out of the body is through massaging the muscles.

3. Relaxation by decreasing residual tension

This is another big benefit. Most people don’t even know where they are tense. So how can they relax? If you’ve ever told a student of yours to relax, then you know what I’m talking about. They rarely know that they are tense and where. Usually, their idea of relaxation is relaxed in their framework. But you’re trying to get them to a deeper level of relaxation beyond their experience. Many arts, like yoga, etc. try to do this but it’s almost impossible if the the person isn’t directly shown their tension. That’s what I like about massage — you can’t hide. The tension in your body is obvious to the masseuse and they work directly (not indirectly by telling you to relax) with your tension.

Only when residual tension is gone can internal strength and other abilities manifest themselves. If you want higher levels of accomplishment, then you need to get rid of the tension and massage is one of the best ways to do it.

4. Opens the mind and body

If you look at my experiences with qi and qi healing, you’ll see that they all came through massage. The reason for this is that I try to get my money’s worth (haha) by totally surrendering on the table to whatever the masseuse wants to do with my body (well, within reason). So if something hurts, I just go with it unless I think I will be damaged. But most massage is directly working with your problem areas, so discomfort (even intense levels) is required.

I have no doubt that by surrendering myself to the therapeutic touch, I have come into contact with things that have opened my mind. New ranges of motion, both physical and mental are possible. Without any religious posturing or talk of qi, I have felt my body’s energy and the channels in which it travels. I further have no doubt that the reason I don’t feel this in regular practice is my pre-occupation with fighting and my mental barriers. In massage, I have no such barriers.

5. Increased flexibility

After my TCM doctor worked on me , I went to taiji class the next day. I’ve always had trouble with wide angle forward bend stretches. But after he worked on me that time, I almost fell completely forward in the stretch. The tension in my back was hampering my flexibility. Without it, my stretches were easily gaining 3-4 inches each. It was amazing.

Through more massage and then working with how you normally move, sit and stand in everyday life, it’s possible to gain and then maintain that level of flexibility long term. Yoga becomes easier as does taiji and naturally any other MA that you wish to practice. You get to spend more time on skillsets and meditation instead of warming up and stretching.

6. Knowledge of pressure points and meridians

This is a big one. The pressure points take a long time to learn and there are many of them. Finding them effortlessly on different people isn’t easy either. Certain health and fitness issues make them harder to find on some people than others. By learning massage, you extend your learning beyond simply harming people by becoming a healer. This teaches you both uses of the points, and you may be surprised how close the applications of the two branches are.

For example, I once learned Taiwanese hongquan from a teacher that had helped out his teacher in his massage clinic when he was younger. Doing any kind of push hands or applications with this hongquan teacher was impossible because any time he grabbed you, each hand would be grabbing three-four pressure points. He always pointed to helping his teacher do massages for building that knowledge.

The pressure points don’t work in isolation. They are connected by the meridians. Following them with massage techniques is the best way to purge the body of acids and to learn the location of new points. This allows a martial artist to also practice intuitive learning.

7. Sensitivity

The last benefit is an increased sense of sensitivity through touch. A hard, destructive touch is not always good in fighting or in massage. We all need to learn what is appropriate for the situation. Massage gets you working with people’s bodies and allows you to find what is the correct level of pressure to use. You can tell when you’re causing pain. Naturally if you’re receiving a massage, you also get to feel what it’s like being on the other end of that. Both are important to build sensitivity. The carryover into push hands and applications should be obvious.

Obviously I’m talking about both giving and receiving massage in this post. Ideally you should do both. But if you don’t have time, then just getting a massage will give you many martial benefits.

This is an area little talked about in MA circles in the West and I look forward to discussing this with readers through more posts on massage.