Today is Jan. 1, 2023!!
Although upon waking up, I knew today and this year would and will be amazing, I woke with what seemed to be a stranger than normal headache. The throbbing switched from one side to the other (from last night) and my neck hurt. For the record, I did not drink alcohol last night. As a matter of fact I didn’t drink enough water which is why I believe I was dealing with it.
Today will mainly be spent with my father baking my late grandmothers (secret) Italian bread recipe and making some other yummy treats together but my day was to start with massaging a loyal client.
When I awoke, I was bummed because of this annoying headache. It’s so frustrating when I believe it’s up to me to make myself feel better yet sometimes I feel pain like this and I don’t know why or how to fix it to make it go away asap.
I thought to cancel the appointment…
I got up, started my morning coffee, movement and getting ready rituals and then stood in my living room contemplating how I wanted to start my day on the 1st day of Jan. 2023.
I questioned whether I felt good or bad enough to go or to cancel.
It was 8am and I had a half hour before I needed to head out. By this time I’d drank about 45 ounces of water and finally resorted to a couple ibuprofens.
I do not like taking meds but there is definitely a time and place and this AM was it. Within about 10 minutes between the water and pills I was feeling much better. I gathered my things and headed out to do the massage.
Interesting quirk about me is I love house/dance music. So “Kratos Himself” played “Breathe” for me. I continued “jamming out” to “Breathe” upon arrival and setting up my suite.
I tend to be a very close to right on time kinda person but this morning I was completely ready to go 20 minutes before the appointment and switched the tunes from “house” to “spa”.
I added some lavender and eucalyptus essential oils to my wrists, took some deep breaths and let my client know to text when ready.
This massage session was different.
Although I am a massage therapist, I am a former sales person so I have high energy tendencies. As a child I was an extreme introvert (extremely shy) but due to my mom forcing me to be in community theater to help break me out of the extreme shyness and my choosing careers where I had to talk to people (a lot) I quickly became an over-caffeinated extrovert. Now as a LMT I’m a much calmer semi extrovert/semi introvert but my mind is still on high speed mode much of the time.
Still, I set an even greater intention today before my clients arrival to take it easy, breathe deeply, slow down and go with the slow, peaceful beat of the spa music.
Sometimes my massage techniques are faster, running at a higher speed with my mind. This speed works for my clients.
Today, I set the intention to be more mindfully in control of my mental speed which would then successfully transfer to my hands and body to also go with the speed of the music. My flow was peaceful yet powerful, my mind completely in the zone yet aware of session segments so that my timing flowed while being balanced enough to give “equal opportunity” to each area of the body.
Mission accomplished.
For 90 straight minutes my mind, hands and rhythm stayed at the calming, even pace of the music.
When the session ended my client opened his eyes and said, “that may have been the best massage yet. I feel so relaxed”!
Massage Therapy: I didn’t know when I decided to become a licensed massage therapist that it would be so meditative for both myself and my clients.
I’m so grateful that I found this gift that’s been buried deep within me that I can share with others who appreciate it, are receptive to it and find a sense of healing from it.
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