You better bet it helps you release stuff. Man does it ever. Truly cathartic. I highly recommend it.
I was getting massage for a couple months before I moved from New Orleans. Haven't had it for two years and man do I miss it.
The best part (and most painful) is the first part. Yes, there is a lot of pain, but the resulting release is simply amazing. The differences between the first and second and third sessions were amazing. It went from everything hurting to what used to be very painful feeling extremely good.
They say that emotions and what not get stored in the muscle. I don't think that memories necessarily get stored, but definitely they are involved in circuits having to do with chronic stress, "hidden" memories, and other patterns.
You loosen up and the quality of life improves noticeably.
I would recommend getting a single person (that is, a person you go to regularly, not necessarily a person without a mate) who has skill and with whom you feel comfortable. They get to know your body. While not necessarily sexual, massage is intimate, and it's my bias to be massaged by someone I feel is a professional and an all around good person.
I have to add, that whether the first or any part is painful or not has to do with the attitude and approach of the masseur(sp?). Some people are very gentle and progress very slowly toward deeper and deeper work. Other people, like the Swedish lady who worked with me, are very direct and go straight to it, urging you to "breathe into it" and "let go" while you yell "I'll tell you anything you want to know! Dear God!!" Just kidding. Almost.
It's pretty amazing to feel yourself let go of a muscle you didn't even know you had and was in chronic stress. Kinda freaky, too.
[This message has been edited by babayada (edited November 05, 2004).]
That sounds like a native american form of torture.
What is it? I assume they massage you with heated stones?
The human hands, especially with certain oils, can get quite hot themselves. There were parts where Yvonne (the body worker I went to) would say, "Be careful not to get any of that oil on your hands and then your face, that part of you body there is really cooking." When I reached back to feel (it was the spine in the middle of my shoulders in one case), I really was cooking. That part was extremely hot.
Have you heard about hot stone massage? If you have never experienced this unique indulgence, you owe yourself this exquisite moment.
Stone massage is a unique connection we experience with nature, offering a sense of profoundness and sacredness that we too often forget. It's a deep healing and unique moment that enhances our awareness and brings us closer to our true essence. It is the perfect treatment that is as enjoyable and healing for the client as it is for the practitioner.
Stone massage involves the application of water-heated basalt stones of varying sizes to key points on the body, giving a deep massage and creating sensations of comfort and warmth. The direct heat relaxes muscles, allowing manipulation of a greater intensity than with regular massage
In cases of muscular injury and inflammation, frozen, cooling marble stones are used. This creates a type of thermotherapeutic 'vascular gymnastics' in the circulatory system to help the body detoxify and heal. The warmer stones expand the blood vessels, pushing blood and unwanted waste materials through the body. This has a sedative effect on the nervous system. The cold stones cause the blood vessels to constrict, stimulating the nervous system and drawing blood and waste products along the body. This ensures that every cell in the body receives more oxygen and nutrients while at the same time waste material is removed more effectively through the corresponding increase in lymph flow. Not unlike changing the old oil and filter in your car for a newer filter with clean oil—a service for the body.
It is quite an experience to feel the deeply relaxing, penetrating heat from the basalt stones alternating with the toning and refreshing coolness of the marble stones. The use of extremes of temperature has long been scientifically and medically proven to be of benefit to the body. Those who wish to relax and tone their muscles with a minimum of effort see this in the use of ice packs for muscle trauma and the use of saunas.
Stone massage makes you feel deeply relaxed, allowing you to let go of all the stress that is held within your body. It is really an amazing experience to offer to the ones you love!
Those experiencing a hot stone massage will notice a healing improvement of the following symptoms:
Muscular aches, pains, sprains, and strains
Poor circulation
Rheumatic and arthritic conditions
Fibromyalgia
MS
Back pain
Stress, anxiety and tension
Insomnia
Depression
copied from
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/fr_stonemassage.html
Yes, massage can help with releasing physical, emotional, mental, and even spiritual blockages.
All massage is not the same. All touch is not the same.
Swedish, Hot Stone, Thai, Lomi-Lomi, Rolfing, Shiatsu, Watsu, Deep Tissue, Lymphatic, etc...each are unique.
Talk to the SalonSpa or independant massage therapist you're considering going to and ask for their recomendation for what you are looking for, taking into account your limited experience with massage, personal comfortability, and flexability
A respectable therapist or spa director will find a custom fit for your needs and will be willing to refer you to another specialist or spa if it will better suit you.
Feel free to email me if you have any further questions. I have been trained in sacred bodywork in Santa Fe, Kauai, and New York as well as having very close independant and spa friends that teach, train, develop and do most types of bodywork as well as friends that own some wonderful SalonSpas.
A luscious treatment for someone who's anxious or In-Their-Head (and that I take advantage of when available) is a Lomi-Lomi Hawaian two person massage. Having someone working on your upper body as someone else is working on your lower body allows one to let go of "tracking" or following what's going on and just relax through it. It is a wonderfully intentional and nurturing work.
If you have access to someone skilled at Syntropy, a massage modality developed by Shari Sunshine (which is based off of the Feldenkrais method), you will find yourself leaving the table wondering "Oh, I thought that pain, tightness, and limited range of motion I used to have was normal!"
It really comes down to the therapist - and one with good hands, heart, and expertise is invaluable. Find someone who's very highly recommended and don't expect that the experience you have with one (good or bad), will be what you'll get from someone else-even if they do the same type of massage.
Once you get a good referral, talk to them ahead of time about your expectations and needs, and let them explain what they'll be doing so that your brain can let that part go. Finally, let go of your thoughts as you lay down on that table and treat yourself.
Remember that if you need to tell them something during the treatment go ahead -it's your experience. On the other hand, ask your questions before getting on the table -once your on the table be there for you.
Smile, take a slow relaxed breath and thank your body for all it's done for you. Thank the hands that are nurturing it right now, and thank yourself for taking care of you.
You can fall asleep, yawn, giggle, shed a tear, smile...enjoy 
babyada: hot stone massage can be a moving experience. It tends not to be coupled with the deep tissue/St John's method work like you seem to be referring to as a personal favorite, but is a gift to yourself and body none the less.
Much Love, Shawn
In my experience the massage does release supressed emotions. However unless I work on underlying beliefs and attitudes, the energy tends to be supressed again. Atually to release, massage is not needed, Sedona method or meditation involving feeling deeply the body (as for example in Hayat's book "energized meditation', or Bruce Kumars books) will do the same.
For example, stay relaxed, fully present and feel your body while doing some type of slow motion (like tai chi). Pretty soon all kind of stuff will come up. Keep releasing initial emotions and if you can let them go - the undelying subconscious thought that was the cause for that particular supressed stress will come up. Then one has to deal with that thought/belief.
For me, some things are impossible to release unless I am willing to transform my presonality, change attitudes etc. That stuff could be pretty painful but if I manage to release the emotions and the original belief that caused them, then for me it feels like a huge relief and sometimes a complete change of the way I was looking at the situation. And the best thing is that the change is permanent, later in smiliar circumstances I stay aware of myself, not reacting not stressed ... Thats just my experience though.
Best wishes,
Nick
As the refexlologist was massaging particular parts of my foot (strangely enough, known as reflex points!) he would predict which parts of my body I had pain and tension in, e.g. my lower back pain.
He then went on to tell me what part of my foot i needed to massage and how on regular basis to eliminate my back pain over a period time.
In all, it was an amazing experience to have a foot massage and have my whole body tingling and relaxed.
mikev
BTW A reflexlogy session should ideally last for a minimum of 45 minutes, otherwise the benefits will be limited.
Well, just about any massage, to me, if desired is a good massage. 
I am definitely open to experiencing a variety of methods. That two person Hawaiian massage sounds great.
Much Love, Shawn
quote:
Originally posted by bhenry:
Has anyone ever used a full body massage to release stress, anxiety or depression? Has a full body massage helped with releasing stress?
Indeed I have... I lived with an exotic dancer, in Vanciouver BC, who decided to become a masseuse... and I her practice subject... Oh Boy! and Yes!...
I discovered I didn't get much from the massage unless I became as much a part of the healer as she was being healer...
So I made it a point to be that... and during one practice massage, something strange and wonderful happened...
I had been lifting large heavy boxes all that day, and had put a vertibrae seriously out of alignment... She found it right off, and attempted to push it back into place, like chiropractic, but without the violence... She stopped trying after three failures, so I instructed her to try again, with less force... while I set all my focus inside, at the trouble spot, like a tiny person pushing inside, pushing at the twisted bone with all my might, in the direction it had to go to right itself, and it slowly turned back into place, feeling like a train car connecting to another train car...
Now I believe that for the healer to do the job, the patent must be working as much on the other end, to accept the healing...
That said, if your task is to release extreme stress, you must be addressing that stress while the massage is transpiring, or all you'll get is accidental healing... sortof like paying your dime, and only farting...
[This message has been edited by cosmicbrat (edited January 10, 2005).]