08/04/2026
Ever cried during a massage, or on your way home in the car and been like…
sorry what just happened there??
You’re minding your own business, then suddenly you start to feel it building and you burst into tears for what feels like absolutely no good reason.
Well, we're here to tell you that it’s more common than you think!
Massage doesn’t work on muscles alone, it taps into your nervous system, especially the limbic system, which is the bit of your brain linked to emotion, memory and stress.
When your body’s been holding tension, stress or trauma for a while, it doesn't simply cause tight shoulders or hips. You’ve also got stress hormones like cortisol hanging around, keeping your system slightly on edge.
When you go for a massage, we start shifting and moving things around which has an effect on the whole body. It's often not realised that the nervous system plays a crucial role in what happens during and after a massage.
During a massage your body usually (if it feels safe to do so, this may take time) drops into recovery mode, causing cortisol to come down, and feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine start to rise.
That change can trigger an emotional release… sometimes that looks like crying on a massage table, or in the car, or maybe an hour later when you catch your sleeve on the door handle!
The key thing: don’t fight it. Don't apologise, or tell yourself you're being silly, or get frustrated with yourself.
Holding it back or apologising can interrupt what your body is trying to process, and letting it happen helps your system settle properly.
We promise we don't mind, if anything we feel grateful that your body trusts us.
It’s normal. It’s human. It happens all the time.
So if it happens to you, just let it do its thing. Your body knows exactly what it’s doing.
