Pushing the Boundaries

If this month were to have a theme it would be pushing the boundaries. Both personally and professionally I have noticed me being pushed to my limits and astonishingly going just a bit further. I love the accomplishment I feel when I have gone past what I identified as my own perimeter, it's as if each time I do so I am pioneering an entire new horizon for myself.

This theme has spilled into my massages as well. I understand the limitations and constraint we put upon ourselves when in pain and have fallen prey to lack of faith in what I am capable of achieving on many occasions. This month I have seen so many of my clients allow me to push them over their own boundary of what they think they are capable of. Each time with hesitation I dig a little deeper in their tissue worrying that they will hate me afterwards or that they will call me complaining a few days later. Ultimately I worry that they won't be ready for this journey I am pushing them into. Some of the poses and strokes are not the most relaxing restorative things to experience, but I've found that with people experiencing chronic tension and/or pain that sometimes you have to get through the uncomfortable massage to start enjoying it, and your body once again.

One of the quotes we heard early on in school was by Brian Tracy, "Move our of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new." I think this speaks volumes when thinking of the difficult position you may find yourself in during a massage. It is never my intention to hurt a client or cause them distress, but I recognize the relationships between tissues, muscles and bones and know that sometimes to find relief you have to dig deep.

When I get a body on the table it's as though I've just been handed a bundle of tangled wires. Each one is important and goes to something, but little functions until you begin to unravel. I love making connections and one day would love to chart all the connections I've made, the way a pain in your head could stem from your shoulder, the way you walk signals what muscles in your legs are tense, the whole human body is by far the most incredible thing I have ever put my hands on! I love digging into a scapula and tracing every muscle connection, feeling every fiber slide beneath my hands, running across a trigger point as if I was a detective who just got another clue about how to solve the puzzle...gliding my hands along the tender points of the neck and feeling muscles loosen around delicate lymph nodes...finding a tight IT band and breaking up all the fascial connections...it all just is mesmerizing to me and my curiosity propels my desire to mend areas in distress.

Its that desire to "solve the puzzle" mixed with a trust in my ability to intuitively treat the body that directs how far I push someone. Sometimes that means holding a tender area and speaking to it (yes I am constantly speaking to your bodies), sometimes that means that it just needs to be dealt with like a band aid quick and not so painless just to get through it. What I do know is that I feel truly honored that I have clients so trusting in my application of modalities to allow me to work on the body and continuously push you.

It may be a secret, but each time I challenge a client, I challenge myself as well. I grow further and further away from my fear of working on the body and deeper into the role I see as my calling.

So thank you, for pushing the limits!