Flesh & Feeling: Somatic Learnings & Stories from the Massage Table
Mobile Massage Services in Jupiter, Stuart & Palm Beach, Florida
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You are your greatest healer.
She came to me high with anxiety and the mid to lower half of her back in agonizing pain.
I immediately felt her breath getting caught in her chest, and not entering her belly. I felt the anxiety but as I continued to work on her back, I could feel a deeper layer of sadness underneath it.
The goal isn’t to be in our bodies ALL the time.
She came to me with the intention to move this heaviness she felt in her chest.
As I started to work on her back, my mind started swirling around and around and it felt like this mental fog that was keeping me from being present with her body.
And I knew it wasn’t mine.
Healing from Addiction with Bodywork & Massage
He knew it was coming — the emotional release.
Under the frustration he was feeling, he knew there was so much grief buried that needed to come out of his body.
And when I asked what he was sensing as I held his stomach, he said he felt numb. It was a part protecting him from feeling the layer that was so obvious to me — this huge grief that wanted to be unleashed that made me want to cry.
Your problem isn’t chronic inflammation & body pain.
You think your problem is chronic pain and inflammation.
When actually, it's how you talk to yourself and what you do with your emotions.
Finding the Best Massage Modality that Works for You
I’ve met many practitioners and educators who whole heartedly believe that their modality is THE way and the healing cure to all body pain.
And sure, some modalities have hit harder for me at certain times AND I’ve had just as profound healing sessions with visceral manipulation as I have with a deep tissue massage.
If you are sitting there, trying to figure out what is the best modality for you and your body right now, here’s my answer…
Your body isn’t the problem.
“I don’t really feel anything, it’s like I’m numb.”
“I am constantly anxious and have a hard time sitting still.”
“I should make time for bodywork, but I’m too busy.”
“I was feeling so good, until I wasn’t, and then I went back into my addiction.”
All of these statements point to one thing:
Your body isn’t the problem.
Your disconnection to it is.
Western Medicine & Healing
Western medicine wants to cut you up into pieces. Fragment you by isolating the issue apart from the rest of the body and then give you a drug to ease the symptoms.
However, you are a whole person with fascia and blood and lymph that interconnects like a mycelial network and tells your unique story.
Removing Distraction to Connect to the Body
I once massaged a woman who was texting on her phone in between strokes.
It’s not my place to control or judge how my clients show up for their massage AND this speaks to a chronic issue in our technologically advanced world today — we are terrified to be with ourselves.
We will do anything not to feel our emotions, to let down the controlling walls, remove the distractions, and sit in the discomfort of our bodies.
A Story on Moving Grief
I could feel it just sitting next to her on the bus. It was this buzzy anxious repelling force that didn’t want to be touched.
She didn’t want it to spill out, she was the retreat facilitator for god’s sake.
She was holding it tight to her chest, quite literally.
Embodied Experiences of Pleasure & Pain: Mobile Massage in Jupiter, FL and Stuart, FL
My experience has been that pleasure and pain are so intertwined. They both take an immense amount of capacity and presence to hold. They are big gifts and lessons in receiving. Being with stabbing pain in your back or grieving a death is just as much of a practice to hold and breathe through as locking eyes with your lover and feeling your heart explode.