professional massage receiver

One thing I am definitely missing during this pandemic is going to my massage therapist.

I often (half) jokingly say that my dream job is to be a professional massage receiver.

I love receiving massages so much that I went to massage school because I knew I would receive massages when the students practiced on each other and I LOVED being the person on the table when the teacher would demo a massage move. I didn’t care if all the students were gathered around staring at my bare butt as the teacher did an effleurage up my leg. I would just close my eyes and concentrate on relaxing and receiving the demo massage.

I used to love firm massages that almost felt painful but as I went to massage school and learned that when we find a tense area in the body, we must slowly sink until we feel the body resist, and just hold and wait until the body yields to the gentle pressure. If you just forcefully push the tense area, the body will just resist and tighten up even more.

This “yielding” practice is exactly what we practice in Yin Yoga.

You get into a pose until you feel the sensation in the target area, and then we hold …. breathe… relax…remain still… and wait until the body yields into gravity and time to release tension. If you yank and push and rush the body to make the sensation too strong, your body will resist and tighten up.

This process and practice of yielding sounds simple… but simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy.

I love this practice of yielding and I do believe that this skill has made me a skilled massage receiver and a great candidate to become a professional massage receiver.

testing my dad’s massage skills…