20 Massages in 2 Months – Massage #1 (continued)

Front of the building on Hill Street in Monroe

During massage #1, Richard spent some time working on my legs which were not as sore as usual probably because I have not been on my bike for 3 weeks. When he got to my back he began by pushing his hands down either side of my back from shoulder to lower back. At my lower back he pushed his palms into the tight muscles there and turned them to release some of the tension there. I felt great.

Before the massage, Richard had shown me a diagram of the human muscle system. I have never studied human anatomy so I will do my best to repeat the concepts. According to the chart it looked like the main muscle in the upper back is called the trapezius, so-called because of its triangular shape. This muscle extends from the base of the skull to the edge of the shoulder area to the middle back. Underneath the trapezius are two bands of muscle stretching across the upper-middle back. These are called the rhomboids which help us when our arms are extended in front of us – for instance when we are at the computer or riding a bike. Constant use of the rhomboids in this way can cause them to become over stretched, leading to rounded shoulders and tight pectorals, muscles in the upper chest. Also, he said that numbness in the arm can sometime be caused by tightness of muscles surrounding the scapula or shoulder blade.

Accordingly, Richard went to work on my shoulder blades. Muscles to the far right and left of my shoulder blades near my armpits were very sore. He worked to loosen these muscles and actually lifted the scapula off the back. As he did so I felt a release and the numbness in my arm began to lift. I appreciate this as I know that it will make it easier to write tomorrow. While I work to break this cycle of writing and numbness, I am aware that continuing to get massage will lessen the negative impact of daily activities on my body and this is something that I want because a pain-free body really improves my quality of life and sense of well-being. I am also thinking about ways to improve my posture to prevent some of these effects. Slowly, throughout the massage I began to relax from the days travels.

As for my neck, it is both tight from daily activity and also from whatever emotions are held in it – the emotions that trigger fear when someone touches it. Richard does some work on my neck. At first I am tense and then I begin to relax. It is challenging for me to let him work on my neck in this way but I am committed to changing the emotional patterns held there. (Later, after the massage, I will feel fear lifting out of my neck, almost as if rising in lines of black smoke). Richard and I decide to devote a future massage session solely to my neck. It is my hope that using massage to move some of these emotions will render my neck more flexible and resilient as well as make it easier for me to handle touch in that area.

For any readers out there, what kind of experiences have you had with massage –therapeutic or otherwise?