I think I want to marry a massage therapist!
I made my annual visit today to a massage therapist just down the street from where I live. I want to thank Daughter #2 for making my visit possible. What a wonderful gift!
As I laid on the massage table, I tried to meditate, to escape all thought patterns and just go off into la la land as every muscle in my body was soothed.
But the sensation of the therapist's hands on my calves, my shoulders, even my face and scalp seemed to stimulate my brain to think more.
During my massage I remembered my Grandma Hull threatening to un-subscribe to Life Magazine because it had too many pictures of near-naked women in it. Her comment has stuck with me for half a century: "Bodies are ugly. I don't know why they show them."
But today as the therapist stroked my back from my shoulders to my lower back with her oiled fingers, my body felt oh so beautiful. I felt slim and shapely, firm and glowing. I felt young again. Relaxed but full of vigor. Golly, I decided that I wanted a massage everyday! How had I gone a whole year since the last one?
Since moving to Asheville, I've discovered that my grandmother's words came from a woman steeped in the Protestant Work Ethic which was in turn steeped in an overall environment of Victorian modesty.
But while here, I've been able to revere my body, to realize that it is not entirely me, but it is a very important part of me. And really, it is more than a part. It is merged into who I am, just as my mind and soul are.
Also while I've been in Asheville, I've discovered the wonders of acupuncture. I had always been fearful about those little needles all over my body, some type of voodoo practice. Just not for me!
But looking forward to a visit to Europe in 2010 during which I would be walking most of the time with a sore big toe, I cautiously sneaked into the People's Acupuncture of Asheville office. I was pierced ever so gently with those fine little needles, and then allowed to lay in a Lazy Boy recliner for as long as I wanted. I even dozed off to the background sound of falling water over rocks and new age music while I relaxed under a cozy blanket.
Another opportunity to pamper my body.....and within a few weeks, I was ready, as was my toe for lots of walking in Great Britain, France and Germany.
I also found similar care of my body here when I visited the local Minnie Jones Dental Clinic. I hate to go to the dentist, but the visits to this dental clinic for cleaning, exams, a new partial and fillings were really not bad!
I haven't been to a chiropractor yet, or visited one of the alternative medical clinics. I have visited a local yoga studio, and may go back someday. But not any special remembrances of the one a went to to write about here. My next step is to get up the nerve to take belly dancing classes.
Oh yes, I even work out now with weights at the local Y, something I never dreamed I would one day do.
I do love my body. It is beautiful. It is slim and powerful It was served me well even though many times I've been cruel to it by starving it, stressing it, draining it, working it, pushing it to the limits. Even letting some others act like it belonged to them and not me.
Today I claim my body for me. Maybe someday I will share it again with someone, but only when I really want to, and not before.
And maybe someday I'll marry a massage therapist, and think I'm in heaven!