How Hendrickson MethodⓇ tells your body it is safe to let go
What makes Hendrickson MethodⓇ (HM) different from traditional massage is the unique conversation the therapist has with your body. For most of our sessions, the client lies on their side cradled by pillows and as the body feels supported, it sends messages to the nervous system that it is safe to let go.
From here, as the therapist gently rocks your body, you are soothed in a similar way to a swaddled baby, which is innately relaxing.
Mesmerizing gentle waves of motion, unique to HM, work in several ways:
bones and connective tissue can safely move to lubricate the joint
local muscles release long-held tension
profound relaxation follows
the body’s innate healing response is stimulated
Clients leave their session feeling incredible, and we know that it is one of the most healing things you can do for your spine and joints, but how does this ‘letting go’ actually heal the body?
Your body is being strangled!
Tight muscles restrict cellular activity, so a ‘protected’ joint hasn't been getting enough circulation. A lack of oxygen and restricted blood flow is painful. But, if you have an injury or pain, you know how challenging it can be to stretch and exercise the joint.
So, what I love about this work is it as we engage the specific muscle and we can consciously engage the muscle, and it releases, the cells of that muscle are getting restored circulation and the wisdom of the body used to deliver everything the tissues need; the oxygen, the water and the nutrients. Injured or tense muscles hold on tight so they haven’t been getting enough circulation. They are lacking in oxygen and this causes pain.
To explain this further, it is oxidizing glycogen that makes ferric acid which, if the blood isn’t carrying it away, becomes stored as lactic acid and histamines. The build up of these naturally occurring chemicals cause pain. So, in HM, as we can gently engage the fibers that are still functioning nearby - and then relax - there is a flooding in of fresh circulation. With this release, the tissues can finally receive the nutrients from cellular water. Lactic acid histamines combine and a chemical reaction once again creates ferric acid. Now there is a healthy exchange of nutrients and waste within cells, this bi-product can hop onto red blood cells and be released from the body. Seventy percent of our toxins are exhaled, so that's one reason why we use breath in this work.
As we breathe out, we are actually cleansing unwanted chemicals and nature abhors a vacuum, so as toxins are released, your entire body is bathed with soothing refreshment from circulating blood.
The brain responds appropriately, partly from the deep breathing and partly from the nervous system experiencing muscle after muscle being able to function again, and a chain reaction of profound healing begins. When muscles can comfortably engage and relax fully, it actually changes our brain chemistry from the stress response of cortisol to the calming neurohormones of oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine.
These endorphins are incredibly powerful chemicals related to the drug morphine (the root of the word ‘-endo’ means ‘inside the body’ and ‘-orphine’ is derived from morphine.) So, this naturally created pain relief floods our bloodstream until every tissue in our body is bathed with a sense of bliss and euphoria.
The Magic Healing Cocktail
Oxytocin, which some people call the love or God-hormone, affects the area of our brain that actually senses our body, so we have less awareness of being in a physical body and can tune in to what is beyond. Many experience a sense of being connected to something bigger than ourselves.
During HM, we also see a rise in serotonin which is the comfort food kind of feeling, and clients often report a bliss sensation. We apply a rocking motion that, when repeated on area after area, signals to the nervous system that it can let go. Just as a swaddled baby is soothed by gentle rocking, so your body will be during a HM treatment.
We experience a comfortable feeling as serotonin floods our blood stream but then ‘the big one’ is dopamine. It’s not unusual to have a huge burst of happy hormones during an HM treatment which gives a sense of euphoria. This happy hormone is why most of us do the things we do each day, to get the positive feedback of a dopamine hit. This all-familiar chemical hook can come from many areas; helping others or just picking up our cell phone in some cases! Whenever we are doing tasks and activities that we love or even bring us a little more happiness, our brain produces endorphins.
That's exactly what is happening in the brain as the body is being rocked gently. With pain, the message to the brain is to release adrenaline to be ready to ‘fight or flight’, and our heart beats faster even as we are frozen. The opposite response is then to release the frozen state and receive natural pain relief. It is as if the nervous system is saying, “I'm safe. I can let go now.”
Of course, this feels better than living with anxiety or pain, but there are still some areas of the body that are suspicious. Your body is aware that it has been overly-sensitive and hyper-vigilant for so long, sometimes it needs more encouragement to change it’s ways. A learned trait that trips up our nervous system is the tendency to be suspicious of feeling good. It’s as if we are constantly looking out for the old familiar sensation to return, thinking ‘when is this pain going to happen again?’
With HM it is as if the brain is saying,“We can relax now, we don't need to hold on any more. We can let go.”
Understandably, the response is that most people get so mesmerized they actually fall asleep. Or they go into such a deep state of relaxation that they really feel like they've gone ‘somewhere else’. As you can imagine, it’s just an incredible experience for the client to feel tissue after tissue let go. After so much pain, the opposite muscle is finally able to engage as the body is gently rocked and, as this happens, there is a very gentle Tai Chi-related massage stroke that is added in a specific direction.
This profound relaxation response continues for hours and even days afterward a treatment which encourages the body and nervous system to stay in the healing, or ‘rest and digest’, phase rather than return to the default ‘fight, flight or freeze’ state.