Outside the Box

Banner in the Therapy Room

A massage therapist that I used to go to on a regular basis but hadn't been to in six months reached out to me to let me know that she is moving. When I first saw the email subject, I thought she was moving to another location and not out of state.

She is one of the first therapists that I found when I first got into massage therapy. After communicating with her about the move, I immediately booked an appointment and thought about all the times that I didn't go because I couldn't find a slot or day to my liking. Ugh, sometimes you just have to think outside the box and be flexible.

At any rate, I was so touched that she reached out because I would have been crushed had she left town without me getting the chance to say goodbye.

I really enjoyed and benefited from my massage and energy therapy sessions with her. She is warm, professional and serious about her craft. Part of me wants to regret the infrequency of my visits but the other part of me wants to lean into the grateful part -- that I got a chance to see her once more.

This morning I was reading a local publication called The Healthy Planet and I really like this issue's Holy Mole cartoon. Massage definitely makes me feel more appreciative and alive. 

Also, the fall foliage has been a welcome and beautiful distraction. I've had my camera out for the last two days...

Loved

Had a two hour meeting yesterday. Usually, end of the week p.m. meetings find me dragging but the speaker held my attention. I liked it when he said that his personal mission statement is bigger than his company's mission statement. I was also captivated by his frequent use of the phrase I would like to encourage... It's kind of the in phrase but...

Agreed to pick up Hazira after work and we headed to a new-ish restaurant that was featured on Groupon. Love the name -- Hot Pot Smoothie. Also dug Janice Scherer's art. When I come into money and reduce my hoard, I plan to acquire more art.

After picking up our "hot pots," we headed to an independent coffee shop. The combination of good food and coffee was enough to make me moan and I definitely plan to return to Hot Pot Smoothie.

Udon Noodles, Chicken, Spinach, Peppers...Mmmm

Later on, Hazira and I watched Modern Family -- the fourth episode, Our Children, Ourselves, of season two just might be my favorite. It's the episode with the homeless Reiki master. So funny. It doesn't take much to make me happy...

Woke up and turned on the TV. They were doing makeovers or something on The Today Show and it seems that adding hair moves so many people. Additional hair is something that I have very little interest in but what I did notice was an audience member (with more hair) who had on a LOVED shirt. 

I want that shirt.

I often think that if I want something as my epitaph, it would be that line from Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: And she was loved! Even though it still surprises me when people like me, I do feel loved... a lot.

Did my usual Saturday morning bed-dwelling, then lifted my bike out of the basement. Such a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

As I sat on the bench reading a book sample, this family walked by and a little girl in a stroller noticed the group of people by the building with a lot of windows and asked Where's the bride?

If I Had More Money or Stuff People Say to Me

Me: I feel like I'm getting in the  way of you staring down the wall. 

Boulderer: That's okay -- we'll just stare at you awkwardly.

I couldn't read you today. Where you relaxed?

Massage Therapist

I've been giving the plant Reiki.

 Kim re: her big plant

Are you talking to your organs yet? 

I expressed doubt when an acquaintance mentioned that she talked to her organs but Hazira thinks that I've now reached the point where I may very well talk to mine.

Sounds like you're hallucinating. 

Hazira re: my ability to see yoga everywhere.

I like to get there early and do savasana before class starts...

Colleen to me re: the time commitment it takes to practice Bikram yoga.

If I had more money, I’d have a lot more cheese at home...

Sarah

Who told you to stop? 

Dawn to the class as we warmed up our abs prior to boxing.

She broke it, like, three times... 

Ademir to me re: his girlfriend's Chinglish

Me: As you see, I never take my mats out of the car.

Cindy: When you get a more expensive one, you will.

Nothing Common About It

Went swimming last Saturday and experienced congestion. No biggie. Post-swimming congestion happens. I was so sure that my congestion was swimming-related that I confidently told my massage therapist that I was not battling anything when she inquired.

Famous last words and hope springs eternal because I've heard a plethora of people coughing and whatnot in the gym and at work.

I have been fighting the good fight with Emergen-C, Cold-eeze plus green with sgs, ginger + lemon and rose hip teas. If nothing else, this cold should have drowned by now.

Whatever It Takes...

One of colleagues told me, by the way, that they used to throw rose hips and rub them into each other's backs as kids which reminds me of yet another colleague who's from California; they used to throw pomegranates at one another.

When I took a bath, I decided to throw my Reiki-blessed salts into the bathwater. This cold is going down!

In all seriousness, I have a fresh appreciation for wellness...

Infused with Reiki Blessings...

Stuff Reiki Masters Say

Seating Area Outside of RM's Office

I looked at the available schedule of the LMT/Reiki Master* that I had a group coupon for and realized that I was days away from letting not just one but two group coupons expire. I had gotten the one coupon for bodywork almost a year ago when I first went gaga over acupressure.

I had a hard time deciding if I wanted a shiatsu or reiki treatment but the bodyworker helped me to decide. She also said that so many people had not read what the deal actually offered so she decided to mix up the sessions. When she mentioned massage, I smiled at the unexpected surprise.

 I told her that my gut said to go with shiatsu and that I had experienced reiki during a massage and she said that reiki is usually offered as an add-on of sorts and, for full sessions, she usually does reiki for people who are in pain with arthritis or for people who might find it hard to tolerate touch.

For my session, I went with half an hour of shiatsu and half an hour of massage.

When she started the massage part, she said that my neck was horribly tight and, if she had known that it was so tight, she would have worked on my neck and shoulders for the entire time. She even mentioned the 'c' word -- chiropractor and wanted to know if I had a headache. While I did not have a full blown headache, I was headachy. She wanted to stretch my neck and for me to breathe deeply as she did it.  I was supposed to blow out the breath like a hurricane but since I do so much yoga now, my instinct is to inhale and exhale through my nose............... Couple that with the fact that I have a habit of holding my breath and it's a recipe for some jacked up breathing. She couldn't believe how puny my deep breath efforts were...


My half and half session was relaxing. I don't think that I would devote an entire hour to shiatsu though. The bodyworker's space was warmly decorated, an oasis in fact. The music that she played was very relaxing. I've heard some questionable relaxation CDs but her choice was impeccable. Loved the subtle insect and bird sounds...

When the Reiki Master entered the room, she told me that my only job was to relax. You've already helped enough today, she said. The problem that I have with bodywork and the gorgeous rooms that the work takes place in is that I never want to come out.


*I love the title of Reiki Master...

R & R: Reiki and Rock Climbing

I initially wanted to talk with Joe about rock climbing but while we were on the ground in between climbing routes and I was doing a little acupressure on Patti, I found out that Joe is a Reiki practitioner and I ended up talking with Joe about R & R: rock climbing and Reiki.


‘Drea: So, tell me about Reiki. What drew you to Reiki?

Joe: A couple of different things. I’ve always wondered about what was really happening in all those stories in the Bible with Jesus healing people and Reiki seemed like an intriguing possible framework for understanding Jesus’ healing and, also, I just enjoy learning about different kinds of ways of looking at how different human beings can care for each other or help each other and so that healing energy concept was really fascinating to me.

‘Drea: Did you have a Reiki treatment before…?

Joe: Not really -- not until I was actually going through the process myself. And part of it was, it was described to me as something you kind of -- you need to just experience it to get it... It seemed like a no lose situation. You can try it out and it might not really be your thing or you can try it out and find that it is nice and then you can practice it.

‘Drea: And what level are you at?

Joe: I'm just level one.

‘Drea: Do you plan on going any further with it?

Joe: I’m hoping for that. I’m just not sure…There are so many things that I’m interested in and I’m not sure if that’s the one that I want to create that space and spend that money and time on.

‘Drea: And what else are you interested in? Number one?

Joe: I’m kind of interested in everything but, like I was saying before, I’m really into that Integral Life Practice – the framework for understanding all of the insights into humanity and then practicing and developing as human beings and kind of creating a new paradigm for organized religion and I’m really interested in nature and spending more time in nature and learning about nature, especially trees. I love trees. I love reading literature. I love reading poetry. I love listening to new music. I like listening to old favorites, writing music, playing guitar, playing the drums and singing...

‘Drea: I didn’t know you were a guitar player.

Joe: I’m not very good at guitar but I’m working on it.

‘Drea: There’s always room for improvement. Are you self-taught?

Joe: Yeah.

‘Drea: So, who are some of your favorite musicians?

Joe:...The Beatles but I like a wide variety of music. I really enjoy classical music and I enjoy jazz.

‘Drea: What about literature? Poets?

Joe: For poetry, I particularly like Wilke and Wallace Stevens and, actually, one of our friends, Anthony Carelli, is writing poetry right now. He’s just coming out with a book in the spring and I think he’s an incredibly gifted poet in addition to being a really wonderful human being so I can’t wait to see his book and I hope that it really does well.

‘Drea: Favorite poem? Hard to pick one?

Joe: It’s hard to pick one, yeah, but most recently I really was enjoying the poem that a couple picked for having it read at their wedding. It ends with “Wing to wing and oar to oar…” I’m trying to remember – The Master Speed by Robert Frost…That was beautiful.

‘Drea: Your favorite book? Or, one of your favorite books?

Joe: I like a lot of different authors and a lot of different subjects and stuff. I keep coming back to – I just plain enjoy Huckleberry Finn and I enjoy it as a metaphor for all kinds of human experiences...

‘Drea: What’s your favorite place to climb?

Joe: Wherever the heck I can…(laughter) I’ve been climbing trees in Tower Grove Park and that’s been really fun.

‘Drea: Cool…



Wild Moves On The Rock, Part I

Filling The Well

Bought

One of my colleagues was headed to Target and, for some reason, I thought about washable markers and The Artist's Way.

Filling the well involves the active pursuit of images to refresh our artistic reservoirs.

I don't even know if this quote was the one I had in mind. Maybe it was something about pleasing your inner child.

No matter, I had fun.



I was headed to the climbing gym and was inspired to write mental tenacity on my arm after seeing this article, How to Push Past the Pain as the Champions Do?

Done

Self-Reiki Treatment


While I'm not sure how much it helped as I was doing the treatment at 2:00 a.m. when I crossed that line between sleepiness and peppiness, some of the Reiki holds did feel refreshing.

Watched

Discovered gem while watching Acupressure Massage -- where to treat heat in the body; the point is on the colon meridian at the crease in the elbow.


Recently, I've been hit with waves of heat in the upper body. Stress? You decide.


FYI, if you were going out to lunch and wanted to suppress your appetite, you could use Pericardium Six which is two fingers up from the wrist crease in the center.


I also like this point which is a master acupressure point.



Someone may need to take my markers and pens away...


Have you bought, done or watched anything interesting lately? How are you filling the well?