Swedish Therapeutic Massage

It's the beginning of my third quarter and I'm so excited to be back at school after the summer break! We have an even 12 people in my class and I'm with positive, awesome individuals! Swedish Massage was originally developed by Pehr Henrik Ling, a Swedish physiologist and gymnastics instructor. It's the most commonly used form of massage therapy in North America and... I'm finally learning it!!!

In short, it's the systematic manipulation of the soft tissues of the body for the purpose of establishing and maintaining good health, using various strokes to stimulate the circulatory, lymphatic, respiratory, muscular, digestive and nervous systems of the individual. I've only had 4 classes and have already learned all of the 5 strokes used in Swedish Massage. They are: effleurage (gliding strokes), petrissage (kneading and lifting), friction (compression), vibration (rocking and shaking), and tapotement (striking). Going from Shiatsu to Swedish is quite a change but I'm keeping an open mind to welcome it. I know this modality will let me use my creative side and I am going to learn so much more about tissues and muscles.

I can't wait to practice on as many people as possible and this time when I come home and your neck or shoulders hurt, I WILL be able to pick up on it and give you a little help with your tightness.

...more to come! :) Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Eat Pray Love

I'm sure many of you have heard of the book, "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, and have maybe even read it! A lot of people I know have been recommending the book so I finally got MY hands on it!

The funny thing is it's about a woman who is newly divorced and travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia to try and explore her pleasures and get out of her depression. As someone who is coming out of a relationship and is on her own in Colorado, I can relate to this novel on many levels.

Today one of my roommates and I were talking about S-E-X and about how sometimes we feel lonely. We decided to go read by the pool and as I opened up the book this is what I read:

"One obvious topic still needs to be addressed concerning my whole pursuit of pleasure in Italy: What about sex?To answer that question simply: I don't want to have any while I'm here. To answer it more thoroughly and honestly--of course, sometimes I do desperately want to have some, but I've decided to sit this particular game out for a while. I don't want to get involved with anybody. Of course I do miss being kissed because I love kissing. But I'm not going to do anything about it for now. When I get lonely these days, I think: So be lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings."

I can relate to this chapter (Ch. 22) of the book and it's true, most people, including myself, don't KNOW how to BE lonely! We freak out and want to jump on the first friend or stranger we see that may be available to hear us out or just sit with us. This is a habit I want to break and I need to learn to accept and experience loneliness.