I’m heading out to North Carolina today. I had a few errands to run on the way to the airport, (had to pick up my Darth Vader cookie jar at the UPS center) so I got here a bit early. I had time for a quick breakfast and a chair massage. I’ve never actually done that here at the airport, I usually fly at ungodly hours when nothing is open. But today is different, and I am sore from a long, difficult few weeks.
From beginning to end the massage experience was fabulous. The therapist, Linda, greeted me with a smile, affirmed that she could accept a credit card, guided me through the sign up sheet and settled me in the chair. She asked me where I was from and when she heard I was local, she let me know the same company that she worked for at the airport had 2 local facilities. That was it. She didn’t oversell, she didn’t push. She just made me aware. I asked her where she went to school, and told her I was also an MT, she asked me where I went school, and when I told her, she was complementary of my alma mater. (I always like that, some people get so snooty about certain schools.) From then on there was silence and she gave me the best chair massage I’ve ever had. It was awesome. Perfect pressure, she backed off when she felt me flinch and sunk in exactly where I asked her to. At the end of ten minutes I felt entirely new. (This is no small feat considering how sore I’ve been lately.)
Ten minutes in an airport.
Sometimes I forget how versatile our profession is. We can work anywhere. We can treat pain and stress and depression in nearly any setting. We can affect speech issues and movement disorders and fertility. The modalities of hands on work are infinite and the indications are endless.
Oddly enough, while I was sitting at the gate starting this post, I ran into a friend of mine. He was my boss ages ago at a college job, he is a friend and client (it is with his permission that I reveal this, as he is in the seat in front of me on the plane right now). He is a minister, working in end-of-life care. It strikes me that our work is so similar in so many ways. Often people come to us looking for help, answers, healing. More often than not we are simply conduits for the healing their bodies already know how to do. We are guides on the path to equilibrium, we nudge in the right direction. He does it with words, we do it with touch. Most often, I think, we both do it by simply being there, with a person, giving undivided attention and care.
Either way, it’s a blessing to be able to do this work.
PS- Thank you Linda, I feel great.
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