I Really Just Wanted to Stay in Bed – 20 Massages in 2 Months (Massage #12)

Soothing decoration in the lobby of the Well-Being Center for Health on Hill Street

I received massage #12 from Tasha at the Well-Being Center for Health on Hill Street in Monroe.  Click here for a picture of Tasha.

As amazing as massage #11 was it has left me out of sorts. My body has been struggling.  It felt as if my system is seizing up.  I have been eating less and drinking less water.  I have been less active. I have been both sleepy and sleepless. An ache developed in my feet and ankles and a sharp pain below my belly button. For several days I have felt as if I were on fire someplace inside of myself.  These symptoms combined with fast life changes meant that I have been overwhelmed in more ways than one.

Truth be told the last thing I wanted was go back for another massage.  (I wanted to stay in bed!). I readied for massage #12 and my system rebelled with nausea and a kind of waiting until the last minute to get on my bike and head over to the Center.

As I walked back to the treatment room with Tasha we joked about whether I was ready for another session. “No!” I said, mock shouting, “Don’t! I can’t do it! Not again! No!”

I am grateful for this journey and remain curious about what else will be revealed.  At the same time it is turning into a forceful experience requiring me to develop new levels of self-awareness, trust, discipline, humility, endurance and the ability to be present.

“I’d be all over it. Getting this much massage,” said Tasha.

Once in the treatment room, I described to Tasha that it felt as if the flow of energy that had opened up in massage #11 was beginning to slow or was perhaps blocked and that this was creating the aching in my feet and ankles and well as sharp pain in my abdomen.

In spite of my initial resistance it soon became clear that massage #12 would be a soothing experience and that Tasha was the right therapist to work with on this day. Around the center Tasha is known as being “energetically plugged-in” which means that she is sensitive to and knows how to work with spiritual energy.

“Are you comfortable with me doing some abdominal work on you?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied

The overall tone of the massage with Tasha was mellow. After the grand vistas that opened in massage #11 it felt right to come back to something more familiar.  Tasha began by using broad massage strokes combined with energy work up the back of my legs. 

Interestingly, the observations of previous massage therapists brought clarity to Tasha’s work. For instance, in Massage #9 Aiden had observed that there was likely a connection between the symptoms in my neck and those in my feet.  Now Tasha pressed the flat of her hand on each side of my upper back and asked me to describe how, if at all, this pressing affected my feet. 

“Tell me if, when I press down, it feels more or less balanced in the feet,” she said.  When she pressed on the right side of my back my right foot felt less balanced while the same pressing on the left created a sense of greater balance. 

“That’s crazy … that’s what Aiden indicated!” I exclaimed, “That the two are connected!”

Although I was not able to discern the nature of the connection from this exercise, it provided confirmation that the connection is in fact there.