Stretching for Relaxation?
Yes indeed. Stretching can actually provide longer lasting results over massage for lasting pain relief, stress reduction and better relaxation.
With a traditional massage, such as Swedish or even Deep Tissue, it’s more about just laying on the table while someone works the muscles fibers that get stuck due to stress and work and oftentimes provides only temporary relief. And as with Deep Tissue, it can be quite intense and uncomfortable - thus not providing a sense of relaxation often associated with massage.
Assisted Stretching on the other hand requires a bit more participation of the recipient while on the table. However with your engagement and working with your therapist, the gains in mobility, flexibility and deeper tissue tension release can be longer lasting and ultimately more relaxing.
And by incorporating movement enhancers, breath work and other modalities, its a great way to retrain the brain out of pain patterns and into more normalized movement and posture.