become a muscular therapist

i am DONE with massage school!!!

my diploma should be getting to me in about a week.

holy fuck.

i did it.

i did some volunteer work with an organization that seeks to help people who have been diagnosed with HIV

the program was started by a classmate of mine…this was the first event…i only had 2 clients and it was only for about 10 minutes…chair massage…

both clients had never had any massage before…my first client went on and on about how wonderful it was just to be touched

i hope to continue this volunteer work…this is definitely a step forward to working with special population groups, something i’ve sought from the beginning

i can’t believe it’s been that long…and that i still have so much left to accomplish…

my massages are getting great compliments…i’ve worked on people from the age of 17 to 83…learning how to touch bodies in ways that will help them heal, help them relax and deal with stress is in and of itself a bit stressful, but is NEVER uninteresting

just learned chair massage yesterday and LOVE it…it’s so easy to do, and it’s so effective and a great way to get your name out to people

woot.

i am ecstatic that i made this decision

this is a career path i WANT to follow, one in which i want to grow as a person, one in which i want to share something wonderful with other people

my teachers are all dolls, very passionate about their work, all geared towards making our learning environment trusting and fun

my classmates are phenomenal…energetic, incredibly intelligent, and many of them into “new age” concepts like entheogens, yoga, and reiki

the homework load is INTENSE, but manageable…hooray for anatomy coloring books :)

i went to orientation last night!

the school is INTENSE…3 hours of class tuesday nights, 9 hours on friday! and i’m attempting to work full time…and exercise…and read the books i want….and eat and sleep…

but the work will be so fulfilling…and part of the requirements for the classes is to get massages every so often :-D huzzah!

as i went under the warm hands of the first person to ever give me a truly professional muscular therapy session, it occured to me as so strange that as someone who plans on making massage my career, i’ve never really experienced what it’s like to really GET a massage

not to say that i haven’t had things similar…brendan’s mother once gave me a fantastic massage, and i’ve had lots of friends who have rubbed my back to the point where i was moaning and drooling…but as far as understanding what it is to get a professional massage, i was totally ignorant until today

his name, we have learned, is Pablo.

he is from Spain and is married to an Irish wife who loves Rugby.

his hands are poets and composers, weaving concertos and sonnets across bare skin. the notes are tender, the words rhyme with emotional force. i felt like clay, lovingly modeled into some fantastic vision of the gods.

i kept thinking: “i’m going to learn how to do this to other people???” what a gift!! what a joy my job will be!! finally a way to give something to people, finally a way to help solve the plague of stress instead of being another victim, or another facilitator

this Pablo told me about all the millions of possible career paths as a muscular therapist, from helping cancer patients cope with pain, to soothing parents who are waiting for their children to come out of open heart surgery, to easing the burden of mothers to be…endless learning, endless options

all of them a source of light

human touch has so much power, so much potential to give love and joy to another human being…the feeling of this man’s hands on my skin was enough to make me want to laugh and cry at the same time, enough to make me want to sing to him, or roll around like a puppy who’s ecstatic to see his owner return home…giddy, emotional, ecstatic…i was all of these things for just 35 minutes

these 35 minutes convinced me i’m choosing the right career, that i have made a wise choice stepping slowly and sometimes too cautiously on the road to healing

35 minutes is all it FINALLY took to convince me that i’m actually on to something :)

i’d want to go here:

http://www.itp.edu/

classes on shamanism, spritual psychology and mandatory aikido?

yes. please.