Why I Love My Massage Therapist

Namaste, Cyber-Universe. Namaste, Cyber-Self.

I went to my Chinese Massage Therapist today. It's been a couple of months since I've seen him. Most of my sessions have been very much alike but every once in awhile, there will be some profound difference; typically it's so vigorous it's almost a workout for me. But sometimes he can be so gentle (still therapeutic though) and today, all I could think about afterwards was Love.

First and foremost, the best quality of our client/practioner relationship is that we simply cannot communicate verbally. (Let's just say that his English is almost as bad as my Chinese.) I tell him "one hour" and he knods. Sometimes I point to a place and say "Pain" but that's rare. I never really need to tell him anything. And like I said, it's usually intense enough that I'm too busy keeping up mentally... remembering to breathe can be a challenge when you're being rocked back and forth with someone's elbow in your ass-cheek. (Watching me re-learning to walk after that is pretty funny. Think Scarecrow .)

Well today was a profoundly different experience.

I think the way I came in kinda set the tone. It's a giant All-Things-Chinese-Superstore; massage is at the very back of the floor, by a pond and fountain... very pretty. I've been there so many times, I know better than to walk back without hittin' the bathroom (the fountain sounds pretty unless you have to GO) and I know where the key for the bathroom is. So I ask and grab it at the same time. Well, my therapist was standing there when I came around to corner. He looked so pleasantly surprised to see me.

When I laid on the table (it's always facedown), I was thinking about how much I love my therapist. I'm really lucky to have someone that I trust without thought. Someone I don't have to say anything to. A place where I can just be and know that no harm will come to me... at least for an hour. And while I'm thinking this, I notice that I was being rocked a little lighter than usual and he was doing more stretches on me. Oh, I still very much enjoyed it but I wondered if he was tired or something...

Then he had me turn over (?!?) and he massaged my face for about ten minutes. Wow. It felt like he removed all of the stress from my face; a connective tissue face lift. I SO needed that! And it wasn't completely gentle. The man did some stretching of this and some tapping on that. He really did a number on my hair, too. I think he purposefully posed my face into a soft smile cuz it stayed that way the rest of the day.

The icing on the cake was that when I paid him, he pointed to my tattoo and said, "shen ren" (loosely translates as "nice person" and it's the only Chinese phrase I know... duh I'm wearing it!) and I said, "I try."

It's reassuring to know that with him literally watching my back, I don't need to try as hard.

Peace, Denise