Embarrassing Massage Moments
Massage therapy involves being touched by, in many cases, a stranger, often of the opposite gender. This can have surprising effects on some people. Then, if you add in all the things that can happen when our bodies relax during a massage and there can be many embarrassing moments for recipients of a massage.
How to overcome things that make you want to run out of the massage room
Massage therapists are used to these occurrences, but those of us on the receiving end of a good massage can get quite embarrassed when these things happen:
1. Gas happens to all of us at some point in time. Most people produce about one half of a liter of gas a day, resulting in approximately 14 episodes of passing gas daily. Women and men produce an equal amount of gas, although some men enjoy putting theirs on display sound-wise, making it seem like they have more to offer.
Things that can cause the production of gas in extra or more odoriferous amounts that you might want to avoid prior to a massage include:
• Foods like broccoli, cauliflower, almonds, and Brussels sprouts that are high in sulfate produce much nastier smelling gas.
• Mercaptans, a sulfur compound in meats and dairy products can also result in nasty smelling gas.
• Lactose intolerance can produce low-hanging gas that is horrific to smell.
• Gluten intolerance in some people also results in odoriferous gas production.
• The American College of Gastroenterology says that sucking on a mint or chewing gum and result in gas that must be released.
• Swallowing a lot of air can result in gas (usually benign).
Holding gas in can result in tension that your massage therapist cannot address. Letting it out can result in overwhelming your massage therapist and causing you embarrassment. Flatulence can be quelled with natural remedies such as homeopathic anti-gas supplements.
Gas can also be rendered null and void by Gas-X and similar products. If gas tends to be a problem for you at inopportune times, you may want to take one of these remedies before heading for your next massage.
2. Another problem that often arises for men is an erection during a massage. Just like gas, erections happen when touch is involved in a massage. They have little or nothing to do with the massage therapist and everything to do with men being touched in areas that are not usually touched in therapeutic situations. There are many men who refuse to get a massage because they fear getting an erection during it.
Several men have shared that in order to avoid this happening, they remain in their underwear. Or, they focus on a topic that engages their minds so much that their bodies cannot respond to the touch. Unfortunately, this also means that they tune out to part of the relaxation involved with the massage.
Massage therapists say that if a man acts appropriately when an erection happens during a massage, they can both ignore it and continue with the massage. Acting appropriately means acknowledging that it happened and taking mental measures to reduce its influence on the massage.
We live in these bags of bones that have a proclivity for doing things that embarrass us, but we need to remember that massage therapists have seen (and smelled) it all and are quite forgiving when the unexpected arises or wafts during a massage.