It is misleading to brand the practice of the many techniques of massage as "alternative" when it has been carried on for centuries all over the world. It is really as mainstream as you can get; there are any number of benefits provided to the billions of cells the make us function. It is holistic; meaning something good happening to one body system influences others positively as they communicate with each other. To heal the whole body it is necessary to achieve a healthy balance overall. A person becomes stronger when there are no blockages to hamper the flow of life energy known by the Chinese term "chi". The life force name corresponds to the legendary and mystical chi of the martial arts such as Tai Chi Chuan and the other Kung Fu arts of China, Korean Hapkido, and Japanese Aikido, where chi is magnified. Chi energy flows along 12 body meridian channels: small intestine, large intestine, stomach, liver, spleen, kidney, heart, governing vessel, lungs, triple heater, bladder, and gall bladder. Clearing obstacles throughout the body by way of massage therapy removes toxic situations brought about by factors like stress, dead cells, crooked posture, etc., and tunes it up for smooth driving so to speak. In turn the mind is affected for the better and allows the panicked central nervous system to stand down and relax. In a word, stress is a killer. It weakens the performance of the organs protected and connected by the first of our systems: the skeletal system. There are 206 bones in the skeletal system holding us together so that we can carry around all of our body tissue, organs, veins, and whatnot. Then it's all tucked together so the stuff won't fall out by the integumentary system, which is a fancy word for skin. The bones are held together by tendons and ligaments - this is the articular system. The muscular system allows us the physical ability to perform work. Massage starts at the muscles but also goes inward to stimulate and straighten the cells with deep tissue massage. The fuel we run on is processed by the digestive or alimentary system (organs associated with ingestion, digestion, absorption of food and elimination of its associated waste). It also produces the gases so familiar to masssage therapists in the course of a day. The other gaseous elements like oxygen, carbon dioxide, and whatever happens to be in the air is the responsibility of the respiratory system's lungs and air passages of the bronchial tubes and nasal cavity. Giving the commands via electro-chemical energy, is the nervous system: it is comprised of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and peripheral nervous system (cranial and spinal nerves). The nervous system is the ultimate beneficiary of the work done by the massage therapist once the spine relaxes and blood flow becomes more streamlined. Blood starts moving easier during and after a massage through the circulatory system, which consists of the cardiovascular (heart and blood vessels) and the lymphatic systems (lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes). This in turn stimulates the glands and hormone-secreting cells of the endocrine system, as well the urinary system so you may want to visit the restroom on the way out. If your reproductive system becomes stimulated during the massage you're pretty much on your own.
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