I am sitting on the edge of a beautiful lake in the middle of Quebec Province gazing into the distance at a long white sandbar that extends about halfway across the mile-wide expanse. Except, of course, there is no such thing as a white sandbar in a lake in Quebec.
What I am actually looking at is an enormous flock of pure white geese resting on their journey to points south for the winter. I can't help but be reminded of what a powerful biological force instinct plays in all animals. The geese give no thought about retreating to warmer climes to avoid starving to death as their dinner plates freeze over. But the wisdom of their bodies, what we call instinct, impels them to embark upon a long and dangerous journey twice a year to ensure their individual and collective survival.
And yet, as potent and consequential as it is, instinct is still no match for the self-aware consciousness of the cerebral cortex. Not only can our rational minds override almost any biological instinct we possess (such as eating, sleeping, and reproduction), contemporary science has also demonstrated that we have far more control over even the autonomic nervous system (heart rate, respiration, stress and relaxation responses) than ever imagined.
Unfortunately, we are often too "smart" for our own good and use our brains to ignore the important messages from our body. Our bodies tell us to move and yet we continue to sit in static positions, often in front of a keyboard, for hours at a time. Our acid stomachs tell us we have upset the digestive balance with too much of the wrong foods or too much stress and, rather than changing our eating habits or lifestyle, we take a pill to numb the pain.
One of the most important roles of a Zubio massage is to gently reestablish communication between the brain and the body so that our rational minds can let our instincts have their say and can be acted upon in an appropriate and timely manner.
The world moves so fast that unless we structure a personal "time out" for ourselves we almost inevitably run roughshod over our best instincts. Book a Zubio massage for your health maintenance today.
