Embracing Life Lessons from a Massage

Today I had a leg massage after my morning workout at the fitness center where I've been lifting weights with a trainer. The muscles deep in my thigh and buttocks and around my hip have been tender for weeks. Today, a solid knot of pain in my right thigh revealed itself as I lifted up during my sit-stand exercises on the bench. This pain prompted the massage.

As Joan worked the muscles in my leg, I noticed that they were starting to release. This was happening with her gentle touch. I am familiar with deep tissue massage with direct pressure on the sore area. Today was different. Joan explained that she was using an indirect method. She approached the muscle indirectly and then waited to see if it responded by releasing. The relief I felt told me that it had.

I shared with Joan that the rolling exercises my trainer added to my workout had made me aware of sore areas that I otherwise would not have noticed. These exercises involve rolling my leg against a hard tube of foam placed between me and the floor. I feel the sore spots as I rest the side of my body against the roller and descend my leg down the tube from the hip to the top of my knee and back. Joan said when I find a sore spot to stop and fall into it with the full weight of my body. Put my mind and attention into the soreness while I am still and embrace it with my weight, she said. That will release the tension.

This is good advice for emotional pain and suffering, I thought. Embrace it, give it my attention and sit still with it until it dissolves. In so doing I am being genuinely present with what is instead of fighting what is. I can't think of a more gentle practice of dealing with pain and suffering - emotional and physical.

Joan's indirect method of releasing the tightness in my muscles also seems like a good way to be in relationship when there is conflict. Sit still and wait patiently to see how the injured heart responds. Be a loving presence. Be spacious with the other person.

This approach seems very caring and loving. This is my practice with others and it is what I am learning to do with my own heart one day at a time. Let it begin with me.