In all likelihood, your stomach is pretty busy processing the excess consumption that is part and parcel of the festive season right now. Maybe that’s going well for you; perhaps you are fortunate enough to have a workhorse of a stomach that just munches through tins of Celebrations and many sips of Baileys and mulled wine without protest.
If, however, your constitution is anything like mine, your stomach will be grumbling — not literally, hunger really isn’t the thing at the moment is it? — but in the form of bloating and wind and generally making its complaints known.
My answer is threefold: crack out the probiotics, try my hardest to chew sufficiently before swallowing, and massage my stomach. The first two you probably already know are surefire treats for your digestive system and general gut region, but that final one might be news to you; it’s been something of an insider’s secret.
The first thing you need to know is that it’s a godsend at this time of year (though, like most health and wellness practices, little and often year round is of course the most sensible way to proceed).
Ada Ooi, TCM practitioner and founder of 001 Skincare, explains that it’s the ideal way to help introduce balance by “promoting the smooth movement of food and fluids through the digestive tract, strengthening digestion and absorption of food, and alleviating common issues like bloating and indigestion.” The benefits don’t end there, though. Add in, “improved blood circulation, a release of built-up emotional stress, and a boost to overall wellbeing.”
Last but not least, it feels really damn good, which I found surprising when I was first introduced to a good stomach massage around ten years ago, when my doctor at Mayrlife asked me during a check up to lift up my top and started to sort of gently dig around, sharing his intel on how my organs were doing while at it.
By day seven of the retreat, I was into the stomach massage. It was relaxing and I had started to enjoy learning about my organs, found it rather riveting when the doctor told me my kidneys were happy, my liver tired, my large intestine slightly congested. It was how I imagined someone obsessed with the stock market might feel when looking at the figures, with even small fluctuations feeling newsworthy.
Dr Maximilian Schubert, medical director at Mayrlife, tells me that, as Ada mentioned, it absolutely has myriad benefits including reducing inflammation and helping the liver eliminate more toxins by excreting more bile, but it also does two other things which I credit with really making me a devotee. “The parasympathetic nervous system gets activated, and the pressure towards the diaphragm is reduced, helping to relax the muscles of the shoulder and neck.”
Sound agreeable? Here are some pointers on how to proceed:
1. Ada suggests starting with: “gentle, clockwise, circular motions using the palm of the hand. Begin at the belly button, apply light pressure, and move in a clockwise direction to follow the natural path of digestion.”
2. In terms of when to administer, Ada says it can be done a few minutes before or after a meal to aid digestion, and support overall wellbeing (I tend to favour beforehand, especially as it provides a little ritual that switches me out of work/doing mode).
3. Stop if you feel any “pain, discomfort, of adverse effects like indigestion or nausea after the massage,” warns Ada. That said, I generally find it can be a little sore where I hold tension in the muscles around my stomach, but if I continue gently, it eases, so I’d suggest seeking out an expert to show you where to push if you do tend to hold a lot of stress in the area.
4. If you find touching your stomach challenging but want to reap some of the benefits, Zana Morris, celebrity trainer and nutritionist, recommends you try another option. “Hold your breath out and suck your stomach in, which will also stimulate the whole digestive system.”
