Saturday, September 20, 2014

Life is for living. Bodies are really helpful for that!

When a client walks into my office for massage therapy, I have one main objective, every single time:  to bring them more fully into their body while they are in my care.

They may come in because their spine is out of alignment or they are exhausted from having young children or they have TMJ or they just lost a parent or they are training for a triathlon or they have repetitive stress from being a professional musician or they just had knee replacement surgery or they were rear-ended and are suffering from whiplash or they have a nerve impingement that is inflamed and painful or migraines or plantar fasciatis or frozen shoulder or carpal tunnel.......

So I listen, and I hear, and I tell them my spiel, and I leave the room and ask them to get on the table.  While they are doing so, I wash my hands, and ground myself.

There is a *human being* in the other room, and I am about to touch them!

It's pretty remarkable.

When you think about all the energy that it takes to be a human being, all the years it takes to develop into a mature person, in a functioning (or -- somewhat functioning) body, with a mind that works, lungs that keep the whole thing oxygenated, blood pulsing through all those veins, out to the outer reaches of the fingers and toes...........

Meanwhile there is a story associated with that body -- an identity -- a personality -- a history.  There have been let-downs, there have been injuries, there have been healthy choices and not-so-healthy choices.  There have been celebrations, crushing blows, betrayals, shame, confusion, and -- achievements, joy, bliss......all mixed together.  It's human life, after all!

I genuinely view my work as a huge honor and privilege, for mine is the only profession in which we are given the legal right to touch people therapeutically.   Our professional training involves learning the different systems of the body:  muscular, skeletal, fascial, and to a certain extend the nervous system, and beyond that, there are as many different modalities and techniques as there are stars in the sky.

For me, approaching my client on the table begins by entering their energy field mindfully by taking a couple of nice deep breaths, and asking them to do the same.  In this way, we are beginning to bring ourselves more fully into that very moment, and with any luck in the next hour or so, I am going to be providing not only relief from their particular ailment, but also an honest and more thorough connection within themselves.  It could be called sensate awareness, internal awakenings, 'aha' moments that help them to inform how their lived experience is being expressed on the physical plane.

This is why I call my work, "nurturing deep-tissue", as I bring an energetic component to all of my work whether it's what could be called "clinical", or whether it's what is known as "subtle".

From Olympic athletes, musicians, exhausted parents, or just busy adults on a given day, most of my clients report that my work is unique.  I asked one of my clients to try to explain how so the other day, and she said, "It was more Zen than most massages".  By the depth of her breathing by the end of the massage, I would say that we accomplished more than simply relieving the impingement in her ulnar nerve.....but we also achieved my ultimate goal:  bringing her more fully into her body.

aaaaaaah.  Such a realm we live in!

After 18 years in this profession, I am going strong and thrilled to be learning, growing, and deepening my own felt experience along the way.

Currently I am booking clients in El Cerrito on Thursday afternoons and evenings, occasional in-home sessions, and beginning in October I will be booking on Saturdays in El Cerrito as well.

Stay tuned for my new menu of services!  And contact me directly to schedule a session.  It would be my honor and privilege to work with you.






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