But I’m Not Going On A Cruise

That was my response when my acupuncturist recommended I get a massage. I was slightly offended. Here I was in serious pain from nerve damage and all he offered was a day at the spa?

The problem was my limited understanding of massage. I’d never had one myself, so the sum total of my perceptions were formed by images I’d seen in the media. These fell into two groups: a pampered trophy wife with cucumbers on her eyes, or something that was vaguely associated with the sex trade. But I was in pain and desperate. So I agreed to go to a therapist he recommended, one who specialized in CranioSacral Therapy.

The experience was not what I expected. I lay on my back, fully clothed while the therapist touched me gently on my hips, shoulders and neck. It was so contrary to my expectations that in the first few minutes I considered walking out the door. But then she got to my neck and all such thoughts vanished.

Let me say here that I do not cry easily. But that day I did. As she accessed the vertebra that had been damaged, the relief was so great that tears trickled out of the corners of my eyes, trailed across my temples and filled up my ears. I had experienced one aspect of the infinite variety of healing possibilities inherent in massage.

A multitude of cultures throughout history and around the world have developed methods of improving health through touch. I have been trained in four types of massage, CranioSacral, Lymphatic Drainage, Shiatsu and Swedish. There are dozens more that vary greatly in their approach.

But there is something that unites all of the different types of massage. It is one human being using the fundamental vehicle of touch to help another human being get well. It is basic, it is universal and it works.

And you don’t need to be on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean before you allow yourself to experience it.

 

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