Knitting in the Shadows

What is in a name?

In almost everyone's life, sooner or later, there comes a time when you are called upon to name something or someone.  Sometimes it's easy.  Sometimes it's not.

Bookworm went through a phase once where she named everything.  Sure, every kid names his or her stuffed toys, but she named instruments (not that uncommon), note books, iPods, pencils, .... everything.  (She did not, alas, offer up a name for the house.  I'm fond of named houses.... but that's not the point here.)  Naming came easily to her.  I envy her so.

Naming is not my forte.  When I named my daughters, I first spent hours (I could have earned a degree had I spent that time differently, I'm sure) poring over name books -- tasting them, feeling them roll across my tongue, chasing down their origins and meanings, putting them in combinations -- testing the combinations for sound and mood and definitions....  And in the end, I narrowed the names down to several, and waited for my daughters to "tell" me what their names were.

When new cats come into the house, I look at them, and contemplate the names that resonate with their appearances, but generally wait until their personality is clear before naming them.  I also listen to the cats.  They too "tell" me what their names are.  With the more recently adopted cats, I first listened to see if they were at home with the names they came with -- they were, and so we did not re-name them.

I am now faced with a new naming challenge.  

When I first started massage school, I figured out (even before the first day of class) what I wanted to name my future massage business.  But then, when we all dashed out and got free business cards to hand out at Community Outreach events (so that we could drum up "business" for the free massages we give as homework), I found that one of my classmates had also come up with that name.  She put hers on her cards.

I pouted for a minute, but figured that this meant one of two things:  we are destined to become business partners, or I'm destined to choose a different name for my massage business.  Either way, I had plenty of time.

Time's up.

Our new class is on business -- how to build a massage business.  While part of it is things like taxes and leases and financial statements, part of it is creating forms and pricing your work.  The forms themselves are easy for me.  But at the top of every form, in the middle of every business card, is one consistent thing that I suddenly find very challenging:  A business name.

Naming criteria may have something to do with this.  For a child, one wants a name that is not too pompous and cumbersome for a toddler or child, but not too babyish or wispy for a professional adult, while avoiding formidability.  It needs to last.  Depending on your preferences, it either needs to be happily abbreviated into nick-names that aren't offensive or belittling, or it needs to avoid lending itself to abbreviation.  It ought also to fit the child (like you can figure that out after 12 hours of labor when the child in question is seven and a half pounds of sleep or hunger).

For a pet, the criteria vary a bit depending on whether this pet is a free roaming creature or a caged creature.  With the caged animal, you needn't worry quite as much about whether when you call out this name across the yard/field/house the name is distinct enough to be recognizable.  Shouting out "Agamemnon Come..."  not nearly as effective as calling for "Rex".  Of course, this name should also fit the animal, but that tends to be easier when we do the naming (for all but pedigreed show critters/horses that tends to be 6-8 weeks, when they've starting coming into their personalities).

For a business, on the other hand, the name should be simple, memorable, and informative.  It should avoid weird impressions (especially in massage - one does not want to give the impression, ever, that one is offering services that are illegal in most states).  While it is true, now that I've looked at it a few times, National Fish Therapeutic Massage is a memorable name -- it's memorable mostly because one spends a while wondering what on earth Fish have to do with massage, and not because it seems relevant.).  They say that you should avoid using your name if you're a woman, just so that the creeps out there don't decide that the feminine name sounds alluring... or the strong professional name identifies a dominatrix.

So.  I'm back to naming my business.  I want to convey a tad more than just Therapeutic Massage since I will be doing energy work as well as standard Swedish stuff.  I'm already certified in Reiki (and am planning to get the next certification level soon), so I need to avoid a name that sounds too clinical, and yet I also need to avoid a name that sounds too "new agey".   I do relaxation massage, but I also do deeper tissue specific work.  (Is anyone surprised that I'll have a complex blend? Me either). 

So, here I am.... overthinking things to death, contemplating using other languages (like that will be comprehensible to the English speaking population that will represent 90% of my clients), and poking around in all sorts of places looking for the right name.  Meanwhile, my family keeps making wholly inappropriate suggestions, just to see me puff up and get all pompous about the importance of avoiding suggestive names.

What is in a name?  While it may be true that the rose would smell as sweet no matter what name we give it, the rose's name doesn't have to tell people who don't know who or what it is what it does.  And the rose's name need not inspire new clientele to trust it enough to risk the cost of a massage, while subtly and quietly telling those in search of an erotic massage that it's a complete waste of time to call.

Massage Modalities, a Preview of Energy Work

I started this post about ten days ago, after a nifty sequence of topics in our Massage Modalities class. I've been fussing with it ever since.  Suddenly, I feel like I can neither do good research, nor good reportiing, nor good blog writing, but I'm going to give it a go anyway.

First, we learned a little bit about Polarity Therapy.

Then, we had a bit of a introduction to Zero Balancing.

And most recently, we learned about Hot Stone Massage Therapy.

And because my brain works that way, I found something that seems to tie them together.

Polarity Therapy is primarily an energy technique.  Zero Balancing is a wonderous blend of energy work, and deep tissue work that focuses on effecting what I think of as involuntary joints (not so much the elbow, where pretty much every move it makes is involuntary, but the sacral joints, and the intervertebral joints, and the joints between you ribs and your spine).  And while you may not think of it this way, even Hot Stone Massage uses energy -- the energy held in the bones of the earth.

According to the folks who do Polarity Therapy, "energy fields and currents exist everywhere in nature. Polarity Therapy asserts that the flow and balance of energy in the human body is the foundation of good health. In the Polarity model, health is experienced when: energy systems function in their natural state, and energy flows smoothly without significant blockage or fixation.  When energy is unbalanced, blocked or fixed due to stress or other factors, pain and disease arise.... Polarity Therapy seeks to find the blockages and release energy to normal flow patterns, and to maintain the Energy Field in an open, flexible condition."**

I know that I don't yet know enough about any of these things to write reliably on them my self, so I'm sharing some quotes from others' work:

"Zero Balancing focuses primarily on key joints of our skeleton that conduct and balance forces of gravity, posture and movement. By addressing the deepest and densest tissues of the body along with soft tissue and energy fields, Zero Balancing helps to clear blocks in the body’s energy flow, amplify vitality and contribute to better postural alignment. A Zero Balancing session leaves you with a wonderful feeling of inner harmony and organization."*  (And yes, I've had the chance to experience a zero balancing treatment.  It does leave you feeling more connected with yourself. Even two weeks later, I can feel the difference in the way I hold myself -- my body is more aligned than it used to be.)

Hot Stone Massage  connects "the flow or paths of energy together in order to rebalance the physical body, emotional mind and spirit as one."***  In addition to warming muscles to allow for easier release of tension, the heat works to "open energy pathways" and to energize chakras.^ Additionally, the stones themselves hold their own energy - and over time they seem to hold more and more. I'd have been skeptical about this, had I not felt a real difference today in class when we were learning and practicing how to use the stones. 

Among the things one experiences during a hot stone massage, is having small warm stones placed bewteen your toes (thin little things).  Since we didn't have enough stones for everyone in the class to have a whole set to work with, only one of my feet got to experience the toe warming stones. The warmth felt nice of course, but I found that I could feel a difference that I can only describe as an energetic one between the leg and foot with the stones and the one without.

 Who knew?

I've been very interested in energetic work all along - heck I came into the massage program having already become a Level I Reiki "Master." (I really don't think one masters the Reiki energy -- one merely invites it, like a guide, and facilitates its flow, but the Reiki world refers to it as Mastery).  I had expected that there would always be a bit of "energy work" in my massage -- in any massage really.  But I had not expected to find so much energy work that really works with the bones of the body or the earth.

....

An awesome blogger would have some pithy conclusion here.  This blogger does not.  This blogger's brain is full of studying for the Pathology Final, and is being distracted by wishing she could just put a hold on all that long enough to spend the weekend on a suddenly available seminar on hot stone massage, having received an unexpected gift of the full hot stone "kit" from a secret benefactor.  This blogger is hoping that by sharing this, she'll be able to let it go long enough to go re-learn all that stuff from the first half of the semester (like the differences between Myesthenia Gravis, and Multiple Sclerosis, and Muscular Dystrophy, and ALS -- all of which are real and important and jumbled in my brain).

 

* from http://www.zerobalancing.com/

** from http://www.polaritytherapy.org/index.php

*** from http://winchester-holistics.co.uk/treatments-available/about-hot-stones-massage/

^ from http://ezinearticles.com/?Hot-Stone-Massages-and-Chakra-Energy&id=4352923

100!

I have the coolest homework assignments.

Every week, I have to give at least two massages.

Every week, I have to use my skills, and the love in my hands, to give two (or more) people relief from pain, a sense of peace, ease from stress.

Darn.

I think that's so cool!  (and when I graduate, and get my license, I'll be able to do that every day).

I think it's so cool, that I almost always give more than two of these home-work massages each week.

Today, I gave my 100th homework massage since I started the massage program.

I have learned so many wonderful things -- in class, following up on lessons by watching videos on the same modality, and by paying very close attention every time I get a massage from someone new (especially a new professional).

Today, my "client" came to me with pain in her low back, and her feet, and her neck, and her chest muscles.  She left, with happy, happy feet, a soothed low back, and an open feeling in her chest muscles. And it was my hands that made that happen!  I still find that pretty amazing.

and yet -- find it as natural as rainwater.

 

In Which My House Feels Like A Day Spa

When I got up Sunday morning, my plan included studying for Monday's Pathology exam, possibly paying bills, reading, and giving one homework massage.

Instead, I took Bookworm to the store to get supplies to repair a hair disaster, and spent the next couple of hours carefully re-bleaching her hair, in preparation for re-coloring her hair. 

Bookworm is very grateful that my camera when on strike today.  Otherwise, you'd see photos of the hair disaster (in which her hair color ranged from the dark mahogany/burgundy brown she'd last died it, through various shades of fox, dark strawberry blond, butterscotch, platinum blonde, wheat, apricot, ....

While it could have been VERY COOL, the color ranges weren't in interesting natural looking streaks.... they were more.... spotted.  Like someone took the fur colors of a red fox or red panda, and used the patterns of, say an ocelot.  In short... NOT good.

There would also be pictures of the process, with her hair mostly pinned up, and some foil wrapped, to show you just how small the sections were that I worked with, so that I'd bleach the brown parts, and lighten the darker foxy colors, without over bleaching the honey and platinum.....

Of course, there are also no pictures of the almost finished results -- the bleaching is done, and her hair looks pretty good -- sort of strawberry blond.  But we're going to even it out a little better with a round of blonde dye after it's had a chance to breathe from two days in a row of bleaching.

For the record -- I'm actually opposed to my high school aged daughter dyeing her hair.  I'm even more opposed to her doing it in ways that require bleaching.  But -- the whole thing started months and months ago when she slipped out to Walgreens and spent her own money on hair dye.  She surprised me with the new color - fait accompli.  And luckily, it actually looked quite good.  I decided that this was a battle I was not going to win.

However, after this weekend's mishap, she and I had a chat about intense color changed (especially ones invovling bleach. Next time, she's going to buy the product from the beauty supply shop, not Walgreen's, and she's going to have ME help her for things more complex than simple coloring.  Kitty meant well, but she's never had it done, much less watched it being done, and thus didn't quite know how to tackle the job.

By the time stage one of hair repair was done, it was time for me to give a massage.  (Day spa time... get your hair colored (or trimmed), and a massage.  I can even paint your tonails, though I'm no pro at the whole pedicure thing. (snicker).

I closed the day giving a massage to Golf Pro, who was long overdue.

I finally got to the pathology book at about 11:30 p.m.  Color me grateful that the exam wasn't until 2:00 p.m.

I'm hoping that the camera and I get back on good terms so I can show you the new BookWorm.  It looks great, even if I do keep having to do double takes.  (It's a pretty drastic change).

I ran away from home --

Monday, I boarded a train, and ran away from home....

sort of. 

It's not like everyone at home didn't know I was going, and where I was going. ...

And what was I doing?  HOMEWORK!

No, seriously.  I went up to Oak Park to complete a homework assignment.

Among the homework assignments we have each semester is to get a massage from a massage therapist who did not graduate from our program.  AND... this semester, we have to get a massage from a person of the opposite gender of the person we got a massage from last semester.  So, having cast my eye around town, and having discovered that all the female massage therapists I'd heard good things about actually did graduate from our program, I conceived a plan -- to go back to Oak Park (from whence we came ten years ago), and get a massage from the woman who was my initial inspiration to go into massage school in the first place.

It was such a good idea! 

I rode the train up, relaxing.  And then I walked from Union Station to the Ogilvie Transportation Center (a whopping two blocks), and found that my timing was perfect -- I boarded the METRA train about two minutes before it left the station.  When I arrived, it was a bit misty (having rained while I was riding the METRA), but I walked through the old area, enjoying recognizing old places -- and loving seeing this:

and this:

Honest -- I wasn't in Britain... I was in Oak Park, but there it was, none-the-less.

Okay, fine... you want proof?

 

Unity Temple (yes, it's Frank Lloyd Wright -- and yes, he built it to be a church in the first place).

I just love his style --

(And why exactly did I just NOT SEE this all the time I lived there -- I'd have joined in a heart beat).

I went out to dinner with wonderful friends, at a delightful little restaurant in Evanston called Trattoria D.O.C.  I'm a little appalled by how much I ate, but DAMN that steak was good!

I stayed in the Write Inn -- a nifty old place, that houses the oldest elevator in town.  And pet friendly even.  See --

Just outside the kitchen door.

Alas, old also means old HVAC systems.  Even though I arrived on the night in which the Equinox happened, it was HOT!  And the hotel system, which they claim is a water system, takes three days to switch over from heating to cooling.  Thus, they had no means to effectively cool the building.  They gave me a fan, which was both loud and ineffectual.    I slept poorly.

But breakfast at Hemmingway's was lovely.

And after breakfast, I walked down Oak Park Avenue to get my massage.

It was SO worth it!  It was wonderful to see her again.  And... her massage (though different) was every bit as wonderful as it used to be.  I learned a yummy new stroke from her.  And.... tee hee ... she learned one from me (because we traded!). 

Not only that, but I found the wonderful place where folks like me should retire.  My wonderful therapist works in the Oak Park Arms (a retirement center).  I was actually compelled to take a picture in the hall that leads to the Massage Therapy center:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen -- this is a WEAVING ROOM!  there is also a Needlework room.  Who knows what else is in there!

On the way home, I noticed these decorations on St. Edmund's church -

I've never seen those before -- here's a closer look...

If anyone knows what these are, and what they signify, I'd love to know.

I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the gorgeous weather, sitting in the shade on a bench in Scoville Park, reading Hunger Games.

My day ended with the arrival of my family, who picked me up, and took me to dinner at my favorite Oak Park restaurant -- The Marion Street Grille.  The frog legs are as wonderful as ever.

All in all, I say that my Equinox was glorious.  A perfect balance. 

Magic Muscles

As you know, I'm studying to be a massage therapist.

My family is being supportive in new and special ways.  Golf Pro and I moved our guest room out of the guest room, and hauled the queen bed, box spring, mattress etc. upstairs to a room that used to be home only to the family computers and a sofa-bed.  That room will, eventually, get put together so it can be used as a guest room.

We then moved one of the desks downstairs, where it occupies a very small part of the room we emptied. Whatever am I up to?

why creating a space where I can give massages without discommoding my whole family, that's what!

The massage table is now positioned diagonally, giving me plenty of room to work all the way around it.  I pulled in a music making machine so that I can play what we call "massage music" while I work.

And I put a mini-poster on the wall.  It's 3-D, and lets us see more clearly the way the muscles layer.

 

 

Of course, this poster is part of my new fascination with muscles.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that, haivng studied anatomy and physiology and pathology etc., I'd start wanting muscle posters on my walls.  This fascination evidently means that I'm good at doing "specific" work in massage (or so my "clients" (volunteers who let me give them massages so I can learn how to do it better).  I gave a massage to a Licensed Massage Therapist recently, who told me that she could tell that I really know the origins, insertions, and functions of the muscles I'm working on.  How cool is that?

And I've suddenly become enchanted with a new muscle:

 

The Deltoid

It's a busy muscle the Deltoid.  Since it wraps all the way around the top of the humerus (upper arm bone), it's invovled in raising your arm in front of you, and to the side, and... behind you.  It's also involved in rotating your upper arm, and crossing it in front of you.  A busy muscle, and one I've been neglecting for some time.  But Friday, while giving a massage, I rediscovered it.  I'm not sure what it was about this client's shoulder, but I'm pretty sure I'll be giving fuller attention to that muscle from now on.

 

 

Here we go again

I have not fallen off the earth.

I have changed, life has changed, but things are good and getting better.

We had a bit of a challenge over the past few months; one that I'm not going to blog about, but we're over the hump and back in the swing.

The following has NOT changed:

I still knit -- a lot.  I still take the sock in progress everywhere (okay, I've got two: one is complicated, one is plain). 

I still design stuff - I'm working on an afghan design in Shadow Knitting (finally).

I still have two lovely daughters who surprise, delight, frustrate, and inspire me daily.

Golf Pro still plays golf  (duh).

I'm still in the Massage Program, learning things at an insane rate. Last semester, it was Anatomy, and Physiology, and more Anatomy.    Learning about the human body and the way it works was so awesome.  That knowing about these things enables me to heal someone's pain is just plain magic. 

This semester it's Pathology.  Now I'm learning about the many ways the human body can break down or be sick.  It was overwhelming at first... and now it just makes me grateful... oh so very grateful that we have so much health in our house and family.  Sure, we have health challenges, but some of the diseases and conditions I'm reading about are more than a little overwhelming.  I'm so grateful that I'm learning things that will let me help people who have them, and I'm equally grateful that we don't right now.

So, I'm charging up my camera battery, and getting ready to take some more pictures of pretty yarn being turned into pretty socks and other things....

Why Massage?

Every now and then, folks ask why I've chosen to forgo a career in the law to pursue one in massage therapy.  (They asked the same thing about designing knitting patterns, but even I didn't really expect that designing would or could become a full time gig any time soon).  Now it should be said that I didn't suddenly walk out of my law office and into massage school; but, I did actively choose not to re-activate my law license and instead to spend the money that would have gone for the Continuing Legal Education required to do that on tuition for massage school.

There are a number of reasons, not the least of which is that no one is every truly happy to be in a litigator's office. Even when they win; even if I've ever done the best job possible to do; even if they're now rich, clients really wish they'd not had to consult a lawyer in the first place. On the other hand, few people are unhappy that they're consulting a massage therapist. And if I've done the best possible job, my client will be happy they came.

But is that good enough? I certainly devoted a lot of time and energy into the law. I must have loved it. I mean, three years of law school, and two decades of practice is not something you do for a career you find boring. And massage therapy doesn't have that much in common with law, after all, right? Or does it?

Both disciplines are about helping people. A litigator works on resolving problems that people are having with other people or with companies. A massage therapist works on resolving problems that people have with their bodies. A business lawyer, and an estate lawyer works on preparing people to accomplish things they want to do; a massage therapist works on helping people feel good in their bodies so that they can do the things they want to do.

Both disciplines have many sub-specialties: There's business related law (including contracts and real estate and labor and employment), and there's litigation (lawsuits). In litigation, one can focus on civil or criminal issues (violent and non-violent; felonies and misdemeanors; capital and non-capital); and of the civil issues one can focus on professional malpractice (with sub-specialties in things like medical, legal, accounting, architectural), or personal injury, or family practice, or business related. There's aviation law and admiralty law, and international law. And these, of course, can be parsed even further.

In massage, there are a similar myriad of sub-specialties – only we call them modalities. There's massage to allow the client to relax; massage to energize the client; massage to warm a client up to prepare to compete in an athletic event; massage to help a client prepare for surgery; massage to pamper; and massage to help a client regain range of motion in an injured limb. There's energy work, and shiatsu and reflexology, and cranio-sacral massage. There's chakra therapy; and aromatherapy. There's Swedish and hot stone massage; and there's neuro-muscular massage, and Rolfing other deep tissue work and orthobionomy. There's prenatal massage, and pediatric massage. ..   and ... and ...

Both disciplines require that their practitioners graduate from accredited schools. Both disciplines also require that their practitioners pass a standardized test, and become licensed by the state in which they practice (well, not all states require licensing, but most do). And both disciplines require their practitioners continue their education, taking classes annually to maintain their licenses.

One of the things I've realized over the passed few months that confirms to me that I've made the right choice is my response to the prospect of taking those continuing education courses. When I look at the choices for continuing education classes in law, I'm bored and frustrated that I have to spend so much time and money to take them. When I look at the choices for continuing education in massage, I'm excited, and frustrated that I can't take more of them right away.

But still, is that enough? It's easy to be excited about something new. And let's not forget, the earning potential of a high-powered lawyer far exceeds the earning potential of a massage therapist. If it were as simple as the fun of learning something new, I might wonder more about my decision, but massage therapy does something that law doesn't do. Massage therapy brings true healing, both to the muscles that were worked, but to the whole body. Better still, research shows that massage therapy brings psychological healing too. Law may bring compensation, but it doesn't bring healing.

Massage Therapy may not have the earning potential of a high powered law practice. But it has a far greater potential for joy. I'd rather live a life filled with joy than one filled with stress and a full bank account.

And besides all that?  Four hours of doing legal work leaves me tired, and wired.

This weekend, I've learned that four hours of giving massage leaves me serene, happy, and quietly energetic.