Women's Retreat

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being one of the massage therapists at a retreat for some of the women from my church. 9 women, some of whom I knew, and some I now know, signed up for a 30-minute massage, either on Friday or Saturday afternoon.

Our theme for the weekend (paraphrasing) was finding the child within and learning how to play again. So some of the activities including blowing up balloons and doing quite silly things with them, making construction paper masks, and blowing bubbles.

The women who had their massages on Friday, before any other activity, all had tight necks and shoulders. Stressed from the week (or probably the last few months) with worries about the economy, jobs, personal losses, etc, all contributed to holding it in their upper bodies. My guess is that the ones who received a massage on Friday were probably able to enter into the spirit of the retreat more quickly.

On Saturday, the massages were during a "free-time" period which included options for hikes, yoga, drawing a mandala, reiki, or just going off and doing your own thing. The women on Saturday had a greater range of issues. Still, the 30 minutes listening to soothing music and feeling healing hands gave at least a temporary respite.

It would have been nice to offer more of the 50 women the opportunity for massage. On the other hand, I was happy that I got some retreat time, too. I, like the others, enjoyed the beautiful fall colors (the retreat was in the NC mountains), the cool, crisp air, and all of the beautiful yin energy from a lot of wild, wonderful women. I thank them for the opportunity to share.

When I want to reward myself I get a relaxing massage.

Eva Longoria

My First Experiences with Massage

When I was in my adolescence, I attended a co-ed summer camp in the Adirondacks. One of the counselors was a fellow named "Bear"--a large, bearded, and very hirsute fellow, who was as gentle as they come. Bear liked to line folks up on a bench and we would all rub each others backs. He was also the instigator for the "Blueberry Raiders," a group of boys who would pick blueberries, and come over to the girls side in the morning, waking us with fresh blueberries and backrubs.

I had completely forgotten about that experience until I decided to attend massage school, though looking back, I'm sure it is one of the reasons why I see it as such as positive, healing experience. Even though we were all at the beginning or in the midst of raging hormones, the experience was a safe one.

I started receiving regular, monthly massages in the mid-90s when I was going through a divorce and finishing up a graduate degree and working fulltime. My massage therapists (I tried three, all excellent) were absolute godsends, helping me release tension, pent-up emotions, and eventually building up my immune system and releasing the strain on my forearms that was causing carpal tunnel.

Having felt the healing later in life, and recalling the earlier experience, I am grateful to have found my passion and the ability to now work with others to help them find the healing within themselves.

"Our hands are marvelous transmitters for loving-kindness." --Irene Smith, Founder, Service through Touch