Escaping the Praise/Blame Cycle
Gabrielle Marcus
Many of us, when we think about our bodies, have these simple categories we lock ourselves into, such as
Healthy/Sick
Thin/Overweight
Healthy Eater/Bad Eater
Fit/Not Fit
Athletic/Not Athletic
Coordinated/Uncoordinated
Sexy/Not Sexy
Active/Lazy
...and all of them reflect whether we deserve Praise/Blame. I think the Praise/Blame cycle pulls us out of and away from our bodies. It turns us into either the successful taskmaster or the bad student---either of which is a hard relationship to have with a body you have to live in all the time.
I like to think massage can help unlock the body from the Praise/Blame cycle. Massage can remind the body of itself, which can help bring it back from these strict categories---to whatever we were before these categories started loading themselves up on our heads. For a moment, or longer, we don't have to be good or bad, we can be flesh and bone, a whole sensitive person settling, restoring, and remembering.