My Celtic Cross spread for 2016, done on January 1, 2016, using the Osho Zen Tarot deck.
The issue is Silence, crossed by Existence. Continue reading
My 2016 Tarot reading
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Category Archives: heart
I dreamed I was dying, and no one knew. When I woke, I learned David Bowie had died.
I did a biodynamic craniosacral session yesterday with someone I cherish. In years past, I’ve participated in several of her workshops exploring life and death. As in my life, unexpected violent death visited her life early on and made a lasting impression, so we both have a long acquaintance with death and mortality.
This was our first session doing biodynamic work.
(And by the way, biodynamic work may have been first written about by cranial osteopaths who spent decades working with people, mostly in silence, listening intently and deeply, who finally had the courage to say, “There’s something else going on here.” However, in my opinion, this work is timeless, and another label for it, that goes back to ancient times, is hands-on healing.)
I dreamt in the middle of the night that I was dying. I had been told that I had a terminal condition and that nothing could be done to restore my health. I was on my way out of this life. Continue reading
Here’s how I do bath therapy.
This morning I felt the need to nurture myself after a bit of a rough week wondering about my status with a place that provides a good chunk of my income and also having some lower abdominal pains that I believe were due to the adjustments my body is making as I realign my pelvis.
(See previous posts about my SI belt, pelvic tilt, and self-treatment program if interested.)
These were just little bumps in the road. We all experience them. But often we don’t know they’re not the beginning of major stressors until some progress or good news occurs. I don’t believe in worrying about things beyond my control. I like to place my attention on what I can do, and do it. But I’ve been a bit unsettled, experiencing uncertainty.
Both of those concerns are currently resolving favorably. I more than recovered the lost income with private clients, and doing Kegels has helped me recover from the pains. Continue reading
Etiquette for massage: how to handle stinky butt
Warning: This is a delicate topic.
All massage therapists and bodyworkers who work with unclothed people have encountered this phenomenon, and it goes by several names: stinky butt, monkey butt, smelly ass, stinkbutt, stinky bum, ass stink, swamp ass, sweaty bum, and rotten smelly butt hole. You get the idea.
It happens like this: The therapist leaves the room, and the client undresses and lies down on the table between the sheets. The therapist re-enters and begins the session.
When the therapist is ready to work on the client’s hip/sacrum/gluteal muscles, he or she undrapes the area, usually leaving the butt crack covered.
Suddenly a nasty smell hits the therapist’s nose. Pee-yew! It’s gross, and the client is often unaware of it, which makes it embarrassing for both the therapist and the client.
And it can happen to anyone. Continue reading
2015 blog review
I’m curiously sorting through my blog stats, now that 2015 is nearing its end. Before I get into the data, I want to acknowledge that I haven’t posted as often this year as in the past. (This is number 43 for the year.) Part of that is that I have less time to write. If you’re not familiar with my story, I quit my last job as an employee in 2010, went to massage school in 2011, and have been working, learning, and building my private practice since then. Business has grown sweetly this year.
Another reason I’ve posted less is that because of my work, I pay more attention to the non-verbal realm of life, to the haptic experience, to yours and my felt sense of being and how it changes. It’s difficult to write about. Not impossible, though, and I hope to do more of it in 2016.
On to the stats! My blog received a record number of views in 2015. The most popular posts were published before 2015. I’ve gotten 49,166 views as of today, December 20, so there’s still time to reach 50,000 this year! All-time views since the blog started in late 2009 have reached 177,513. Continue reading
The rapture of being alive
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life… I think that what we’re really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive.” ~ Joseph Campbell
This quote has been a long-time favorite and is included on my Favorite Quotes page.
I want to go on record as saying that one of the times when I most feel the rapture of being alive is when I’m practicing biodynamic craniosacral therapy.
It’s like meditating together, but with much more connection, yet totally safe because nothing is expected.
I don’t know what else to say about it, except that if you want to experience it too, I’m happy to do a session with you.
Gift suggestions that increase well-being
If you’re looking for gift ideas for those you care about, here are a few suggestions. Since I am a licensed massage therapist, that’s where I’ll start.
Although there are a few people around who don’t like to be touched, most people enjoy a professional massage that’s tailored for their needs: the right modality, the right pressure, the right length. One thing people say they’d do if they had unlimited resources is to get massages more often.
Massage gift certificates are welcome gifts, especially with a personal note from you letting them know how much they deserve to be pampered. If the recipient is a busy person, adding the promise of watching the kids or making dinner afterwards so they can enjoy the afterglow is an extra nice touch. Continue reading
Hot vegetable juice (aka soup) brings the yum
I’ve slacked off, not eating as many vegetables as I know are good for me for reasons like vitamins, minerals, other nutrients, fiber, as well as tasty.
With the change in seasons, I haven’t been consuming green drinks or making salads like I do in summer. In Austin, where fall, winter, and spring are fleeting, it’s an in-between time, with some days warm and humid and others cool and dry. This fall in particular has alternated between drought and deluge and has been warmer than usual.
My nutritionist, Olivia Honeycutt, suggested cooking some vegetables and then running them through the blender or Vitamin. It’s how I would a make cooling green drink of veggies and typically one fruit in summer, only warmed.
Where I come from, that’s soup. Continue reading
A case study for massage therapists: distinguishing myofascial neck pain from herniated disk pain
In my craniosacral therapy-related work, I learned to work on TMJ/jaw issues. It didn’t take long to realize that distress in the jaw joint is accompanied by distress in the neck. With the intent of providing even more relief, I studied Tom Myers’ DVD course, Easing the Neck, and after practicing it, began using it.
My recipients loved this neck work, even when they didn’t have TMJ issues or forward head posture, so I incorporated these myofascial release techniques into a new offering, my Back Shoulder Neck Head sessions, into which I added trigger point work, lymphatic drainage, and range-of-motion testing.
I was excited about adding this to my repertoire. Clients loved it, and I was getting great results. When I learned that a woman I knew was suffering from neck pain, I offered her a session, and that’s where the learning started.
This client has given me permission to share this story on my blog.
Looking back at my notes from over a year ago, I see that my intake form didn’t inquire about the history of her neck pain, whether she had a medical diagnosis (and if not, what she thought was going on), changes in symptoms, what made it worse or better, how it affected her activities of daily living, what other health care practitioners she’d seen and whether what they did was helpful, and more. (My current intake form asks for all that from clients who come in with specific injuries and conditions.) Continue reading
Pelvic rehab update: getting bodywork, exercises, kinesiotaping
A couple of weeks ago, my advanced program class at Lauterstein-Conway Massage School did our final exam for the orthopedic massage training. We were assigned a partner in the class, and our job was to interview them, observe, palpate, check range-of-motion, and do special tests if needed to identify the tissues involved.
Then we treated them, and they did the same for us.
My partner, James, did a great job of reassessing my pelvic alignment, first done back on June 22 by our teacher, Jan Hutchinson, PT/LMT. I’ve been wearing a sacroiliac belt around my hips much of the time since then. My hips feel tighter, and my walk has changed for the better. I rarely feel much discomfort at the left SI joint any more.
But I’m still not there. I still had a slight lateral tilt, an anterior tilt, with the left innominate having more of an anterior tilt than the right, and the pubis was also tilted. James watched me walk and could see that it affects my gait.
James applied what we’ve learned in the class. Since the bones are supported by the muscles, we learned techniques to length and shorten muscles to move bones into better alignment.
By the end of his treatment, he retested me. Everything was aligned. No tilts! Good job, James! Continue reading
The Well: bodymindheartspirit 